The Little Blue Square

Let me start off by informing you all that I originally planned to totally deactivate my Facebook page.

Instead, I totally removed the app from my smart phone.

I have slowly been making changes in how I use social media (but first let me take a selfie), but this is the biggest.

The checking it, checking in, scrolling, constant need to see what was going on...enough was enough.

The app is removed. In order to check it, I will have to get my laptop out at home (where I rarely am) and log in.

I have hidden people from my sight due to negativity in general.

Such precious time had been wasted on useless scrolling and updating.

Why, you ask?
What's the harm?

I don't need to let the world know any time I eat a healthy salad, get a hair cut or go on a date night with my husband.

I don't need to update Facebook every time I catch up with an old friend over coffee.

I don't need to let anyone know what I wore today or how well my life is going.

I need to re-focus my intentions and re-evaluate who my true audience should be.

Instead of posting photos of my kids and talking about how much fun we are having together, I should be more present IN THAT MOMENT- without my smart phone or it's camera.

Instead of updating everyone on my romantic evening out, I should be looking more into my husband's eyes, not a screen.

The likes, the shares, the constant need for approval; it's not worth it.

It's not worth the time lost, the moments lost, the giggles missed, that look he gives you that you didn't see because you were too busy refreshing your page for a new like.

I am not absent from social media, but I am choosing to be more present in my real life-the life I should be totally focused on.

My kids do not care and never will care how many people saw a photo of us putting a puzzle together or baking cookies.
My kids DO care that when they are with their step mom, she is totally focused on them and her phone is put away.

They will look back and remember that instead of intently watching how many people liked the highlights of my relationships with them, that I was intently and intentionally focused on that relationship OFF of social media.

I have come to terms with the fact that my life can be great and I don't have to let the world know about it.

I can in fact survive day to day and not need approval or acknowledgment.

Social media is not the audience I should be trying to please.

I believe every relationship around me will improve by removing the constant pressure to inform you of my plans for the day.

I will be more apt to be in the moment, for THAT moment.

I want to capture time with my eyes, with laughs and with real hugs and real conversations instead of capturing life through a lens or a screen.

Life is going to be much more beautiful to look at when I'm really, I mean REALLY looking at it.

Who would want to see their loved ones' smile through a smudged iPhone camera when they could see it the way it was designed to be seen?

I have been cheating myself of genuine interaction and deceiving myself into thinking that just because everyone else lives through the blue square that I have to too.

Excuse me while I have things to see.

Really, really see.