Lent - SOCIAL MEDIA BREAK

 

 LENT: Lent is a solemn religious observance in the Christian calendar that begins on Ash Wednesday (Feb. 14^th ) and ends 6 weeks later before Easter Sunday (March 31^st). The purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer for Easter through prayer, doing penance, mortifying the flesh, repentance of sings, almsgiving, and self denial. In Lent, many Christians commit to fasting, as well as giving up certain luxuries in order to replicate the sacrifice of Jesus Christ’s journey into the desert for 40 days. Many use that “extra time” to read daily devotionals, pray, and meditate in order to draw themselves closer to God.

So last year for lent I gave up social media. I was kind of sick of my timeline filled with BS that was stressing me out. I was pondering giving it up all together but decided instead of a lent break. I have to say …. I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. Since coming back from that break this thing that was supposed to be used to be social with people I’d never know without it has become that for me again. I’ve had conversations with people, I’ve done more than just share and RT everything in sight. I’ve read more articles instead of blindly sharing them. It was a nice reminder of what these sites, FB, Twitter, Instagram etc., were created for.

It’s funny to me cause last year I did it to alleviate some anxiety in my life to step away from the negativity that had taken over my social media timeline and this year … it’s more about just stepping away. When I logged back into all the sites last April I also did a cleanse of my timeline, followers, friends and now my social media is a place I enjoy going to. This is truly a sacrifice because I use Social Media to keep up with people, like Golden, my favorite musicians, sports figures, sporting events, my family etc., so it’s going to be harder this year than last year I think. I mean the Olympics are on, my Auburn Gymnastic team is poised to have a fantastic month, I’m going to see Eric Erdman play a show Wed.,  and I won’t be able to talk about it.  

However, I’m also reminded of the lessons I learned from my Social Media break last year, how I posted, what I shared, the positive energy and negativity that I put out there on my own TL for others to deal with that kind of thing. It made me a better person both in the digital world and in real life as this break also allowed me to be fully engaged in the everyday world I was living in. Let’s  not forget that it was on that Social Media break that by happenstance I found Ed Sheeran’s music and my ears have been happier for it. I wonder who will hit my radar when I’m allowed to really see that radar this year?! I also refocused my energy on this blog during my social media break which reawakened my creative side to an extent.

So my point to you all is this …. When I turned off all my notifications last year my phone immediately went silent to the point I thought it might have died. It was not uncommon for my phone to go off several times an hour, it was a distraction and those 40 days with no notifications made me not miss it or want to check my various feeds. When I relogged into everything after the break I was very selective on whose notifications were turned back on, and whom I decide I didn't miss enough to have those constant notifications. That has made my social media life way more enjoyable and far more social. 

 

I’ll see you guys in March … until then be safe, take care of yourselves, and if you don’t mind ….do me one favor … check in on Golden every once in a while for me :D She's planning to do another 40-acts this year and frankly that's what I'll miss the most about this break, she's the most giving person I know and  the world needs more people like her. 

 

Thanks,

Marcy (@beaslma)

Death to all the flies

I am on the most wanted list, that is if Flies have a most wanted list. I literally just killed over 20 flies in my house. I feel like that one fly that I let get away went back to wherever the flies gather and had to tell the other flies that … well Steve, Brandon, Stephanie, Jack and all the others didn’t make it back. Then like one angry fly dad hollered at the Lord of the Flies …. Insert your laugh here … What did we gain by sending them in there like that … what were you thinking? Then the fly that got away, whom I’ve decided is named Jeffery, not Jeff but Jeffery, pulled out his cell phone (flies have cell phones) and said I got the giants picture and shows it to the crowd. I look a lot scarier when seen by 55 eyes (I imagine there’s a group of at least 11 that can clearly see Jeffery’s cell phone) all of whom are starring at the phone in horror, I mean Jeffery didn't even get my good side, assuming I have one. I will never get the sound of all the moving and buzzing as the flies died out of my head. It was like they were yelling or maybe yelling to one another to stay clear. I did at least give them a proper burial, I shoved them into a plastic cup and tossed them into the trash. I just know they are down there coming up with a revenge plan, as long as they don’t team up with the roaches I think I can take them, tho it may require a trip to the store for more bug spray.

