Balance Challenge Day 13: Try Out A Social Media Fast

I must admit a topic for Day 13 had me stumped. I was thinking "Ok we addressed obstacles, solutions... our idea of balance... now what?" The all knowing universe delivered a topic to me within moments of feeling at a loss. The idea for a social media fast came to me when someone posted a snarky comment on a balance challenge post shared on my personal Facebook page. Maybe I'm over exaggerating its snarkiness BUT it really bothered me for the rest of the day. I couldn't decide the intention or motivation behind the comment but it struck a nerve. It bothered me to the point where I "unfriended" the person. Harsh I know but I can also admit that I don't really know the person that well. She was the adoption coordinator for one of my dogs and I met her once. She is a fellow yogi and pregnant. And she critiqued my elbow in a pose... Yes, my elbow. The comment very well could have been meant to be helpful but sometimes I feel like help can very much come across as a criticism. I'm very much the type "If you have nothing nice to say (to my face)..."
So you have the background. I woke up this morning and decided. I am not tuning into Facebook today. There are other social medias: Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest... I'm sure there are more.

Let's enjoy a day without social media and see what it's like.

I can tell you I am 3 hours into my day, and I feel GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD! By choosing to not engage in the chaos and negativity that I tend to find on Facebook, I feel so much lighter today. I also have gotten so much more done in just a couple of hours.

Don't get me wrong. I love F-Book but I continue to struggle with it. About a year ago, I went through and cleaned it up. I took people off my newsfeed that were chronically negative or posting toxic information. I left the people that occasionally had a bad day and needed to vent... after all we all have them. But you know the negative people I'm talking about. The ones that are permanently stuck in a Debbie Downer party. They feel stuck and instead of taking the bull by the horns, it is status after status of the "Woe is me." I  noticed that this helped my state of mind. If you are constantly reading and seeing negativity, you absorb that.



Any excuse to show my dog: Snarky girl helped us adopt this beauty.

So pick your poison (social media nemesis) AND disconnect. If you are feeling really ambitious, tune out of ALL of them. Notice the time you get back and think about all those things you wrote down on that would make you feel balanced. If you said it would be great if you had more time to read a book, take a book along with you today. Instead of eating and tweeting, get lost in an author's words. If you wanted more time to exercise, get up and move off the couch. Get ready to balance by getting rid of the world's biggest time suck!

Namaste folks!