Back on FB

No, I didn't cave.
I've been feeling & knowing for awhile now that I could probably reopen my FB account. With limits. Limits. Whew, those are hard. I mean, I just barely opened my account and already wanted to talk to everyone and look at all of their family pictures and post all of mine and........... lah lah lah, oh wow.......... have I been lingering on FB for an hour already? No way, I was only going to spend like 10 minutes. OKay, I cut myself some 'coming back' slack and justified it that long distance family & friends want to see updated pictures of cute & growing kiddos. But after all of this reconnecting is done, then enough! :) lol
12 minutes a day, four days a week. I know me - and my tendencies - and I need boundaries! Thank you God for giving us good and wonderful things - and thank you that while they are not 'off limits' -they never beneficial when over indulging in them.

on facebook and minimalism

Currently I am reading two books simultaneously. Okay, well honestly it's more like ten books that I'm reading simultaneously. I don't usually do this with fiction books, but I've been on a fiction hiatus for awhile now, so I'm only reading non-fiction. Back to the two books that are similar. One was written/compiled over 40 years by a Mennonite woman who died of cancer at a very young age. I found it at Goodwill an it is entitled, "Living More with Less." by Doris Janzen Longacre. It is out of print and it looks like there are two copies left on Amazon.com. However, if you'd like to borrow it, I can lend it to you. It is AMAZING how her thoughts and many peoples' contributed suggestions, experiences, and ideas are relative today! She was truly pioneering a movement that may have caught on, but as far as I know sat dormant for 40 years (in our consumeristic society) and now seems to be relevant again! Or maybe it's just me? Regardless, there is another book currently released entitled The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life by Francine Jay. I found it on one of my favorite blogs: Walk Slowly, Live Wildly. So far, it's great! However, I haven't started putting anything into "practice" yet. LOL! I'll let you know then. So, that blog referred to other minimalist living blogs. I didn't want to chase rabbit trails, but I did discover a post within the Miss Minimalist blog that resonated with me as I've been thinking about reopening a Facebook account. You see....as time as gone on over the past four to five months I have lost my resolve about why I closed the account in the first place and I am feeling fully justified in reopening my FB account, not because I feel that disconnected with my friends, but because I have been wondering if they fee disconnected with me? But the truth is that REAL connection takes EFFORT. FB is easy, that's why we all love it. We can send a quick, "how are you?" and wahlah, we are done. Yes, it came from the heart, we truly wanted to know, etc... But in my own non-FB experience I have not really made as many efforts to CALL someone to see how they are, or send them a card in the (gasp) mail. I haven't slowed my life to involve others like I thought I would, or made the conscience effort. So, it is easy for me to say that the NO FB thing failed and I'm just going to jump back onto the social cyber-wagon. Until I ran across this post today: http://www.bemorewithless.com/2011/farewell-facebook/ And it really reminded me of why I made the choice I did. Instead of giving up, I know that instead I need to make more intentional efforts. I'm not against Internet socialization. In fact, I was experiencing the benefits of it long before Facebook and Sparkpeople. I learned about non-punitive discipline back in 2001 on an AOL Debate Forum. I lost 27lbs with the help of an online Support group in 2002. There is help and information all over the cyber world. However, the way things currently are at an INSTANT pace, I'm not sure the point isn't flying right over my head. I mean, who really wants to look at pictures from last month. That is so old news. And that's fine. But it takes energy and time to keep up.

And seeing as how I'm learning about this whole minimalist living thing....maybe too much clutter physically and mentally can truly be hazardous to a free life? I'm curious.

What are your thoughts?

