social media | art by jordan rae

For much of last week I was down sick, but honestly, I wasn’t even upset about it.

Morally I couldn’t take any more time off of work on my own (since I’d just gotten back to work after my little Christmas vacation), but being passed out with a beautiful sweaty fever for a few days forced me to take some real rest time. Which I really needed. Mentally and physically, I just hadn’t been spending enough quiet time with myself, and I had really been starting to miss it. If I’m being honest, I feel like I’ve been in go-mode since October, and although a lot of positive things have happened since then, I just haven’t had the time to simply allow myself to calm down. Or even process everything that’s happened.

So cue the 12-hours of sleep every night, lazy days, and wasting time while rotting — unshowered — on the couch with a weird feverish rash all over my body (Mom said it was nothing to worry about).

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A lot of people ask me how I have the willpower to leave social media, but I often don’t know what to tell them…because once I hit the point of wanting to leave, it’s usually not very hard for me to do so. I mean, sure, there are some days where I miss the bliss of easily wasting time by scrolling into the deep dark heart of Instagram, but more noticeable is the immediate change that happens to me as soon as I get off. Usually within 24 hours I’m happier, calmer, more inspired, more motivated, and more creative.

Let’s face it, we’ve probably all wanted to walk away from social media at one point or another, even if it was just for a day, a week, a month…just to get some space, some freedom, or to experience life for life, instead of experiencing life for the ‘gram. That constant pressure of getting the perfect picture to show the world (or, uh, your ex) that you’re having an amazing time!?

It gets heavy.