Slowing down in a social media world

I’m feeling moved lately to change my pace. 

To disconnect to reconnect. To put the phone down more. Here are a few things I’ve been practicing recently in this pursuit:

Writing less on my laptop and picking up a pen and paper in it’s place. Writing throughout the day and scribbling in my journal, taking notes, drafting things to come. Even if it’s messy. Especially if it is. It takes more thought this way. I like that. It connects me to the page and what I want to say and how I’m feeling. I feel it deeper.

Wearing a watch so I don’t keep checking the screen for the time. Because when I do I see the notifications and always go online. Always. Hearing the tick of the second hand click click click around grounds me. 

Carrying a camera . Even if it’s big. No matter how the photos turn out. Taking them for fun, not for perfection. They can’t be filtered. Snapping a shot and putting it away. Not 10 takes. Putting them in an album. Even the bad ones. They still make me smile. There is something so intentional about shooting with film. I want to do more or that. Not knowing how it turns out until it does- just like life.

Writing in a day planner instead of using my calendar in my phone. Plans resonate more with me when written down instead of typed into the screen. They feel more special.

Writing postcards to friends on my trip. Telling them the stories and thoughts I would normally text them. Thinking of them feels a little deeper when I don’t always tell them I am and writing it down and sending it to them across the country means something even if it’s slower.

Pausing for joy in the moments and not always posting that joy in the moment. 

Connecting more with humans in real life without documenting I am. Taking the connections I’ve had through this amazing platform and taking them to real life and to coffee shops to have continued conversations.  Looking them in their eyes. Deeper. More intention. Mindfulness. Awareness. Getting back to basics. To feeling without it always having to happen through my screen. To scribbling messy, handwritten notes in my beautiful journal that turn into posts like this one. 🧡