Seeking restoration in nature on Sentosa
Most of us in today’s world have either forgotten or never really known what it’s like to wait – for news, for gratification, even for something as small as a reply. Yes, it’s been centuries since mail and messages were physically transmitted over land and sea, and it is a mark of how far we have progressed technologically, but it’s also given rise to generations of anxiety, non-stop stimulation, and a general impatience with everything that isn’t instant.
Irony of all ironies, it was Dr ChatGPT who told me in one late-night AI therapy sesh, “Put your phone away – your brain isn’t built for endless pings. Get out and let nature do the healing.” And that, friends, is how I found myself hightailing it to Sentosa for a day-long digital detox.
An anxiety-driven life with no off button
Image credit: Canva Pro
Why was I seeking counsel from a generative AI chatbot, you may ask? For one, it’s free. And Dr ChatGPT, as I fondly refer to them, is available 24/7. While I am aware that the screen is one of the reasons behind spiking anxiety rates, it’s undeniable that the screen is also almost inseparable from modern living.
There’s no off button – every day begins with an alarm on my phone, which then leads to catching up on notifications that came in through the night, be it news, emails, or messages. Even my phone knows that the next thing I do is to scroll through Instagram and TikTok as I procrastinate getting out of bed.
Honestly, there’s no winding down. If I don’t like a show, I skip it. If I don’t like my book, two taps bring me to the next. I have folder after folder of saved posts for all the holidays I need to cram into precious days of annual leave – if I’m not caught up, I’m lagging behind; I need to go to all these places because everyone else has been. Even deep sleep evades me, according to my tracker.
Deciding to put my phone away for a day
Image credit: iStock
We’re always reminded to slow down, but let’s be honest, nobody has time for that unless you make a deliberate and conscious effort to. And so I did just that, with an early morning trek to Sentosa, sans phone, to get away from the hustle and bustle of mainland Singapore. For the purposes of this article, I was surreptitiously tailed by a photographer to document my day of digital detox.
Sun, sand, sea & a mental reset on Sentosa
Palawan Beach was my first stop, and at 9am, it was an absolute oasis of peace, before the human traffic of the day descended upon it. The sands were free of footprints, the tide low, and the waters calm and clear.
With no phone on hand, there was no urge to snap photos of the beach as I’d never seen it. Rather than adding to the 76,000 photos in my album – which I hardly ever look back at – or fussing over the 99 best angles inspired by all the other beach shots I’ve seen online, I found myself appreciating the beach just as it was.
It was the gritty feel of the sand between my toes, the fresh coolness of the water as it lapped over my feet, and the warmth of the sun beating away the morning chill – things I was likely not to have noticed had I been holding on to my phone.
I’ve spent my entire life in Singapore, and not once had I crossed the rope bridge to the islet that, on this day, I found out was the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia.
Unlike the relative calm of the beach, here I found myself faced with the expanse of the Singapore Strait, dotted with massive cargo ships, and with waters that churned so differently from the other side of the islet.
Look up calming sounds, and ocean sounds are sure to come up. In fact, “blue spaces” are scientifically proven to promote better mental health; the rhythmic lullaby of crashing waves is a subset under the larger umbrella of water sounds, which help to reduce stress and encourage tranquility.
This, I felt, worked better than audio wellness soundtracks in bringing down my cortisol levels. It’s true – nothing beats the real deal.
Finding quiet in Sentosa’s forest
Roger Ulrich’s Stress Reduction Theory posits that exposure to natural environments leads to reduced levels of mental stress because we have an innate affinity with them. And so, as beachgoers started trickling in, I took myself off to explore the various trails around Sentosa Island.
Except for the hours during which I’m asleep, I’m always connected. Wearing a smart watch takes it a step further – I don’t even have to look at my phone to receive notifications; I can even send short replies. On my regular long walks on the Rail Corridor, I’m always plugged in with my earbuds on and phone in hand, ready to respond at any moment.
Without my phone and music, trekking through the dense vegetation of the Imbiah Trail was strangely quiet, yet not at all.
Forest bathing, AKA 森林浴 or shinrin-yoku as the Japanese practice is called, has gained popularity in recent times, and with good reason. You don’t even need to hike – it simply calls for you to spend time in and surrounded by nature, and to mindfully engage with it.
Not having my phone in hand was like losing one of my senses – the rest compensated with a heightened awareness of my surroundings. I breathed more deeply, inhaling notes of damp earth and that heavy, green scent of a tropical rainforest.
I heard the crackle of dried leaves underfoot, a whisper of wind, and looked up to the sunlight dappling through the foliage. Amidst the sounds and sights of nature, I could, for a moment, hear myself think.
I may have been dripping with perspiration, but it was really the chatter and noise in my mind that was melting away.
Reconnecting with myself, sans screens
Wandering past the Imbiah Trail led me onto the Coastal Trail, which hugs the Northwestern coast of Sentosa. Before I got to the promised coast, I stumbled upon a cotton-lined path, with great balls of fluff that danced in the sunlight as I walked through them.
This, I discovered, was courtesy of the Kapok Trees which grew in abundance on one section of the trail. We may not have dandelions in this part of the world, but I thought the Kapok floss might just be our equivalent – so I gathered a handful of fluff, made a wish, and blew the silken floss into the air.
It was along the Coastal Trail that I chanced upon the perfect spot to have a lie-down, against the backdrop of Reflections at Keppel Bay on the mainland. That morning was the first in a long time that I had put a real book in my bag, and I had found just the right place to crack it open.
I have to say it – reading without the incessant interruption of incoming notifications was bliss. It’s one thing to turn off notifications, and another to have none to worry about at all. I loved it. In this moment, I was 7 once more, doing absolutely nothing on the weekend except having my nose buried in a book.
I had forgotten what it felt like to hold a book in my hands, to flip its pages, and to lose myself completely in the tale.
I had misplaced the part of me which would have looked out to see the line where the sky meets the sea, as Moana sings, and felt a call to put brush to paper. In the contemplative quiet that I found on this trail, I heard that call again.
Learning to love JOMO
We live in a world of stimulation – it’s no secret that even the cartoons these days are designed to hyperstimulate, to capture and hold a child’s attention. Social media is the fuel that feeds the FOMO flame with its endless stream of content about the lives others are living, that you aren’t. Mindless doomscrolling is precisely that – the antithesis to mindful living.
We’re so connected, we have forgotten how to disconnect. We forget that we can wait for the next work day to deliver that message, and we forget that there are actual hobbies in life to unwind with.
Enter JOMO – joy of missing out – the flip side of the FOMO coin. On my phone-free day, I discovered that if there’s anything that I had been missing out on, it was me, lost to the rat race of keeping up with the Joneses and everything else. And honestly, JOMO was so much less tiring, and that much more liberating, than living in a constant state of FOMO.
Like all change, it will take time to fully embrace the joy of missing out. But living with reduced anxiety and less stress is one change I’m all ready to get on board with. I won’t be giving up my phone just yet, but if there’s anything I took away from my day on Sentosa, it’s that I should be setting some firm boundaries in my relationship with my phone, and getting more Vitamin D.
Have a digital detox on Sentosa
There’s no need to hoof it to Bali or Thailand to find the great outdoors. If mainland Singapore is too close to civilisation, consider Sentosa – an easily accessible destination which you don’t need your passport or even a car to get to. Whether it’s the sea, sand, sun, or greenery you’re after, Sentosa’s got it all. So really, all you need to do is put aside your gadgets, slap on some sunblock, and discover Sentosa like you’ve never done before – like I did.
Find out more about Sentosa’s trails here
This post was brought to you by Sentosa.
Photography by: Charlene Lee