Facebook Fast

I recently did the unthinkable. I went for 5 days straight without checking my only active social media feed. I was neither camping, nor was my phone broken. I did it on purpose, or rather, FOR a purpose. The purpose was to reboot my brain.

Wading through my social feed during my country's Presidential elections was mentally exhausting, to say the least.

1980's kids like myself will remember the part in the movie "Neverending Story" where Atreyu loses his best friend (and horse, Artax) in the Swamp of Sadness. If you don't remember it, here's a refresher:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y688upqmRXo
This is what I felt like as I watched everyone fight about candidates and policies. Then the election was over, and I was hoping to take a deep breath and keep moving forward. Instead, everything got even messier. I have no doubt it would have been messy in a different way had the other candidate won. Long story short, I realized a week ago that I was mentally DROWNING in conflict. I could tell that many Americans were also finding themselves in the "Swamp of Sadness." My efforts at trying to be cheerful and pull my friends out of the mud were like Atreyu's efforts, except even less successful. I needed a break, I took one, and here's a few things I learned:

Even if I control much of what I see on my social media feed, it is never going to be a bias-free/safe zone. For years now, I have given up on watching any broadcast television news whatsoever. I (perhaps foolishly) thought my social media feed would give me all the "news" I needed in order to stay aware of my surroundings and advocate for worthy causes. I thought I could choose to hear only from sources with whom I agreed on key points. Instead, I found myself losing respect for some of my friends, and also wondering which of my friends were losing respect for me. That's not why I originally chose to participate in social media, and taking a break helped me remember why I did/do.

It's such a miracle to communicate instantaneously accross the globe. It's a privilege, an honor. It comes with responsibility. I want to spread kindness. I want to multiply the goodness in the world. I need to do better and be more choosy about what I share. I need to type out the compliments I think in my mind when I read a friend's status.

My children prounouce it "toilet trees."
They think they are hilarious.

I have plenty of time to do what I need to do. While taking my break, I made an effort to replace my usual social media time with worthy activities that I have been telling myself I don't have time for. For instance, I got some Family History out. I'm getting more familiar with navigating www.familysearch.org . Reading about my ancestors' lives reminded me to catch up on my own journal writing. I prepared a 72 hour kit of food and toiletries for my family of 6, as suggested on https://www.ready.gov/kit . I spent even more time with family members, both immediate and extended. I read books; some to myself, some to my little monsters. I took care of myself. It was so much more pleasant than I feared it would be in the beginning.

God is in control. That is so easy to forget when I read more words from humans in a day than I do from His words. Have I made it obvious to Him that I choose to be on His team regardless of what the scoreboard reads at any given point? I can do better at that, for sure.