Years ago a friend brought over some homemade Jalapeno Cornbread Pudding. After devouring two pieces of goodness a relationship was born. By my third piece I begged for the recipe. With a belly full of Southern Goodness… I couldn’t help but wonder what other savory delights were missing from my life?  I bet there are ton of other recipes that could bring me the same pleasure. Each day I spent time trying to find new recipes. This habit was fun at first and then became unhealthy. I felt empty. 

The fear of missing out was real. 

This got me to thinking about our current situation. Ever since the television news stations switched over to airing 24 hours a day. Along with the birth of social media, our clocks are now controlled by our senses. We yearn for constant updates. We scour the internet and websites to see what our friends, family and the world is up to. This has turned into a devastating daily habit. The fear of missing out should not predict the way we interpret the world. 

In December of 2021 I dropped Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  The only one I kept was Linkedin. But shortly after, sometime in March I got rid of Linkedin as well. 

From March till July I felt proud of myself for not using social media. Not once did I reactivate my account. I had accomplished the unspeakable. So I had thought?! Yet, I was still informed because I was devouring the news the same was I took in social media. I justified this by telling myself, you are doing good, you’re not using social media, it’s ok to read the news. But then I found myself looking at the news on my phone and computer all day long. I wanted to be informed, I needed information. Current events was my bloodline. This daily habit brought me right back to square one. My emotions were being dictated by fear and click bait. I had to make a move and it needed to be quick. For the next two weeks I would not subject myself to any media. I wanted to make a postive change. 

Making a change is a lot easier when you can write about the situation.