"I just need to 'do me' for awhile."

So here's the thing ...

This Sunday, the preacher at one of the churches we have been trying out brought up a quote from Richard Beck's blog Experimental Theology. Richard was a professor of mine and is also a family friend. He and his wife helped serve cake/desserts at my wedding so, they're my heros.

Anyways, here's the quote ....


" ..... why do people want to inform everybody back home that they are going to a 'beautiful' place like Malibu? Do they have no shame? No social skills? Do they like making people envious?

Why would you want to let a person back home know, as he or she slogs through their mid-week work commute, that you are currently sitting at the beach? What sort of sick person Tweets about sitting on the beach while others are working?"


So this quote kind of struck a chord with me. 

I've been struggling with the concept of what social media used to be for me vs. what it is now. Social media sites (i'm specifically referring to facebook, twitter, and instagram) used to be a form of mindless entertainment for me, and a way to keep up with what was going on in peoples lives. I feel like that's what they are for most people. But within the past couple of years I have let it become too much of a necessity. On top of that, I have started relating to things like the above quote. (face meet palm)

I have allowed pictures of vacations (which I can't afford to take), status updates about jobs (which I don't currently have) and tweets about productive days cleaning the house and doing all of the laundry (I don't think I have ever in my life done "all of the laundry") to become legitimate reasons for me to judge myself, my priorities and my coolness. (smh) Not to mention the fact that I have also allowed my social media persona to become a photoshopped (or in this case instagram filtered) image of what my real life actually looks like. (rolls eyes)

And I'll tell you, it's not a good feeling when you realize how much of an affect these silly websites have on your life. I'm annoyed with myself for letting it get this bad. But I don't need anything else fueling my self judgement, so I'm attempting to find comfort in the possibility that I'm not the only person who has experienced this.

ANYWAYS, all of this to say that I have decided to step away from my personal social media profiles for awhile (facebook, twitter and instagram) in order to realign myself physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually without the distraction of a daily battle between myself and said social media. It's simple really, I just need to "do me" for awhile. I just need to re-figure out who "me" really is. I think I deserve that.

At first I was hesitant to share this decision on my blog but then I realized that the title of my blog is "life as a blog" and that maybe I should live up to that title and be a bit more transparent and open. I'm thankful for bloggers like Kelle from enjoy the small things and this post from the blog Kendi Everyday because they encourage me to be OK with a post that isn't about something necessarily creative or exciting or happy, but simply about something real.

That being said, I do plan on continuing to post on my blog (fun things and real life things included), but I won't be sharing the posts on any form of social media so, if you would like to continue reading my posts then I encourage you to become a follower, bookmark this site, add me to your reader or follow the blog through email. (see right side of the screen)

DISCLAIMER:
I still see the value social media and am not at all bashing or criticizing what social media is (in fact I actually am exploring job opportunities in the realm of social media). This is a personal decision and a personal journey.

BONUS: 
I encourage you to visit Experimental Theology and read the "The Angel of the iPhone" series. I'm slowly reading through it because there are some big ol' words in there, but overall it is relevant to me, extremely well written and well thought out. 

Well, If you made it through this wordy mess than I truly appreciate your dedication, and thank you for reading!
Bye friends.