I have to admit, it’s getting more difficult every day to keep freewriting. I have a new appreciation for what I ask my students to do on a regular basis. But I’ll keep this going, because Lent is now 1/4 of the way over.
Fasting is something that I was taught a lot about in church growing up but never practiced that much. I’ve done 30-hour fasts to bring awareness to people who go hungry. I’ve done fasts from things like chocolate, soda, etc. In high school, specifically my last couple years, I even spent time fasting lunch and going to the school library to pray. I couldn’t really pray out loud, so I would write out my prayers. I wonder whatever happened to those notebooks…
I’m not great at fasting food. In fact, I loathe the idea. I’m a runner, and I’m prone to anemia, so fasting never did me any physical favors. It made me cranky, or hangry if you will. Like, I-need-a-Snickers hangry.
I guess this entry is as good a time as any to update about my social media fast. I used to secretly make fun of people who announced that they were doing a social media fast. To be honest, it hasn’t been that difficult, but it’s made my outlook and center of my thoughts much more positive and based on reality.
I had a colleague who didn’t have any social media accounts at all, and she didn’t even own a cell phone. In 2016, it seems like life would be impossible without even a basic cell phone. But what I noticed in her life was that she was caring, genuine, and available. What you saw was what you got.. there was no hidden meaning on Facebook posts, no alternate ego on Instagram. It was comforting to talk to her and be her friend. If we met up for lunch, we had real conversation unimpeded by cell phones (well, occasionally mine if I forgot to turn it off).
Another outcome of my own social media fast is that I have nothing to cause me anxiety as far as friends’ posts, whether or not someone liked a picture, and What does it mean that this person from high school added me as a friend? Anxious thoughts about social media, of all things!, have kept me up at night. Those concerns are all just non-existent right now. I kind of love it.
Scriptures for the week:
mercies per mile 