Disconnect to Reconnect

In all honesty, I'm not even sure it's worth me writing this. On the other hand though, building an expectation may help me to actually stick to it.

Over the last 6 or so months, I've been on a roller coaster journey with my mental health. The last few weeks have had the most ups and downs, and I hate to admit that the breakup has had a huge impact on this, as much as I've fought against it.Going from having someone be there with/for you 24/7 for two years and having the expectation that they were going to be the person you would spend the rest of your life with, to not having them at all, is a huge lifestyle change to adjust to.

Over the weekend, I've come to the conclusion that the use of social media has also had a hugely detrimental effect on this. So I'm taking a break.

Now, yes I could have just done this without writing about it first, but, I also want to use this opportunity as something that can help other people. I'm going to use myself as a social experiment and write about my journey without social media over the period of time that I go without it, however long that is. I'll write each day about how it's gone and then when I finally come back, conclude how my blackout has gone, regardless of whether it's been good or bad.

I predominantly use Instagram, but will be taking time off Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and even Tik Tok (as much as I don't want to give up the latter), and will also be restricting the amount of time I spend on Whatsapp each day. To be honest, just cutting down the use of my phone in general.

As a generation, we rely so heavily on our phones for everything, not just to keep in touch with one another. We keep up to date with what's going on in the world, whether that be world news, politics or celebrity news. We can keep up to date with what our friends are up to, to the point where we've lost the ability to communicate with one another properly. I'm not going to sit on my high horse and pretend that I'm not guilty of this because we all are, but when we go out now, we don't properly experience it or enjoy it as much. We have to share it with the world to brag about what we're doing, where we've been and who we're with.

It's been said time and time again that we only see the extreme positives of people's live on social media (regardless of the Chessie King's and old Alexandra Cane's of the world), and that we should take everything we see and read with a pinch of salt. It's hard not to compare your own life to the perfection that we see on social media, ranging from how we dress and look to how aesthetically pleasing the food we eat is. Instead of having it out privately with people now, we also air our dirty laundry on social media because the release we feel knowing that someone else will see it, which give us a bit of a kick. It's also because it's far easier to post something online than it is to actually speak to that person face to face. All without a second thought on the effect this might have.

Though I have done this before, it's not going to be easy to stop constantly checking my phone for notifications out of habit or wanting to waste a lunch hour mindlessly looking at memes. However, I'll see you when I see you, and make the most of the lack of glittery Instagram stories for the foreseeable future!