I took a Social Media Fast for 10 days...

Now what? Do I just say “yay, wow, look at me, I stayed off of social media for 10 days” …? I could just leave it at that and not find the meaning … or not SHARE the meaning it had.

First of all, what is ‘social media’ – defined by me. ( others opinion of what that is doesn’t matter, this is my blog) Facebook and Instagram are my 2 top offenders when it comes to ‘social media’ – where I find the most time and energy wasted on scrolling. Those 2 places are where I interact with ‘social media people’ … some of them are my posy…some I barely know. Honestly, its where I feel a need to ‘show off’ and I just hate that (about myself). For sure my post today will having nothing to do with the new cold sore that’s festering on my bottom lip as I type. I’ll probably post the photo of Hope and her new adventures with Cheryl…and maybe I’ll write a short blurb about connections with people and how easy it is to go DEEPER when there’s no filters on photos showing a better view of what may or may not have happened.

Was it easy?

Totally. I was happy to have a break from my phone. I knew from many past experiences of a drama filled “I’ve lost my phone” “I can’t find my phone” “do you know where my phone is” … I would get so pissed off because it wasn’t where I ‘needed’ it to be. It made me mad that I couldn’t find it…even MADDER that I was wasting time (and good vibes) caring about my phone.

That’s (loosing things) a whole other realm of insight I’m not quite ready to share here…

So yeah. It was ‘easy’, I was happy Facebook was dead to me and the ‘work’ of posting perfect pictures on Instagram was at the same funeral.

I became so much more productive. I spent hours outside weeding the strawberries and blueberries and trimming the raspberries down. We also got to work and finished the siding on the shop – opposite side of the building to the studio. I finished about 400 projects that were ½ done … I went for long walks with Mona and short walks with Mum. I set Mum up in the studio to work on some more painting for her upcoming Art Show. (more info on this to come in a future blog)

While weeding, I found myself thinking about all my favorite people that I missed because I didn’t ‘see’ them on social media.

My heart filled with good juju when I thought of them. I have so many good people in my posy.

I also focused more love and attention towards real life connections. I have so many amazing people who come to the studio. Regular students, family from out of town, drop ins, car loads of families from faraway places.

In conclusion, I will be making more of an effort to give less effsss about my phone and social media in general … an awareness of real connections and moments is where it’s at.

PS - if you want to see the Tunnel Book posted in the photo above you will have to come to the studio. It is a story about how I felt when my Mom was diagnosed with Dementia ... still a work in progress :)