When I was in elementary school and we had to do the mile run, I’m pretty sure I was one of the kids whose name the gym teacher marked a special symbol next to on her clipboard to signify falling into the “over fifteen minutes” time frame.
And now I’m all like, doing marathons and running over three miles and not getting out of breath.
Go me.
What I especially enjoyed about running was being able to free my mind for a span of time. Often, I’d zone out, ignoring the news channels glaring down at me, begging me to watch the unending five-minute loop of news coverage.
Focusing on my own thoughts and not all the clutter of noise has made me decide to make the bold move to black out from social media. I know this might seem hypocritical and quite possibly impossible coming from a blogger, but it is my intent to work myself into a place where I don’t look at my phone for freedom from boredom and I only reach for my social media accounts to either share something I’ve blogged or to check up on specific individuals.
That’s it.
It’s all very confusing and I’m not absolutely sure how I ultimately feel, but I sense something is wrong. Very wrong. We’re too obsessed with getting our news and life interactions through a place which might possibly be the least truthful, least welcoming place available. I’m not one to hang around when I get such a feeling, hence, the black out.
I gave myself a preliminary black out period to see if this was an achievable decision. The hardest part I experienced was the tug to get back in and scroll my life away through likes and comments, worrying my absence in a digital world might communicate something negative about my feelings for others.
Once I pressed beyond those feelings, I realized the freeing feeling of not being tied down to social media. I began watching movies without reaching for my phone every ten minutes. I began reading even more. I began participating in conversations with real live people. I began putting my phone on silent and ignoring not only social media, but all other communication which wasn’t here and now.
I’m not trying to start a movement or say anyone is doing the wrong thing. This is just the right thing for me right now.
Now, in order to end this blog post on a lighter note, I’m going to share with you a few recent photos of which only one will post to social media, all of which make me smile.
I couldn’t find my Vivaldi CD I had left in Jon’s bedroom. After searching in all the reasonable places, I found it in the trash. Lance’s snap back to me said, “I guess he thought it was Baroque.” Clever, isn’t he?
Um, this is my cutie shoveling during Stella…I can’t handle it.
Some people find laying out on the beach to be their happy place…this is mine.
Oh, but wait. This might be, too.
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