Sigh. During this whole process , going through yoga teacher training and doing this hard work there were three things that I said I was going to do.
Eat Clean (going well!)
Go dry/live sober (We had wine on New Year’s Eve but other than that…Success!!)
Not engage in social media b.s. (WOMP WOMP)
When Theo (my son) had to be admitted to the hospital before Christmas, I broke this rule because I needed some sort of comfort and/or interaction. Now I have fallen completely down the rabbit hole and I need to pull my self out of it. Most people reading this will say the following to themselves (or to my face depending on how well I know you lol) “Just post less!” “Don’t argue with trolls!!” “Don’t engage with political stuff!”
Here’s the thing y’all. I am an empath. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can learn more about what it means to be an empath here. Not only am I an empath, but I have SJW running through my veins. So it’s not easy for me to ignore injustice, or people hurting, or the shitty things that happen in the world. It also makes me want to jump into EVERY conversation and be an ally to EVERY marginalized person. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed buuuut…..Facebook is a dumpster fire y’all. What we know from research about social media and Facebook in particular, is that it is built around social engineering. Social engineering is defined as: the use of centralized planning in an attempt to manage social change and regulate the future development and behavior of a society.
Every like, every laugh emoji, every angry face sends a different message to your brain and is literally re-wiring it with every post you interact it. Am I saying NEVER use social media? No. Because it has also been a springboard for tremendous change. It is a way to connect with family and friends and has launched movements that have changed the landscape of the world as we know it. What I am saying is that we should ALL reexamine our relationship with Social media. It seeps into every aspect of our lives. That incandescent light shinning from our phones is a way to hide from real life and the real world and is a form of escapism. It’s numbing our children from being able to feel and learn how to interact with one another. There have been several studies done on the affects and impacts it has on society. If interested, you can read the National Institute of Health’s peer reviewed study. It’s lengthy but worth the read.
Starting today, I am going back to the promise that I made myself so that I can fully do the work that is needed throughout this process and honestly, for my personal mental health and the overall health of the relationships with my family and friends. I will still be blogging and building and processing and sharing.
What would your day be like if you looked at your phone less? How much more would you get accomplished? Give it a try and report back to me!! plantbasedyogimusings@gmail.com