Facebook WASN'T The Problem...

I haven't blogged in six or seven weeks. 
::gasp:: 

I broke up with Facebook and then inadvertently broke up with writing for a while. But in my defense, we have been busy. We've finished our school year. We've traveled. We've celebrated birthdays and graduations and anniversaries (13 years yesterday!) and wedding showers and eaten crawfish and avocado bruschetta and sushi and snowballs and about 55 gallons of coffee. I need a whole body cleanse because my skinny jeans currently make me feel like a busted can of biscuits. Bless. #worthit

"How is life sans social media, Katie? Are you churning butter while you recite poetry to the kids as they sit huddled by your feet and bask in your serene gaze? Are you centered and focused and relaxed?" 

Umm... No.

 I mean, Yes! 

But not quite.

 But things ARE different. 

And better in loads of ways. 

And it's been surprising, too. 

We traveled fairly soon after I'd deleted my Facebook/social media accounts. I can remember telling my friend Sara that it was bizarre to be in the car for a 4 hour drive while the kids splurged on a DVD in the back and my husband Matt listened to a podcast and I just....sat there. Like a pioneer woman in her bonnet on the front seat of the wagon. 

"This is so insane." I texted her. "I would normally be scrolling through my News Feed and now I've got nothing to do." Facebook had become such an ingrained habit of mine, I forgot how to "do" life without it. "You can just sit, Katie. Look out your window. THINK WITHOUT DISTRACTIONS for twenty minutes. Enjoy the peace." she replied. 

WHAT A NOVEL CONCEPT to just...be. 

In the car. With my brain, a notebook, a pen and my never ending mental To Do List. So I wrote it down. The things I wanted to accomplish through our last few weeks of school. Summer plans. Dates to remember. Ordering a new filter for our icebox and a lightbulb for the oven. Paperwork that needed to be submitted for our school year. VBS check lists. The car's registration renewal. I wrote all the things because I got to just sit there, in an air conditioned seat with a cup of coffee AND PROCESS LIFE. 

It rocked. 

Now I'm not saying that life has been all sunshine and roses since I gave up social media. It turns out, Facebook was just a SYMPTOM of a problem: my habitual distraction. Social media had trained me to keep my phone in my hand nearly constantly. It trained me to reach for it as soon as I sat in my recliner. Or when I rode in the car. Or when the kids started an episode of Odd Squad. Or when I finally flopped onto the sofa at the end of the day. I had become so well trained that even after eliminating social media from my life, I WAS STILL REACHING FOR MY PHONE. 

However now, with my Digital Distraction options being vastly limited, I found myself spending lots of time tracking our weather and refreshing my email for more coupons to Bed, Bath and Beyond and BOGO sales from Yankee Candle. Bless.

It took time, I'd say a week or two at least, to stop reaching for my phone. Scrolling through that touch screen had become second nature. I went from looking at other people's kids and recipes for triple chocolate cookie dough brownies and live videos of people selling stuff on social media to tracking rain clouds and humidity levels and talking myself out of buying Christmas Cookie candles in May. Turns out Facebook wasn't my problem, I WAS. 

And it's been well over a month now since I've given up social media and now- THINGS REALLY ARE GREAT. I'm still not churning butter or anything, but I'm also not narcissisticly analyzing every picture I see myself in to decide whether or not I'd want to post it online. I'm reading the kids more books. And actually watching more shows with them instead of letting them sit in my lap while I scroll through my phone. I'm not consumed with coming up with things to post about our life- I'm just living it. 

And it turns out- I'm really, really happy with it this way.

Thanks for stopping by, y'all!  ~Katie. 

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And I'd still love to hear from you! I won't be able to meet you on social media, but if you leave a comment below here on the blog, I'd love to be able to chat and catch up! (I need someone to gush over The Greatest Showman with.)