When we talk about love we usually refer to relationship-type of love, but today let's apply it to our relationship with "time." Time is that elusive, unknown quantity of space that we fill with all sorts of things. Some of those things enhance our experiences and some rob us of the things we love. In particular, social media has become a giant "time suck" for most of us. I believe it's a big part of the reason we feel so busy, and you hear yourself and others saying they wish they had more time to ___ {fill in the blank with your wish}.

Prior to Christmas, I was feeling like I was on a treadmill of online activity but wasn't completing the quantity or quality of the tasks I envisioned and wanted to do. I began to slow down on all of my online interactions. At first, it was just to enjoy the holidays, but then as the tension eased it became an experiment to see if applying very little energy and focus to social media would make my life better or worse. 

Truth be told, I hadn't been enjoying any of it for a while, and in fact, I felt trapped and distracted by it even though I wasn't nearly as engaged as some people are. Its stranglehold to keep up, was indeed, strangling my creativity and drive. Instead of writing my books, working on my product development, and seeing people face-to-face, I felt like I was spinning and had no energy to do these things and more. So I stopped systematically posting, reading, checking, and I didn't think about it, basically, I didn't care. If I felt like popping on, I did so for only a minute or two, and immediately clicked off. Instead, for six weeks, I took a much needed vacation from social media to clear my head and see what would happen.

The results were fabulous! I felt free of the nagging habit to check my phone a hundred times a day. Time reappeared in ways that made the day feel longer so I actually had the time to do things. I read books, crocheted, saw friends, talked on the phone, enjoyed the holidays, rested, visited some more, meditated, organized my house, wrote, and gained long lost clarity and new vision on my work, goals, and dreams. The self-imposed moratorium of my online life opened up space for me to remember what is important to me. 

From this time of stillness and focus, the last part gathered momentum each day until it was like a revelation in ways too numerous and personal to elaborate on right now. I was able to analyze what had been working and what hadn't, AND what I need to do going forward. In other words, the distraction of social media being absent allowed me to recognize the importance of what those distractions distracted me from creating! Yes, the previous sentence is correct... Read it again and think about what you are missing from your life and desires.

We've lived as a society for a whole lot longer than this new medium exists and we've done well without it. Social media can be helpful, and certainly works to connect people at great distances, but loving your time more makes for more time to do the things you love. The things you love feed your soul and inspire you, and make you, you! If you have forgotten what they are, then a social media break may be the remedy and reminder you need.

Like anything, moderation is key to balancing the time spent on social media with real life. Figuring out that amount directly correlates to realizing how much time you are wasting each day. If this amount of time (and energy) is keeping you from sharing your gifts with the world - because you are sharing vacation photos or looking at what other people ate for dinner AND then you don't have time to ___ {fill in the blank} - something has to change. I'm going to say this again, loving your time will make the time for what you truly love. ~ 💖Luci