My Social Media-less Life

This past weekend was my grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary. Since a surprise party fell through (mainly because money is a thing), my mom and I decided to give them our own surprise and make one of the shortest trips we’ve ever done to see them.

Thankfully we spent as much time with them as we did on the road so in my mind it worked out.

We hurried back to KC to see my oldest nephew get baptized at church and that was so much fun to be a part of as well.

All in all, the whole weekend was really good, it was just a whirlwind of activity.

I’m realizing as I get further and further away from having social media that it’s easier to be more present in conversations and goings-on around me. This past weekend I spent time with my grandparents— who are hardly ever on social media to begin with— and my mom— who put a one-hour timer on her social media usage— so it was easy to keep outside life out of my mind for the weekend.

The big thing I’ve noticed I miss the most about not having social media is not immediately knowing the news of the world. However, that’s also the thing I love the most. It’s funny how life is a lot of “yes/and”. Yes, I miss knowing what’s going on in the world… and I love that I have to search out the news more actively. (Thanks to Annie F. Downs for better understanding the “yes/and” of life)

Since we’re coming up on election time, I love that I have to find out what people are saying and I do it without first hearing a lot of people’s opinions about said people. I love that I can just look up the amendments and questions and am not first seeing someone’s opinions about the issue. For me, that really helps. I tend to be very easily swayed by others’ stories… empathy is one of my strong suits.

Empathy is great for certain things, but not so great for others. More than once I’ve later regretted what I voted for because I did less research on the issue itself and more “research” on what people thought about the issues.

All that to say, I feel more clear-minded now than I have in a really long time, I had a good weekend, and I’m looking forward to staying in Kansas City for a few months. Traveling is fun, but if it’s not my job it gets a bit tiring after a while.

So take some time today to enjoy where you are and remember to stay in the moment and soak in every detail. 🙂