Healthy Chicks

I was just having coffee with a lovely woman in the Boston wellness industry, and we got to talking about social media distractions and all of the “stuff” out there (the good and the bad). She actually recently chose to hide the Facebook feed on her iPhone for this very reason. It’s just too much sometimes.

Ironically, this seems to be a popular topic of late. In fact, the other night when out with friends one of them mentioned how he limits what he shares/how much time he spends on Facebook. “Sometimes it just seems like a space for a bunch of people to show off!” one friend exclaimed.

I totally got what he was saying. From time to time, it can seem a bit too much “Look at me!” and not enough real, genuine, raw honest truth.

And trust me, I too have been guilty as charged. It makes you question, “Why am I sharing this?” “What purpose does this serve?” Is it inspiring others or is it just plain self-obsessed, superficial, information overload?

It brings me back to that quote I shared with you all a few months ago regarding comparing your lows (or behind the scenes) with other people’s highs (essentially, their highlight reel).

You see, Facebook (and all social media for that matter) is not real life. And when you let it become a part of your real life or if it gets to the point where it’s taking away time from your life, it may be a sign you need to step back. Like, now.

Today I realized it was time for me to step away. It’s not that I’m obsessed with Facebook by any means, but truthfully I do let it affect my mood and occasionally find myself falling into that comparison trap. Secondly with a wedding right around the corner (and a goal to publish a book!) it’s extremely important for me to have that unplugged, creative space for me & only me.

With all the social distractions out there, it’s nearly impossibly to get that genuine time for yourself.

So what am I going to do about it? Don’t worry, I’m not going to get all drastic and delete social media from my life for good. Let’s be real… I’m kinda obsessed with twitter. But for starters, I’ve deleted the Facebook app from my phone and am going to change the settings on my computer account to login only to my Healthy Chicks page, feeding information from businesses + people who truly inspire me (without all that extra fluff).

In short, I’m detoxing my ‘book…in baby steps. And it feels darn good.

Oh, and when I’m writing? That’s my sacred time. That’s my me time. As my coffee pal said today, the way to stand apart when writing is to tell your story. After all, no one has one quite like it.

Do you find yourself obsessed with social media? How do you deal with comparing, jealousy and information-overload?

XoXo,

Rachel