Steph Johnson: The End of an Era

Thursday, August 14, 2014

The End of an Era

I had a revelation today. Kairos, if you will, which means a moment in time where God breaks through. It was like a mirror on myself. Maybe I'm crazy or maybe it's the Holy Spirit, but I'm over Facebook. Don't get me wrong, I'm not done with it forever as in I'm never getting on again and cancelling my account. But I am done with getting on everyday, during the day, and it being on my phone.

Scrapbooking. I really enjoy scrapbooking. I love being a mom and staying home. Exercise is a passion that I do everyday and crave. Chasing after Jesus is my main goal in life. Supporting my husband and spending time with him is also at the top of my list. Spending time with family and friends fills me up. Basically, these are my interests and I saw how much Facebook distracts me from those. I'm just being real.

Lately when I get on, more times than not, I get anxious. Anxious over all the junk in the world. From politics to parenting. There's a blog post about staying off your phone that makes you feel like crap but then there's one cheering you on. There's Obama taking his umpteenth vacation, why you should vaccinate, why you shouldn't vaccinate, debates, arguments, stupid news posts, some business or leader says something people don't like and everyone goes haywire, and the list just goes on. There's also lots of good, like seeing pregnancies announced, kids growing up, updates from friends from far away, events, encouraging people I follow, etc. But I don't need to get on everyday to see that and the majority of what I end up seeing gets me frustrated, down, or distracted.

So what I am saying is that the bad has been outweighing the good. I don't talk to my family and friends (for the most part) on Facebook, I text and call them, I see them in person (I am blessed to be close to most of them). So all I am doing is taking away time from things I TRULY enjoy. Since I have removed the app from my phone, I no longer feel a need to "check it" everytime I get bored for .2 seconds. I enjoy my children more. I have more calm thoughts, I want less, I am focused, I'm not seeing the next person on a cool vacation that I'm not on, I seek God more.

The mirror was during scrapbooking today. I had so much fun and was enjoying myself with my girls. Then I got on Facebook for a minute and felt all my fun energy drain me. I just realized that actually spending time on FB is not a hobby I enjoy, not like scrapbooking. It's certainly WAY below spending quality time with my girls. But I seem to put it at priority when I look at it repeatedly throughout my day and then get stressed because of it. Besides, if I don't want my girls to be obsessed with the internet/being on devices all the time then I need to work on myself first. More is caught than taught.

Please don't think I don't want to be social or not see what's happening in your life. I will still get on, just much less. But I'd rather get an email, text, face to face visit (I love those) and you're welcome to follow me on Instagram (I still like to post pics). SLJOHNSON is my Instagram account, my email is steph@fitsteph.co, and you can talk to me or email me to get my phone number. I will still be blogging but if you want a quick response, probably better comment on here :)

I want to stress that this is just MY JOURNEY. I have not always felt this way about FB and this has nothing to do with anyone else. At this point in my life, it's just not helping to produce the fruit of the spirit in me; it's not "healthy" most of the time. BUT I don't want this to be one of those blog posts I mentioned earlier, just sharing my thoughts. Until my next blog post, here are cute pictures for you :)