Interrupted
My Life Thus Far
Getting Back All The Stolen Moments
Day 1 of no social media has been a resounding success. The benefits started last night. Not even 3 hours after deleting the apps. I went to bed at least 2 hours earlier than I have been. I didn't go to bed upset or pissed off about some pointless online battle. I slept all night. I didn't wake up once. Not even to go to the bathroom. I had a nice dream (Snookums and I were driving around Hawaii in Fiona, getting into adventures), and when I woke up around 9:30am I felt so rested and had a genuine smile on my face. When I picked up my phone I had 7 emails and one message. That's it. Not 47 Facebook notifications, 8 Instagram notifications, and Timehop demanding my attention. None of that. I scanned the Kitsap Sun news app, checked the weather, responded to the one message, and that was it. 5 minutes. It was such a liberating feeling getting back the hour and half I used to spend on Facebook, Instagram, and Timehop. I got up, got dressed, and went on with my day.
Through the day, I kept getting back all the stolen moments I used to spend checking my phone in parking lots before getting out of the car. Or while eating. No distractions. It's a great feeling. I'm loving the freedom. Who would have thought having less access to what's going on in other people's lives would make me feel so much more connected to what's going on in my own life. It's a great feeling. At first I thought a day would be too hard (but necessary), but I don't feel the least bit like going back tomorrow. One day at a time. If I feel like reconnecting, I will. No one is stopping me. For now? No. I'm good.
I had a 20% off reward to use at Sephora, and a JC Penney's reward as well. So, I took myself shopping. All the holiday gift sets have arrived at Sephora, so I bought myself a couple presents. I got Snookums a small vial of Versace pour homme to try, and a vest and thermal long sleeved shirt. That's it. Nothing major. It felt awesome being out and about doing something instead of sitting in bed staring at my phone. If you couldn't tell, I'm pleased with the progress of my social media vacation!
After finishing my shopping, I stopped into Trader Joe's to pick up some ingredients for dinner. Zuppa Toscana, the family's favorite soup. Snookums was just getting off, which was a stroke of luck, because I didn't know exactly what time he was getting off. He helped me shop, then we went our separate ways so he could run a couple errands. I stopped at Central Market for no-chicken broth.
Both Snookums and I got a call from the school nurse because Kiki got hit in the face with a tennis ball (she's okay, just a little bit of an emerging shiner), so while I was at Central I made her a boo boo gift bag. They have small canvas lunch sacks that look like gift bags, so it started there. I got her a cute little monster ice pack, a box of red velvet tea (she loves drinking hot tea), a pack of Mamba candy, and a Booda butter lip balm. She so often gets left out or forgotten (unintentionally) because she's in the dreaded middle child position. I just wanted to do something special just for her. Her sad little face lit up as she was looking at the things in her bag. And she packed her lunch for tomorrow in the lunch bag.
We had dinner at the table tonight. A real, sit-down, family dinner. For the first time in months. Can I attribute that to no Facebook, too?
Ad: