Staying off FB was HARD yesterday. This morning has been hard too but for a different reason. Yesterday, it was hard because of what I described last time how I use it as my escape from work anxiety.
Last night and this morning it was hard because I use it to share the cute silly little things my kids do (like how they thought it was absolute hilarity when we were kicking the dog’s ball back and forth like a soccer ball or when Sammy started having her lovie “blow raspberries” on my belly) and my little victories in life (I finished wrapping all of this year’s presents!!). It feels weird to have no one besides my husband to share those things with. Like am I really going to text a friend to share these random things? Like sure, maybe they might come up in the middle of a conversation, but to say that out of the blue? That’s weird. Plus, then it creates an expectation of a longer conversation which isn’t what I want to do. Beyond that, who do I send it to? I’m not going to send it to all the people who might have “liked” something like if I had posted it on FB…especially because not all of them are close friends. That’s just weird, even if I just send it to my few closer friends who’d like it. Still weird to do it out of the blue. So the cute moment goes by unremarked on. To be lost over time. Because without FB’s “on this day” feature bringing up old memories, those little moments get lost in our memories. I like sharing those moments with friends in hopes of giving them a cute/relatable story that might brighten their day. I also already miss seeing those cute/relatable moments from friends as well for the same reason. I imagine this is going to make the whole parenting gig seem a lot lonelier.
The other thing I’m missing already are the political/news posts that a small handful of FB friends share. Not the ones who post the sensational nonsense, those I don’t miss. But the 5ish friends who post real links, often with thoughtful commentary. THOSE posts I miss. The posts that help me keep up to date on the things that are happening. The posts whose perspectives help me form my own perspective. These friends post things that get me thinking about the news in ways I might otherwise not. Especially one FB friend who is a journalist (doesn’t cover politics himself, but has good insight) and another one who is a person I met through Occupy who always pushes me to grow in my thinking around subjects. For example, I heard about the “sweeping” criminal reform bill the Senate passed, but when I went to find an article about it, there wasn’t much detail mentioned about the contents of the bill. I know at least one of these people would have had a good article to share. What this is going to mean is that I’m going to spend more time watching the news again…which had been really contributing to my stress before I cut back.
So, at least so far, I’m not impressed. At all. I realize the first few days are the hardest, but uugh…I really don’t see how this is going to help me.
To attempt to replace some of the more positive things I get out of FB, I’m going to try to make either daily, or every couple of day, posts here about cute family stuff that has been going on or other things I don’t want to forget.
I’m also going to take advantage of a little bit of the time I won’t be on FB to do a daily tarot card drawing. Each post, I’ll list today’s card and include a reflection on the previous day(s) card.
Today’s card: The Lovers
Heard Unheard, Seen Unseen, Understood Misunderstood 