Unplug
October… my favourite month of all, and it’s just about done in a couple of days. Sigh!
How is everyone doing? Are you enjoying this season too as much as I do?
Welcome to my blog and my nomadic posts, which bears a magicians commonly used phrase – “now you see me, now you don’t.”
Every year since after our 2nd year wedding anniversary which is on the 7th of October, I’ve been doing a social media sabbatical. I took it to the next level the following year and asked my husband to join me into an electronic sabbatical during the time that we were away for our anniversary and my birthday (October 11th). We turned off our phones. No screens. Just a good old fashion radio to keep us company, plus a box of 1500 puzzle pieces, and a good book! Fast forward 4 years, and I still do that. I unplug. One time, I took more than a year and a half off of Facebook. I just didn’t open it. In all honesty, it wasn’t that hard. It’s actually liberating! I found so much time in my hand to read, and craft, and write, and do other things that are far more important than being online wasting my life away.
I did the same thing this year. No Facebook.
I still go online to work on our homeschooling and a unit study on horses that I am putting together for my 3 year old. But no social media. I can’t even remember what was my last post on Facebook about. Perhaps about the kids, or a craft we made, or a picture of a dish I prepared in our kitchen. (Maybe you can help me jog my memory and comment down below and tell me what it was? Who knows you might win a prize? Haha. Wink. Wink).
I have hundreds of notifications on Facebook taunting me to click the little bell to see what they are. I will. Soon. But in the meantime, I want to live my life without the lens of the social media peering through the crazy life of this sleep deprived momma. Right now, the only pairs of eyes I want looking in are from my 3 beautiful brown-eyed little ones, and their daddy’s mute blue eyes. This is my troupe. My clique. My tight circle. The only sets of eyes who know me warts and all, and still love me the same. Isn’t that crazy?
So unplug. Once in a while silent your phone and hide it from plain sight. Connect with the people you love. Look them in the eyes. And just be in the moment with them.
In life, there’s no rewind. No pause button. It’s always moving forward even if we’re not. Time does not stand still. Babies grow old. Marriage taken for granted can fall apart. Any kind of relationship without connection can go stale.
So cuddle up with your little ones when they asked you stay and snuggle with them one more time. Let their tangled hair rest on your cheeks as their warm little bodies hold you close. Focus your gaze into the eyes of the person speaking to you. Let them know you are not just hearing them. But that you are listening too.
Enjoy every second of every moment whether it be with someone or not.
Unplug with me.
Light up some scented candles and take a relaxing bubble bath. Grab that book you’ve been wanting (but procrastinating) to read. Make yourself a hot coco with whipped cream, and wrap yourself in a warm blanket by the fire.
Allow yourself not to be easily accessible by the outside world.
Trust me, Facebook, or Instagram, or Twitter, won’t fall apart if you go off their radar to actually live your life.