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I’m off from work today, down here in the south our young and young at heart gather on Fat Tuesday to celebrate Mardi Gras. It's supposed to be a day of excessiveness. Hence the name. Maybe my excessiveness centered on Flies ... who knows. The aforementioned excessiveness includes food, drink, revelry, and I'm sure good things too like laughter, hugs, family time etc., My boss, who is from New Orleans, has been celebrating Mardi Gras since last Friday when he left the office, granted he’s been going “home” every weekend all month but it got in full swing last week, both here and there and we won't get into the argument who started Mardi Gras cause honestly I don't care.  I have several friends in Mardi Gras organizations that are celebrating the day. While I like to look at all the pretty floats, I myself am using it to chill.

I slept until 8 (instead of my alarm getting me up at 5:30), had breakfast, played on my computer a bit, and well of course murdered a bunch of flies, now I’m killing some time in front of my computer screen again. I know that technically my self-imposed Social Media ban doesn’t start until tomorrow but I kind of started on Sunday for me. When I killed off all my notifications my phone stopped vibrating nearly immediately. It was not uncommon for my phone to go off several times throughout the day as a tweet would come in or a FB message would hit me. Not getting the notifications has made me not want to check my different feeds.  It’s also surprised me what I’ve done instead. I have played games on my phone (nothing new really because I play a lot of games on my phone) but I’ve also READ more news articles than I have in the recent past. Most of the time I skim an article hit share and move on to the next article. I find myself reading more of the article and paying more attention to what I’m reading. There are several things that I have thought this is interesting I should share it then realized I couldn’t. However, I’ve also realized I’m not the only person to read that article and I’m not responsible for making sure the rest of the world reads it. That was kind of freeing. I realized that if I was interested in it, likely my friends were too and the odds are we all found the article … I think this break might cut down on my “shares” or RTs which I’m sure my followers for lack of a better word will enjoy.

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That’s not to say this self-imposed Social Media ban hasn’t been tough. There were several times I wanted to reach for my phone and send out a tweet or post of Facebook but then didn’t. Yesterday I tried to go to lunch, I say try because I went to 4 different fast food places none of which were very fast and none of which seemed to care if Marcy ate lunch. These were named restaurants who all had about 5 or 6 cars in line that were not moving. Normally I’d send a tweet tagging said restaurants in them wondering what was going on. Then I finally ended up at a place got lunch and proceeded back to my desk in record time. Upon reflection, it hit me that I didn’t even think about sending a positive tweet about my lunch experience at the place where I walked in and out very quickly getting my lunch in record time but was nearly obsessive about sending the negative ones to the places that didn’t seem interested in my lunch needs at all, much less my timeline allotted for lunch dictated by my employer. That too has taught me about what I post and how I post. Most people like to be told they are doing a good job, most people would be infuriated to be blasted for something out of their control. Maybe these places were having problems inside the store, maybe the car in front of me rolled up with an order of like 35 burgers for an office. Maybe they were short staffed due to illness …. Whatever the reason they don’t need me and my negativity in their face by telling the home base what a screw up they are on this particular day.

So my point is that I’ve only been doing this since Sunday (today is Tuesday) and I’m already reducing the negative energy on the net, so this should be a good experiment for me, and it’s teaching me a little bit about what I post and how as I am thinking more about posting not just reacting.

Then again you will have to deal with ramble posts from me until April, so maybe it’s not a win for everyone.

Have a great Mardi Gras everyone … stay safe!

Laissez les bons temps rouler AKA --- Let the good times roll! :D

PS Prayers to the Gulf Shores High SchoolMarching Band who didn’t get to start or complete their parade today when a guy plowed through the band in his car. I pray for them and I pray for the man who did this and I really pray it was a horrific accident, nothing more. People are scary out there.

Marcy