For the past few days, I have been taking a break from social media. I don’t know about you, but I NEED that every once in a while. To be honest, I always function much better when I am not pouring massive amounts of time and energy into scrolling, posting, worrying about what to post (and if people like what I have to say), liking, commenting, interacting, and observing other people’s lives instead of being entirely present in my own. Those things drain me in a BIG way.
I have a hunch that most of my problem revolves around the fact that I am not very good at moderating my online activity. I catch myself picking up my phone to check social media every time I have a spare minute. When I delete the offending apps and pull myself away, I am always surprised at how often I pick up my phone and unlock the screen, only to discover that, in the absence of social media, I have no reason to look at the device in my hand.
I know it’s not a healthy way to live – all the worrying about dumb things like how many people liked my recent Instagram post. I HATE stressing about how to grow my small social following so more people will take my writing seriously, especially when growing requires more posting and more interaction when I would prefer to log off altogether.
But blogging requires me to maintain a social media presence, and I am not willing to walk away from the blog, so I do my best. My goal is to fill my social media pages with light and goodness to help counteract the flood of negativity that so often takes center stage.
Inevitably, though, I come to a point where I need to get away for a time so I can recharge. That usually falls during the summer months when my kids are home and I want to be more present and less distracted. It has become predictable, like seasonal clockwork.
So here we are.
My little taste of freedom from digital distraction over the past week has been the breath of fresh air I needed. I am not ready to give up my breathing room just yet, so I’m permitting myself to take a summer break. From social media. From blogging. From self-imposed deadlines and expectations.
I am not going to draw a line in the sand and tell you how long I will be away. It depends on a host of factors that I have yet to process fully. My goal is to write every day of the summer, but writing and publishing are two different balls of wax. I will likely pop in with some new content from time to time when my daily writing produces something worth sharing. I am also working on some writing projects that I am super excited about, so you can look forward to seeing those at some point in the next few weeks.
All I can tell you for sure is that I will be catching up on a million things that have been piling up for months, working to get my son ready to head off to college in August, and savoring some unstructured time with my family. It is also a pretty good bet that I will be trying to keep my kids from killing each other now that they are together all day long. (Just keepin’ it real!)
Today I am raising my glass of lemonade to a much-needed summer break. I will see you soon.
Peace, out.
xo,
Lynnette
