Learning is exhausting… and rewarding (at least, that’s the goal).
I haven’t missed it. In fact, I’ve appreciated the extra space in my life so much so that I don’t know if I’ll return. Sure, I miss the pretty 9×9 grids, the beautiful scenic images overlaid with thoughtful quotes, the funny stick drawing that are more truthful than I care to admit, but not enough to want to return. At least, not yet.
In truth, my choice to enter the social media arena was prompted not by a desire or choice of my own, but by my first budding business selling waterproof outdoor blankets. They were amazing, but I had no marketing skills and, because I go all in with everything I do, I jumped into social media for the first time. That was seven years ago and since then, my relationship with social media has been fickle at best.
At the beginning of our gap year – June of 2023 – I was overwhelmed by all the decision I felt I needed to make. One such decision was about social media. It felt like I had to choose between experiencing my year or documenting it, and for what? It can be a double edged sword to “capture” a moment. To collect our experiences in images and words is precious, but in so doing, it can also remove us from the very moment we’re trying to preserve. I wanted to find a balance.
Knowing what a gift it was to take this gap year, I wanted to be intentional about my participation. Sure, I wanted to have a record of our experience, but more than anything, I wanted to be in it. I wanted to have my feet firmly planted in the here and now: pain, suffering, joy, excitement, all of it! I wanted to be committed to the ride, come what may.
There have been so many moments this year when I was immersed in whatever we were doing, so much so, that it was only after walking away from that experience, that I realized I’d taken no photos. In the beginning, there was a fleeting sense of regret for not pulling out my camera, and then I remember why I didn’t… because nothing else in the universe existed but that moment, those people, that place. No photo could have captured or preserved that feeling.
Summer solstice, 2023 marks the last day I was on social media. I walked away and didn’t look back. Now, nearing the end of our gap year, I have no regrets about my decision. Certainly, I wish I could have written more here, but as I mentioned above – I’ve been immersed. Moments like this – where my three boys are away and I’ve got no planning or appointments to make – they have shown up for me three, maybe four times in the past 11 months. It’s been full on.
I started writing this post about my surprising discovery that I’d been away from social media for 11 months. Now, here at the end, it feels more like a post about being present, absorbing the joyful and challenging moments in our lives equally, and finding our way back to one another, and ultimately to ourselves. I guess you could say, whether we’re talking about social media, the daily ups and downs of life, or traveling for a year with my family, it’s always about living life on purpose.
