At the end of January, I noticed I was feeling very worried and anxious. The world has been a strange and unsettling place in the last year. Yes, I do have a very heavy job and it can get personally draining at times.
As I preach to my clients, self-care is crucial in life and I apply that to myself everyday. However, I realised the excess of information and the general collective anxiety was taking its toll on me.
So I decided to delete all my social media apps from my phone. It was meant to be just for that weekend. But I felt such a positive difference, that I decided to continue my ‘experiment’. Six weeks later, I’m still off the apps and I’m truly loving it.
So this is what I’ve learned so far.
What has been different for me since I started my online detox?
My mind feels more clear and there’s much more mental space.
I feel calmer.
I’ve been reading much more. Yes, physical, paper books.
I’m much more present in my life.
I don’t feel the need to take photos and share them with my ‘friends’ whenever I’m having a good time. I’m just enjoying that moment as it happens.
Less shopping. Almost none. In truth, the only things I’ve bought have been books. Incredible to think of the power of those ‘random’ ads, or harmless group discussions about products. Things we then believe ‘we must have’. No we don’t!
I feel I’m much more in control of the things I want to think about. It sounds so simple and basic. But only now I realise how much overload of unnecessary information was there before.
I’ve been talking more and connecting with the people who really matter to me.
I’ve booked some courses for the near future, on subjects that truly matter to me and to my personal and professional growth.
I don’t reach for my phone as much as before. Amazing - and terrifying - to notice how many times we check our phones without a real need for it.
Overall, life feels more real.
Do you resonate with any of this?
Have you ever noticed your level of anxiety and how social media can really affect your mood?
Have you ever given yourself a break from your phone?
The best metaphor for this experience is:
Would you ever enter any random restaurant and tell the waiter ‘Please just give me anything to eat, as many dishes you want, anything, everything, at any pace you want’. Then, the waiter keeps bringing you totally random dishes, all sizes and tastes, at random order and speed. Some things you like and some things you actually don’t like. And, even if they don’t appeal to you, and even if you are not hungry, you just keep eating everything and anything that’s in front of you.
Would you ever do that to your body?
So why - in a conscious state - would you do the same to your mind?
But that’s exactly what we are doing. When you scroll down on social media, you are bombarded with all sorts of random and uninvited stuff that you hadn’t asked for.
When you realise, you are reading articles on subjects you’d never choose to know about. Or that don’t matter to you.
How many times were you caught in discussions with others, passionately, on subjects that are not really important to you?
And how does all this then affect your mood? Your levels of stress and anxiety?
So it all comes down to choice.
Are you really taking control of your life and being selective about the things and thoughts that align with the life you want for yourself?
Are you able to be the driver of your life? Make more conscious decisions and choose what you’d like to put in your mind?
Our thoughts affect our feelings.
As you start being more selective about the subjects and issues you think about, your emotions will start to change.
By taking more control of the information you receive, you are taking more control of your feelings and your well being in general.
By becoming more aware of how external overload can affect your daily life, you start making the right choices for your life.
It’s not easy. It’s a process. It takes small steps, conscious decisions, it takes practice.
But it can have a huge transformative impact on your life as a whole. Please try it.