My daughter often shuts down her social media, she puts up walls that preserve her privacy and goes about living her life. I don't know if I truly grasped the value in that until recently. For the first time since my boy encouraged me to open a Facebook account, I have abandoned mine. I currently still have it as I make some decisions around it. But I have stopped opening it. I have removed the ever present tab on all of my computers and electronic devices. I am still using my messenger as I communicate with my family and closest friends that way. I'm dreadfully slow at text messages and prefer the ease of just typing a message in, but I am evaluating that also.
I am working on creating deep relationships, the kind we used to have back before social media. Back before we lived our lives on blast. I am also working on creating a greater sense of silence and depth in my world. I am finding more time for conversations around meals that linger for hours. I am finding less of a desire to even know where my phone and computer are located unless I actually need them.
I'm finding that walking away from social media is giving me the gift of more time to do things that bring value and importance to my life. I've been crazy busy, but in a far different and more intentional way. I'm enjoying it.
This morning as the puppies woke me up from the main floor crying because they couldn't get to me, I wandered down to get them and then tried to go back to sleep. Out of habit I grabbed my phone, I find things to read as I drift back to sleep. I used to read books for hours on end, lost in the depths of the stories. I struggle with that now, not because I don't still love to read, to learn, to explore ideas and thoughts, I do. I am finding that my patience is shorter, that my attention span has been greatly shortened after years of reading social media.
I'm trying very hard to turn that around. Unless I need my computers to research something, find a pattern or recipe that are not present in my personal collections I am trying to break my dependence on electronics. I was feeling controlled. I still am. I am finding that my own self-imposed restriction has cleared my mind, has allowed me more creative freedoms and a stronger desire to do things.
This morning my phone had an alert that I had maxed out my storage and it would be running slower. In the early morning silence I started to clear it out. I'm not finished, my eyes are blurry. I realized I had become a photo that resonates in my heart.
Look at the crowd, all of them looking at it through their phones as they record it, to save it for memories sake. I don't want to be the nameless faces, I don't want to be those people observing and living life trying to save it for later. I want to be that wrinkled older woman, deeply engrossed in the moment.
This is my last blog for awhile, maybe for good. I don't know. What I do know is that I am far too busy living a life that I want to remember. Chasing dreams and enjoying all of the moments with my sweet Hubs, my puppies, family and friends. I can still be found, I can still be reached.
I've spent a lot of time in prayer. I've spent a lot of time reading the God's words. Listening to things that have made me feel stronger in my convictions to live a life worth remembering.
Thanks for being on this journey with me, I might be back... I simply don't know... If you want to be a part of my world, you are very much welcomed. I'm simply done with living a vicarious life with everyone and everything. I want real, raw, full of emotions and experiences. Meet me in the gardens, on walks, creating or cooking. Invite me to be part of your real life experience.... but at least for the foreseeable future, don't look for me virtually, I'm not there.
love and prayers my friends...
Wow! Good one 381+
ReplyDeleteGood plan. I haven’t been on social media as much this year, maybe I can do even less next year. Take care.
ReplyDeleteIt's damaging. That is my conclusion. I will miss keeping up with friends in real time. But....
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