Two days: No Facebook

It feels longer, honestly. At first it was hard. Facebook really puts you on a guilt trip. Why do you want to leave? (Yes, "I spend too much time on Facebook" is actually an option to choose.) It warns you that everything you've ever done on Facebook will no longer be there if you deactivate your account. Then it shows you pictures of five random people. It says, "Donna is going to miss you!" above her profile picture and below it says, "Send her a message." Like you are going to get so distracted you will just end up forgetting what you were doing and never leave. Then you have to type out the weird letters and finally when you do get deactivated it tells you: Don't worry. You can always come back. Just type in your same user name and password. Wow.
Then it was FREEEEEING! Wahoo! I don't ever have to worry if I am missing some new status update, because I can just know that I am! I don't have to think about what my next status update is going to be...because I'm not going to update it. I can email and call someone if I want to connect. And I do. I talk on the phone and I meet with friends.
Then I find I am lonely.
No one is emailing me....(they are all on FB)....I only check my email during Brielle's nap time and nothing except emails that are Reply to All's. That's okay. I write emails to people. I write this blog. I upload pictures on here. I learn a few new things. I hope I'm connecting with others. But then I remember reason I closed FB (and why I'm only checking email once a day and slowly lowering my daily Internet and phone-talking time) is so that I can focus on what is in front of me, the life that God has given to me. And so that I can hear Him.
Monday night Tyler and I rode our bikes to his basketball evaluation at the local community center. About 8pm we were flying back, in the dark, under the stars, cool air in our lungs .... and it was a m a z i n g.
I've also been praying more for the people in my life and listening to more music. Cleaning & baking as usual. And soon I will begin the list of projects I've got in mind. I have already started a couple and will just listen to how God tells me this is the way it is to be. I like being aware. Of others. Of myself. Especially of Him, and I want more. That's what is on my heart right now.


Disclaimer: Shortly after posting this a dear friend who has been recently on my heart did reply to an email I sent her with a thought-provoking one. (I like that she challenges me.) And yesterday I did have an in-depth and at-length conversation with someone who's current situations have been greatly on my heart (she's doing amazing and giving God all of the glory). I have to believe that these (even once a day) are more important than spending an hour each day on reading updates and looking at pictures (see why I had to leave?) even though the people posting them are SO important to me, I am just going to have to trust that I get to connect with them despite FB.
I have to remember this, because I know there are going to be lulls...times when God intends to draw me out to Him alone. There. I am waiting in anticipation of this rhythm.

Facebook No More

If you and I are "friends" on Facebook, you may already know that I am closing my account tomorrow. I am waiting to see if anyone lets me know they still want to keep in touch via email, you know...just in case. I really do want to stay in touch with all 186 people that I have as FB friends (I mean that, because last month I loosed around 100 people who I never really talked to - ever - or who repeatedly said unmindful things (meaning, mean). Is this important? Probably not. The point is that I just cannot control myself! I mean, I check my email, respond to whoever, and then get some email from FB so I click over there to reply to a msg or something, then I hit "Home" and next thing I know it's an hour later. There are people who do NOT have this problem - who are on FB. I know there are. But I am not one of them, and I am not the only one who gets sucked in like that either!
The thing is that there are results in my life that I desire. The first being that I desire God's presence in my life, and I desire to know what His desires are and what that means to me. Then there are like 25 things underneath that umbrella! (Yes, I have written them down) It's just never going to happen if I am distracted all of the time. And not just FACEBOOK...there is: checking email, phone conversations, reading blogs, shopping/comparing online, and probably many others I can't think of. Then, when I don't want to be distracted anymore I look around me and think, Okay---what can I do with what time I have left? It needs to be the complete other way around. I have been hearing God prompting me to do this for several weeks now, and I really think He has been VERY patient with my bantering with Him and justifying all of the reasons why it would make sense to keep it "just to check once a week, or every other day, or daily, or twice a day, or............hmmmmmmmm...." Yeah.
It may be different if I were single, or my husband were in the military and deployed, or I didn't have three kids at home...or if I were housebound. I don't know. But I just know that I need to listen and I need to allow some things to be pruned from my life...so that I can hear my Father, just in case He chooses to whisper.