I had a year-long break from social media. It’s not unusual for me to do this. About a year ago I started doing it on around day 28- day 3 of my menstrual cycle. I do it because when my outer lights start to dim and I feel that call to go inward I get this weird temptation to spend all of my time scrolling through social media. I then start to compare myself to every other business/human/parent and because my energy is lower and it’s time for me to answer that call to surrender, something I naturally find quite difficult, I start telling myself all of these lies about how I’m not doing enough. That then causes me to fall into a spiral of negative self talk and before I know it I’m deep in the throws of menstruation which is already challenging enough for me, without an angry little comparison demon on my shoulder telling me I don’t have time to rest.

In the beginning, when I started this practice, I didn’t feel any better. So intense was my addiction to social media that I told myself it was worse coming back from a break and that I’d let myself (and my followers) down by not posting every single moment of my life over the past 5-7 days. At first I’d feel a really intense sense of overwhelm, with no idea how to “get back on the wagon” I’d start fabricating this story that my business momentum was slowing down as a result and I’d essentially have to start from scratch and man did that feel like an uphill climb. But something in my gut made me stick with it and after a month or two of sticking to my boundaries, something started to shift. I became AWARE! and I reaped the benefits, I left my period cave each month with a deep sense of feeling rested. I felt ready to be seen and to see the world again! and so last year I wanted to experiment further and decided I was going to take an extended break and see what happened, I stayed away from social media for a year -

Here's what I experienced -

I started seeing the world around me again- hey I know that sounds pathetic but I genuinely don’t think we realize how much of our time we waste aimlessly scrolling and it wasn’t until I started taking these breaks that I noticed how much more time I had!

I got shit done- when I don’t have that tempting little app on my phone to distract me or I’m not taking up time documenting what I’m doing- surprise- I not only have an abundance of it but I also have waaaayy more energy to put into other things.

I strengthened friendships - friends who truly enjoy connecting with me and people who really genuinely value me in their life had to reach out because they no longer had access to what I was up to on the daily, we had actual real-life, valuable conversations, out with SM, in person and without that “I saw that in your stories” vibe to every conversation. It was REALLY nice! and it gave a whole new quality to conversations because equally, I hadn’t seen what they had been up to. That was a really stark realization of how much we take for granted when it comes to social media and a reminder that it’s really not enough to assume people are ok because we see their business Instagram continue to tick over. (reminder- reach out to your friends right now, call them, send them a WhatsApp, don’t just assume because you saw them on Instastories or Tik Tok that you are actually connecting)

I didn’t feel so overwhelmed - Social media provides us with so much information. We are bombarded with stories, videos, posts, notifications- anything to keep us on the app for as long as possible, but as humans, we aren’t built to cope with that amount of information in such a short period of time and so the overexposure can easily lead to overwhelm - try this- next time you are scrolling notice your last three thoughts If they aren’t helpful positive ones, it might be time to take a break or curate your feed!

I was able to stay focused on myself - I’m so guilty of comparing myself to others, social media is a highlight reel and I often find myself comparing my real life to that reel. When I do that my focus slips from myself and what I want to achieve with my life and I get wrapped up in what others are doing. This is not productive and really stunts my creativity, spending less time there really helped me to keep my nose firmly in my own business and confidently move forward in MY life, the way I truly want to, without a thought for what anyone else was doing.

All in it was a welcome break, I smashed some goals, spent more time with friends and family, and had more energy to look after myself and learned a sh*t tonne about myself and the quality of my relationships. And guess what- my business is still thriving, my account is still active and nothing bad happened!

If you can relate to some of what I’ve said above please share your thoughts and feels and if you need it - consider this your permission to do the same, I promise like anything absence will well and truly make your heart grow fonder and your soul feel happier.

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