A recent storm took out power to more than 868,000 customers in the Chicago metropolitan area. I was without power for 57 hours, from 8:00 a.m. on Monday to 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday. I counted myself lucky at that, as power wasn’t predicted to be restored until Friday at noon. A few customers didn’t get power back until Sunday morning.

A prolonged power outage is inconvenient, of course, especially as no power means no water from my well. Still, I discovered a few upsides of being without power:

• I went to bed earlier (too hard to read much by flashlight!), got up earlier, and was able to exercise more and write more in the early morning hours.
• I had limited Internet access from locations outside my home. I focused on handling just the most important e-mails.
• The forced break from web surfing and social networking freed up time and eliminated information clutter.

I’m grateful to have the power back on, but also grateful for the break from information overload.

What’s the longest you’ve ever been without power? Did you discover any upsides?