What I Didn’t Expect from Five Weeks Away from Social Media
I didn’t start out thinking of it as a ‘social media holiday’. Last month I took a holiday to unplug, chill out and recharge. I did know I really didn’t want to be online, and it soon turned analogue quite naturally when I picked up a novel and devoured it sitting out in the sun, and then in bed with a cup of tea.
I walked the beach, hung out with a lovely dog, did yoga, qigong and had morning dance parties for one. I watched some old-school movies which felt pretty analogue – especially seeing Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin at their secretarial desks turning the dials on their telephones. Adorable really. Bring back 1984, I say.
What really struck me when I popped back into Facebook five weeks later was how noisy the space felt, and of course Instagram seemed even more so.
It wasn’t necessarily that anything I was seeing was negative or awful (although there’s a lot going out there!) but after several weeks away, the contrast was quite something.
I might add that my social media feeds are mostly filled with amazing content, and some truly incredible material is shared there. There’s definitely a place for engaging with it, and I’ve often found that when I pop in on instinct, I come across exactly what my intuition was guiding me towards that day. But, it’s still noisy, let’s face it.
So, what happens when the constant stream of other people’s lives, thoughts and perspectives stops occupying so much space?
The joy of undiluted You
What became really apparent to me wasn’t simply how noisy social media is, but how much clearer and more undiluted our sense of self can become when there isn’t so much outside noise.
It’s so much easier to tune into myself when I’m just being with myself, free of distraction, the many opinions, the sounds of what life is apparently meant to look like, and the busyness of sharing into a space that can quickly become a barrage of other people’s stuff arriving in your own sacred personal space.
There was a purity to the space I’d been in for those weeks – luxuriating in the simplicity and experience of being me, without so much else layered over the top. My own thoughts, my own feelings, my own rhythm, my own knowing.
Oh, the sweet peace of being away from the cacophony!
The steadiness, stillness and silence. Not all the time, mind you – the bird song around here is non-stop! But that’s natural sound, a background soundtrack to being with myself.
And in being with myself, with no time limit, no clock watching, I get to really feel into what’s actually going on in there. What I’m feeling. What I’m thinking. What I have to say. What I really care about. What I really want. What I need.
I get a fresh sense of who I am, and even the space to sense where I’m going and who I am becoming.
The spaciousness that becomes available feels so good. Space to be my native self, with no expectations, no doing. Just being.
Feeling life in myself. Feeling myself alive. As is. In this moment.
When we’re in this deeper connection, it’s so much easier to know ourselves – what’s true, aligned and important to us.
What if the real thing we’re missing out on isn’t what’s happening in everyone else’s lives,
but the joy of being more fully present in our own?
Coming home to myself
I felt like I came home to myself in a way I hadn’t done for a long time. I’d usually been so focused on serving others, attending to daily life and moving towards the future that I hadn’t realised how much I was missing this fuller experience of my own presence.
It wasn’t just that I felt relaxed or refreshed. I felt more fully me. More connected to my own identity, my desires, my inner knowing and what genuinely feels right for me.
And something else occurred to me as I reflected on this experience.
We need to know what being deeply connected to ourselves actually feels like if we’re going to recognise when we’ve drifted away from it, and find our way back.
When we’ve had time to really drop in and experience that fuller connection, it’s so much easier to calibrate for it when we come back into daily life. Otherwise, it can feel a bit like flailing around trying to find our way back to somewhere we haven’t really been before.
But once we’ve experienced it, we have an internal reference point. We know what we’re looking for, or more accurately, what we’re looking to feel.
And we can return to it, over and over again.
Staying connected while living in the world
I’m not talking about withdrawing from life. I’m talking about being more fully in your own life.
It’s relatively easy to feel connected to ourselves when we’re away from ordinary responsibilities, but what happens when we return to work, relationships, commitments and the online world? Can we stay with ourselves while engaging fully with life?
I think this is where the real opportunity lies. You can still enjoy people, social media, ideas, creativity and connection. You’re simply less inclined to lose yourself in all of it.
For me, one of the interesting changes has been feeling less pulled towards what other people are doing, and much more compelled to drop back into myself, into my own centre – over and over again if necessary.
And let’s face it, FOMO is endemic. But what if the real thing we’re missing out on isn’t what’s happening in everyone else’s lives, but the joy of being more fully present in our own?
What if more of the richness we’re searching for becomes available simply by being fully present in ourselves? In our own lives?
There’s something rather delicious about that.
Plus, when I’m more present and connected within myself, I can be more fully present with other people too, enjoying the richness of sharing life with them.
Making space for more of ourselves
I’ve been wondering how it will serve my life to keep spending time with myself each day, even just for five or ten minutes, tuning in and simply being myself?
Not necessarily meditating, processing something, or trying to achieve a particular state. Just being with me, staying connected to what matters and what’s true for me.
Because once we have that internal reference point, reconnecting can become something we practise in the midst of everyday life, rather than something that requires a five-week holiday.
If this inner connection is calling you too, when in the week would you like to take some time for yourself to simply be with You? What would that look like practically? Often figuring out the logistics clears the way for it to become a new normal and natural part of daily life.
And if you feel called to a social media break, what would that look like? It doesn’t need to be five weeks. Perhaps it’s an evening, a weekend, or simply creating more space in your day without the constant stream of outside input.
For me, this experience has been a beautiful reminder that the more deeply I inhabit my own life, the less I feel the need to look outside myself for something that’s missing.
It’s really about being free. Free to choose. Free to be you.
Karen x
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