Facebook Fast

So, a few years back, I had to go off social media for a while. I didn't hate it. It was actually quite nice.

Now, I'm doing it for me.  I have been just not going on Facebook, Monday through Friday. I've been doing it for close to a month now. I do not regret it. Giving up Facebook has allowed me time to workout and blog again!  How crazy is that!  The main reason I wanted to start giving up Facebook, was to spend less time watching other people live their lives, and spend more time living mine!

It was also less hard to give up than I thought it would be. Even the notifications I get, I just delete. The first week, it would send me notifications.  Then it started to get desperate, I was actually getting emails from Facebook: Did you see this comment on "so-and-so's" post? "This person" posted, did you see it? I was like, geeze, clingy much? I go on over my weekends, but I spend less time doing it that I was before the Monday-Friday fast.

Now, I just need to spend less time on Pinterest and Instagram! Lol.

Barefeet in the Sand to Heal the Soul

I am currently making my way through my Cultural Intellectual book.  I am not much for one single page of reading at a time, the way this book is set up.  I love random knowledge and facts, so I like reading this stuff.  I like reading in chunks.  So I'm about halfway through this mountain of knowledge. It's got 7 different categories from politics to music, from sports to literature and film. 

Anyways, I recently read a novel called Barefoot, by Elin Hilderbrand.  I really enjoyed this reading.  I was another gym book exchange pick-up and another one I stayed up all night to finish.  It's really been a while since I've just wanted to dive into books and escape.  It is so much more refreshing than scrolling endlessly through Facebook.  Which, side note, I was trying to stay off Facebook from Monday through Friday and last week was the first time breaking it since the start of the year.  It is bad.  I broke again today.  Excuses, excuses, my phone has been acting up and messenger kicks me out all the time and acts like I just downloaded it.  So to get my messages, I go in and then I get sucked into the vortex.  I just need to not. It really is amazing how much time you have for other things. Back to the book.  It was one of those "gets to your heart" novels. It's a multi-person perspective novel, so you see the story from everyone's point of view.  I like novels that give you the story from many different angles.  It just makes the story feel broader and well-rounded. 


The story is of three ladies that move out to Nantucket for the summer (which I just learned where that is the other day while watching the weather channel...nerd, I know; but it was on at the gym. I also learned where Montauk is located).  Two of the three women, sisters, and owners of the house their family has held on the island for generations.  The third is a friend of the eldest sister who has come to escape the city and some troubling relationship problems.  All of  them are dealing with issues and trying to solve them with "a little Nantucket sand in their shoes." The first day arriving on the island, they meet Josh.  He is going to school to be a writer.  The moment he sees them, he knows there is a story.  His path keeps brushing up against theirs and he eventually becomes the babysitter for the eldest sister's two small boys.  The story continues from there.

Nantucket and Montauk on the map, because I know you wanted to know

Combat the Negativity

I've been seeing quite a bit of negative self-talk in my Facebook news feed lately. We all struggle with those voices that try and say we aren't good enough. If you are struggling today, or not (you tend to know the negative things that get drug up to the surface when you are struggling) take a second to write down a positive that counter-acts the negative.
Here are some of mine:
I am beautiful; inside and out.
I am love and loved....
I am powerful.
I am smart.
I am worthy of all good things.
I am strong enough to face all challenges; trials only make me stronger.
I am kind.
I am brave.
I am calm and serene in all situations.
I will boldly pursue a life of love, learning, growing, exploring, and adventure.

I hope this helps you out a bit. You can fight back against those negative voices. Drown them out with your positive ones

Health:  I had a pretty bad week eating wise.  I went balls-to-the walls crazy. I ate like a crazy person; I ate vanilla sandwich cookies with nutella! I had a bagel for dinner, with meat loaf, and peas.  It was just off the wall.  But today, I've really focused on eating clean again; I rented a book of Paleo recipes to get me focused.  And when a craving for chocolate hit, tonight I made myself a second shake.  Guilt-free superfoods to the rescue!  I've also started a new dance program and I'm loving it!  I get so sweaty and love every second on the program.

Relationships: Still smiling like a silly, love-sick girl.  I love my husband so much and I can't imagine going through this life with anyone else by my side.

Career:  I've had a lot of interviews lately.  And I'm really excited about a lot of them.  I hope I hear from them real soon.  I'm probably going to have to make myself a pros/cons list of all the jobs to help me decide which one I'd love the most.

Oh, to Update!

I have to say that I feel a little "old" complaining about all the websites that have updated lately. In the last week, it seems like every site has updated to some newer, slicker version: Google, CNN.com, Shape.com, Pandora, and the ever infamous Facebook updates.

Pandora literally changed from yesterday to today. It looks a lot nicer, a lot more user friendly - and the new look is much more visually appealing. Google made some changes to Blogger and a few other little tweaks, Shape has a new layout and I still can't find very much - where did the videos go to?!?!? CNN.com has a slightly newer look/layout. The section on health that I usually use for work is more of a pain in the butt. It doesn't have articles linked to every "tab" now. The Diet and Fitness one pops up with a "no link" remark before bringing up another page with articles. Some of the sites have been slightly hindered by these updates and changes, but some are for the best. The new Facebook ones have me slightly perturbed. I just get annoyed with a the little tabs that have to pop up 500 times to tell you about new features! I spend more time clicking to close those than actually using the program. I still haven't seen how my favorite additions will work with these updates - I hope iRead still works.

Well - from worrying about iRead to Dr. Spencer Reid - CRIMINAL MINDS is on again tonight. Going to be glued to the tv!