My Bold Decision for Summer

Facebook does not bring me joy. It brings me anxiety and stress. Post after post, my newsfeed is always filled with things that make me sad and worried. If I wanted to hear or see these things, I would watch the news. Which, by the way, I ban in my presence.

I began moving away from Facebook a few years ago when I followed a lot of animal rescue groups. The photos they posted of abused dogs really, really broke my heart.

Maybe I’m a little of an empath. I can’t erase those images from my mind. I take the pain with me even when I sign off. The same goes for when I see posts about sick children or something horrible.

I focused more on using Instagram to build my network.

You know, the land of pretty people getting paid to promote products they would never use otherwise. The place where people actually BUY followers to make themselves look important. There’s so much pressure here to keep up too. And for a year, as I geared up to launch Princess Genevieve, I tried really hard to find where I fit in on Instagram. I tried different types of posts, hashtags, you name it.  But that, too, my friends, is not fun.

I want to share photos of my life, talk about things I love or find useful, help raise awareness to causes I believe in and keep up with people I know in real life. That’s how I keep myself inspired and mentally healthy.

So I’m going to do my own thing. For myself. For those that truly know what I’m about and won’t judge me if I’m not posting about current events.

You may see me less active on social media. But I’ll be using that energy and time towards more self-growth and fulfillment.

My social media detox for the summer includes:

• Being PRESENT
• Working from home and managing time with my kids. Making sure they have a fun and somewhat educational summer.
• Getting back to my love of writing BLOGS and posting right here!
• Reading more books! I have a pile of books I’m in the middle of reading. Books that will inspire me to be the best parent, wife, friend and creative force that I can be. For myself. For everyone I can inspire.
• I want to get back to daily meditation and yoga. Mini moments of “me-time”—as much as “me-time” is possible while still living in a tiny house in quarantine.
• Pinterest. Yea, I want to get back to Pinterest. It’s so fun. We need fun. We need a place to dream. A place to create our vision for the future.

Don’t be mistaken: I will still be on Facebook. But only when I can access it from my computer. You’ll see me post on my author page, or interacting with my girls in my Trash the Dress private divorce support group, networking with my fellow publicists, and talking to all my local mommy friends. Because these groups help me grow. I met so many wonderful people on Facebook and I would never remove myself from them. But I will limit the amount of time I let things I see on Facebook consume my mind.

Newsfeeds just take up hours, days, maybe even months of our time that could be better spent focusing on ourselves than the new number of COVID cases.

Social media is playing such a crucial role in our lives right now. It’s paving the way for social change that’s WAY overdue. But it’s also a big source of worry for those that work really hard to manage anxiety or other mental health issues. It’s not always the best place to be for everyone. We can stand with everyone and do our part to initiate change for black lives, but not all of that has to take place online. It can happen in our hearts and in our homes. Through reading books to our kids. Having conversations with our friends. Making new friends of other races. And that’s why I made this bold move.