On a regular basis I have so many things going on in my mind that sometimes I just want to run away. Yes, I mean it. I literally want to run away. BUT I don’t mean I want to get away from my life and never come back. What I mean is, I get to the point where it feels like as long as I am smack dab in the middle of the chaos, there is no way I will ever be able to find my way out unless I am not right here.
I just want to hit the pause button on life, figure out all the things that are swarming around in my brain, then jump right back in, hit play and go on. Unfortunately I haven’t figured out how to do that just yet. I want to be the healthiest mom, wife and friend and it feels like if I could pause life for a while, I could figure out all the things!
In December I did what a lot of us do. I reflected on the past year….thought towards the one to come. I wanted to find a word for 2018 and decided mine would be focus. I want to pay attention to where my focus is going. What is getting my time and attention?
As I thought about the things I knew I wanted to place focus on, I realized I needed to make some changes in order to accomplish that. One of those things was to take a break from social media. I knew that it was distracting me from things I wanted and needed to focus on. I wasn’t sure how long my break would last but I decided to start with 2 weeks. Here I am, 6 weeks later and I have slowly gotten back on social media but not really posting or spending much time on it.
My time away was so very good for me. I learned a lot about myself and was able to understand what I needed to see more clearly. I spent more time in prayer and seeking God in my daily life. I was able to hear from Him more when I wasn’t so distracted. I took time to read books (ok I don’t ever read books, I listen to them) I had been wanting to read and then a few kind of landed in my lap that I feel God purposefully placed there. I truly feel like the past 6 weeks have been a journey of discovery and newness.
As I move forward, I am not 100% sure what my relationship with social media looks like. I know I don’t ever want to be back in the habit of checking it a million times a day- every time I am bored or need interaction. I know that without seeing what is going on in so many peoples lives, I was able to focus on those closest to me and I have had more space in my mind to reach out to people I felt God had laid on my heart to reach to. I found myself asking people what was going on in their life because I had no clue and that was a good feeling. To be able to have real conversations to hear the hearts of those around me, rather than just see a post from them and move on. Social Media allows us to communicate with the masses, making it seem less important to communicate in real life.
I truly love to share my life, especially pictures. It makes me happy. Before social media was big, I loved breaking out the scrap books and photo albums when people came to our house. I have always enjoyed sharing pictures. I also have a heart for encouraging others by sharing my story and life, all that God is doing now and has done in the past. That is one reason social media is so great because I can share with so many people at one time. I just don’t ever want social media to replace real connection.
If you are like me and find yourself needing a recharge, refuel, refocus, or whatever you want to label it, think about taking a break from whatever distracts you most. We don’t get to hit pause in real life and if we aren’t careful we can miss so many of the amazing things all around us because we are too distracted with things that aren’t important. This break has been the most refreshing, eye opening time for me and I am excited to continue to share more of what I have discovered over these last 6 weeks!
All the things 