A South Island-wide power outage today turned out to be a blessing in disguise for one Christchurch man who says it allowed him to find the time to rediscover his love of walking around aimlessly with no idea what to do with himself.
Christopher Leon, 32, said he was left in a state of total disarray when power went out to much of the city at around 11:20am this morning. But after an initial moment of panic, he found himself doing something he hadn’t done in years: aimlessly wandering to and from the kitchen to check if the fridge light was on yet.
“It just allowed me to get away from all the distractions and spend some quality time with myself, just wandering around aimlessly wondering when the power would come back on,” he said. “It’s one of those things you rarely get a chance to do in this modern world we live in. I really found myself in those moments, and what I learned is that, actually, I’m really boring.
“When all the technology stops and you’re left not even able to toast a slice of bread, it really brings into focus everything you have in your life. Which is nothing, really. Everything just stops.”
“Without technology, I have nothing to add to this world,” he added. “Nothing at all.”
Christopher said it felt like a lifetime before the power came back on, but in that time he learned a very valuable lesson about humans’ over-reliance on technology.
“We really need it,” he said. “Life is fucking terrible without power.”
Christopher says he plans on buying a backup power generator so that he is never forced to confront who he really is ever again.