wake-up, peek-a-boo!

Yesterday afternoon, I brought my camera up with me to get Aleks from his nap. He had been crying for a few minutes, so he looks a bit sad at the start of this little peek-a-boo game...but as I happily snapped away, he came around and gave me some cute smiles... I don't want to forget these ordinary-but-extraordinary moments of mommyhood. Drew joined us at the end...and is just so sweet and tender with his baby brother. Oh, these boys melt my heart! P.S. the diet from the web is wonderful. i feel lighter. my mind feels less crowded. but, i have missed you all. i check in about once a day...but find that even limiting myself to that leads to that endless time wasting spiral again... so i am learning how to be DELIBERATE in my web-use. :) xoxo

a new diet

So in my effort to THRIVE this year...I have realized that the internet - specifically my guilty pleasures:  Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Blogs, etc.  is cluttering my mind and stealing my time.  So much so that the ESSENTIAL parts of my life aren't happening - specifically basic needs like showering, laundering, cooking and eating at home, cleaning, sleeping, etc.

I know I'm not the only person on the planet with this dilemma...in fact, I just read a blog post last night that could have been written ME...I felt like her words were streaming straight from my brain to her fingers as she typed her blog post.  Here is just a snippet from it:

"I went from blog to blog to blog, getting lost in the internet. You know when you suddenly look up and realize a lot of time has passed and you meant to have Googled a recipe and instead you spent the last hour reading about some person building a tree fort in their backyard in South Dakota and you are like, “Um. What the hellllllllllll am I doing?!” That is me to the max. To. The. Max."

PLUS games like "Draw Something" on my phone...  

Oh yeah, and also that pesky TV.  I have a love/hate relationship with DVRs.

So..let's just say "SCREEN TIME" is killing me.  I'm admitting fully that I am weak and have a problem wasting TOO MUCH TIME on these things. 

Yet, here I am, ONLINE...blogging.

Ironic?

Maybe.

But folks, I'm just here to say that:

#1- I recognize that I have a problem...

#2- I am ready to make a change...

#3- I have made a plan...  (Make a plan; keep it simple; work your plan!)

#4- I am letting you all know so that I can be held accountable...

STEP 1:
Starting NOW, I am only going to check email ONCE a day.  I am not going to set a specific TIME to check it, because my schedule is so unpredictable.  BUT, really, I should not NEED to check it more than once a day.  If there is an emergency, I would hope that someone would CALL me and not EMAIL me.  So, ONCE a day it will be.

STEP 2:
Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Blogs, TV Shows, games on phone, etc. (fluffy-time-wasters) will ONLY be allowed as a reward/break/ME time after ESSENTIAL tasks have been completed.  These tasks include:  Dishes, general tidying, showering (yes I am one of those go-a-few-days-between-showers kind of gals...and yes, i realize that is nasty!), scripture study, prayer, reading/spending time with kiddos, ETC.

Wow,  a 2 step plan!  How's that for SIMPLE?

I know this will be hard for me...but I also know it will be SO. WORTH. IT.

Last week (or was it 2 weeks ago?) I took a day off from the computer.

IT.

FELT.

SO.

GOOD.

I think knowing what  everyone else is doing with their life all the time (via Facebook, blogs, etc.) was:
#1- making me feel REAL anxiety from all that busy-ness
#2- paralyzing me because it made me realize how LITTLE I was accomplishing compared to others (I know, DON'T COMPARE!)

So...no offense to all of you lovely friends and family out there...but I really DON'T NEED to know EVERY LITTLE THING YOU'RE DOING!  Just like I'm SURE you don't NEED to know what I'm doing.

So there ya have it.  I'm putting myself on a "screen-time" diet.

I'll be back in a few days, or maybe weeks... to update you on my progress.

Until then...go hug your kids one more time today...put your phone on airplane mode...tune out the world...and start LIVING YOUR LIFE and being AVAILABLE to your family.  :)

xoxo,

Shari