Off The Grid: What Now?

Right now I’m staring at a blank page trying to come up with something to say because I realize I haven’t written or I should say, posted, anything in a hot minute. When I decided to embark on this social media hiatus (no Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram in May) I really had no idea what was going to happen, or know how I was going to feel, or what I was going to do to fill the time I otherwise would’ve spent on the social media sites.

Life has been happening these past few weeks. Busy, but not overwhelming. I’d say, if anything, life has been productive. Actually, more productive in some ways, and less productive in others.

For the most part, I’ve been working on a whole decluttering project. Whether they’re old magazines I tossed in the recycle bin, CD’s and books I sold, or saying sayonara to socks without a partner (I’ve held out hope for the return of missing socks long enough), it’s been an extremely liberating experience.

There are a few areas I still need to tackle, but the bulk of what I needed to do, is done. Woohoo! Now it’s not a huge overhaul of a project, but getting rid of little things here and there. So far so good, I haven’t missed anything I’ve tossed away.

And the free time has been nice! Time I didn’t spend on social media I’ve used to listen to more music and read some of those old magazines I neglected. As well as, do more reading in general and journaling. It’s been a month of introspection and my journal got the brunt of it. In fact, writing has been confined to my journal, and not this blog. Maybe this surprised me a bit because I really thought I’d be blogging up a storm during this month.

Maybe I felt there really wasn’t too much to blog about in the first place because life has been sorta quiet.

Running, especially, has been quiet.

Running still happens, or I should say, has happened this month. But I haven’t been doing a whole ton of it. Weekly miles haven’t reached over 20 miles and my longest run this month has been 6 miles – but I chalked this up to a resting and rebuilding phase which included upping my strength training and core work. Or at least trying to.

No doubt I didn’t adhere to any strict running regiment. I ran when I felt like it and when I didn’t eh, rest day! And sometimes 3 or 4 rest days in a row. It honestly didn’t phase me. Guess nobody will accuse me of being overly obsessive or compulsive when it comes to running. At least not this month.

Part of it is due to having some residual effects from rolling my right foot during Leona Divide, and wanting to make sure I didn’t push it hard coming back. I’ve yet to set foot on a trail since that day, but I have a feeling that day when I do is coming up soon.

There is one thing that struck me funny by being off social media: I rarely take photos, and I didn’t even take any selfies! Not one selfie!

Wait. That’s not entirely true. I took one.

This past Saturday morning I headed out to Santa Monica for a run. Not knowing if I’d actually run with anyone, I planned to run solo along the beach. As the Universe would have it, I ran into my friend G, who is my Girl Scout cookie dealer friend. She and I ran together with no agenda. Basically we had no clear direction of where we’d go (this sounds familiar), and no exact set mileage.

Early in the run we decided to head down to the end of the Santa Monica Pier. It was there I took a photo of the water itself because I haven’t been thisclose to the ocean in forever and day. Afterwards I was walking away and she says, “Are you going to take a selfie?” I looked at her and said, “Oh. [pause] I guess so.”

The thought of taking a selfie didn’t even occur to me, but then a second later, there I am standing with the Pacific blue in the background, posed with my arm stretched out feeling awkward. Click.

27 days without taking one selfie and that was it. I’m definitely off my selfie game.

So now that May is coming to a close, what now?

After I got over being on autopilot and wanting to grab my phone at times, for the most part, this month I haven’t felt the inkling to keep my phone near me in case I miss a notification. I haven’t felt the need to take a photo because I need to share it. I haven’t felt the urge to take that selfie to document a run. I haven’t reached for my phone after seeing how many people are in front of me in line at the grocery store. I was more present in life.

It felt a bit freeing, and it felt good.

However, part of me misses the social media interaction. Part of me misses the running community. And part of me misses some of the motivation and inspiration I gather from others.

Even with that said, I’ve decided to extend my social media hiatus for a teensy tiny bit longer. It may not be for the entire month of June, but at this point, I’m not ready to come back just yet. Until I return to  it, maybe I’ll take more photos, run more miles, and snap more selfies. Oh hey, and maybe I’ll even write more about it.

Thanks for reading!