A breath of fresh air, a 365 day cleanse

Every lent, I give up my social media for 40 days. And let me say, it is the most refreshing 40 days of my life. I feel like I get a chance to focus on me and I stop constantly comparing myself and my success to other people. I get a chance to accomplish things that I keep putting off. It overall has been a great experience every time.  I have been kicking around getting rid of my social media for quite some time now, but unfortunately our generation is so wrapped up in it, that it's been a struggle. So I've decided to take the same approach my mom told to take when I wanted to get a tattoo. She had told me if it was something I really wanted, to have the saying I was getting somewhere visible on me, like a piece of jewelry,  for a year straight and if come after a year I still wanted it, I could get it. Not quite the same, but I've decided I don't need Lent to give up social media, or anything else for that matter. So instead of deleting everything cold turkey, I'm going to start with a "31 day cleanse". For the month of July, I've taken on the challenge, with my friend Sara, to delete all my social media apps off my phone, and to stay off of them. If after July I don't feel a need to open them, I plan to expand that cleanse another month... and so on, until a year is up, and see where I stand. It's going to be a challenge, but I know it is doable. It will give me a chance to focus on me, reconnect with important people that I feel I have lost touch with because of social media, and most of all to really live my life instead of painting a picture of it on social media. With this challenge though, I have made some exceptions, only because as I have said, social media has indeed become a big part of our lives, but I would like to point out that it is not all for bad. I have used it as an important tool in sharing my fundraising for charities. Since I am currently in the middle of a fundraiser until mid-July, I will also utilize my social media for that, primarily Facebook. I have also decided to make an exception for Facebook in that I am going to do another photo project 365, posting a photo a day for a year. I will have all notifications turned off, but it will take a lot of self control to not browse as I log on to post the picture, but I have faith in myself. Of course my blog will be an exception as well, but I don't group it with social media for the simple fact that it's more for my personal use for others to read. It's not here to paint a fake picture or to get attention. It's just here for me to share some stuff, whether people actually read it or not. I really think this is going to be a great experience, and I can't wait to see the things I discover along the way.