Happier without the phone.

I've been rolling this blog post around in my head for a few days, not sure how to tiptoe around the elephant in the room.  The "elephant" being the fact that I could very easily offend someone by my words and that's not my intent at all.  So let me just share how I'm happier without my phone and you can feel free to take or leave what you need from it.  It's no secret I, being a highly-sensitive and deeply feeling person, feel #allthefeels.  Isn't just a cute hashtag on the internet for me, it's real life.  This is both a superpower and a burden.  Imagine feeling all the feelings of hundreds of kiddos a day at work! Then imagine relaxing by scrolling through IG and Facebook and feeling all THOSE feelings too.  A few weeks ago I realized I was slowly falling into the pit.  The pit of depression that honestly just felt like discouragement and like there wasn't anything to be excited about.  People who don't get depressed seem to assume depression means laying in bed, not having showered for days. I suppose it can mean that, but it looks different for different people and in various seasons.   

So back to this nagging depressed, discouraged feeling.  I was just feeling off and knew something had to give.  The two areas I heard and felt God speaking to me about were my phone and exercise.  As in GIVE UP the phone and delete the socials and ADD IN some exercise. 

Long story short, I've done both and it has worked WONDERS upon wonders.  A couple of weeks ago I hid Safari from myself on my phone (and can't figure out how to get it back, lol) and also deleted IG as well.   So now the phone is used for podcasts, music (so much music), occasionally texting, and hardly ever a phone call.  YOU GUYS, do you know how much freedom this one simple step alone has given me personally?  So much.  Loads.  It's also given me endless amounts of free time, whereas before I was scrolling through, always feeling too many feelings or like I was missing out, etc, etc,.  

Now in all the nooks and crannies of my day I read.  In fact, I forgot a book to read today and I'm pretty bummed because this has become my go to. In the last few weeks alone I have read at least 4 or 5 books.  Completely delightful!  I have been ending my day with a book too and that has made a huge difference for my mental well-being.  I just feel better being off the phone and not broadcasting my life via social media.  Will I get left behind or will people even care what I post when I do? 

We'll see.  But I don't know that I really care.  Because so far my real life feels so much richer, better, and connected that I'm not missing the internet world.  

I DO still love my blog and hope you'll keep visiting and I DO still post to IG and hop on for a few minutes a day, via my desktop. 

Last weekend we took the kids to the Dickson Street Bookstore.  They adored it! I did too.  Because you know what? Our kids mimic what they see us do.  When my girls see me pick up a book time after time, it makes their love of reading grow even bigger too.  

Thoughts? Are you happier without the phone? Have you tried taking a break from it? 

Is this the kind of stuff you want to read here?