living small
March 13, 2016 § 5 Comments
I remember a time before googling was a verb that accounted for answers to last-minute homework assignments, housecleaning foibles, and comparison shopping. The early hours of an online environment of conversations folded into letters.
A time before friends were chosen like teams in gym class; waiting to be accepted and liked then placed in a hierarchy of belonging and popularity among a virtual clique.
There was the briefest moment when most of my online wonderings were messages given to friends, farther reaching than the span of my days.
Over the years, it has become a rabbit hole of squandered minutes and lost hours for which there is not time enough to gamble such loss.
My children are growing too quickly, my dreams demand more of my attention. I have come to a place where I must make my life smaller to live beyond the confines of my habits.
As the ground softens with spring and the trees blossom into a new season of life, I am promising myself a simpler schedule of play; a truer practice of mindfulness.
I’m whittling my online distractions to a more genuine opportunity for connection.
As so many stumble upon the wisdom of Marie Kondo’s elegant system of tidying, I’m considering a similar necessity for organizing my space online to nurture greater joy and purpose.
At present, I have put pen to paper, naming my virtual distractions; the places I log on and the people I follow to better identify my personal investment. The value of beauty and inspiration, insight and education beside emotional outlets of social opportunities.
It would seem simple, but I have found more complicated personal truths. Disingenuous relationships and excessive ideas too vast to be accessible.
They are the places I am passively present and absently inspired.
I have begun to save lost relationships in the same way others cling to old clothing with scraps of sentiment. I have hoarded creativity by neatly naming it into a system of possibility.
This week, in quieter minutes of intentional care and unhurried effort, I am tidying up my online spaces for a new intention of presence and authenticity.
scribblechic 
And it takes great strength Marie. Each time I move house there used to be a battle of which goes into a box and which goes into the rubbish.
We humans like our foibles, they are a part of who we are, were and hope to be.
But apparently it is a lunar eclipse time, time for big changes, necessitating a clearer purpose, strength and the wish to become more of who we are within.
Good luck with the ‘shift’ 🙂
You’re right, it is very similar to the work of moving – sifting and sorting to save, but I find it’s simpler to tend to the physical clutter that intrudes upon our routines than the invisible distractions that take up more time than space.
It is not easy. A balance between the wonderful connections not otherwise available (except in the ether) and the very real connections our physical world provides. Kudos to you for trying to do it so intentionally.
This week was my children’s spring break, I’ve been using the unhurried pace of our days to embrace a vacation from online distractions and to meditate on what choices might encourage more meaningful connectivity. I’m still figuring it out, resetting boundaries and establishing new expectations.
At each step I keep weighing how I want my children to navigate social media; questioning how to best model genuine relationships and balance in this ever-evolving space.
I am sure they will be the better for it :-).