Monday, April 17, 2017

On giving up Instagram.

  I thought I'd give a little recap of how lent went- you may remember that I stepped away from Instagram and attempted to spend more time in intentional prayer. Or you may not, because I'm sure you aren't keeping tabs on my life 😂 Either way, here's how it went and where I'll go from here (now that Lent is over)! And just for fun, at the end you'll find our 1 Second Everyday video from the days I went social media free!

  So technically, I didn't give up Instagram for Lent. I should start off with that. I'm actually on IG every single day for my part time job, but I'm on my clients' accounts working on growth. I wish I could have deleted the app from my phone and simply put my phone down more. Even still, it was wonderful to not know/care what 300 other people were up to. I spent a lot more time picking up my prayer journal, talking to my kids, reading real books, or getting things done in my real life than living virtually. It was great! I noticed immediately how much less mental clutter I had rolling around in my head.

  This Lent season was also just a long one personally. I've mentioned it half a dozen times, but we were all just constantly sick this winter. With minor things like sinus infections or influenza, but it sort of left us drained. We capped it off with a short hospital stay for Tyler (weird bacterial infection in his glute muscle). We walked into Good Friday and Easter weekend feeling as if the fog of winter was finally lifting! So while I did lean more into prayer this season, it wasn't as structured and routine as I had hoped. That bugged me and left me feeling guilty most weeks, but in retrospect I see that it doesn't matter so much. Drawing near to God is drawing near to God, however it looks!

  So, what happens now? I don't hate social media. In fact, I firmly believe it can be used for so much good! But stepping back for a couple of months did leave me feeling as if something needed to change. I don't plan on quitting Instagram for good. Honestly, I am intentional about who I follow on social media and try to fill up my feed with only things that encourage and inspire me. It turns out though, that you can have too much of a good thing. My biggest takeaway is that IG can be source of mental clutter for me. Does that even make sense?

  I had too much inspiration and encouragement in my feed. So many healthy things I wanted to try or incorporate. So many great tips and ideas for decorating my home. Endless encouragement for my relationship with Jesus. And, of course, a hundred life updates from people I haven't seen in years/may never see again. Nothing inherently negative, but when I logged in yesterday for the first real time in months, I was overwhelmed. (and there are ads now? And you can post multiple image?) It instantly felt like too much. Too much to catch up on. Too much to sort through. Too much in all the ways.

  So this morning, I unfollowed about 200 accounts. Its amazing! I don't have 30 instastories waiting for me when I log in (I hate the impending red circles making me feel like I have to zoom through them just to make them go away!!). And if I log in only a couple times each day, I can easily scroll through for 5ish minutes and feel like I'm caught up on the important things I want to see. I kept a good mix of design inspiration, friends and family, faith inspiration, and shops I love. But the bare minimum! I'm sure it'll get away from me and I'll pare down again. That's ok! It's stuff like this that I think is important to always be reevaluating- what do you need more of in your life? Less of? There are seasons for different things, and Lent taught me that I can focus so much more on Jesus when I have less clutter and am always thinking of ways make room for Him.

And now- what we've really been up to for the past few weeks! Spoiler: I spent lots of time with my kids😂

March/April 1SE from katie rush on Vimeo.

1 comment:

Sarah Voorhees said...

Loved hearing how Lent went for you and I have similar feelings about Instagram. I barely go on anymore and when I do I feel overwhelmed or find myself comparing, so I usually avoid it (though in reality my mental clutter is my love for tv). It is so freeing to take a break, change, or completely cut out the things that clutter. A more simple life is truly more rewarding. I also loved seeing how your spent the last few weeks with your family!