Katie Nelson

Solitude.

Freedom.

Real life.

These are all things that come to mind when I think of being unplugged from social media this year. I am so looking forward to it… because already it has been refreshing. I’m not saying I’m completely cutting it out of my life – I’m just definitely scaling it back. Not because in and of itself it’s a bad thing- I’ve just felt weighed down by it. And at first thought of living more unplugged – I panicked. I didn’t think I could do it. Didn’t think it was possible. Came up with lists upon lists of reasons why it just wouldn’t work… mostly, it came back to the belief that people need to know what I’m thinking about and what’s going on in my life.

Lies.

Pride.

Selfishness.

Yikes.

So, I just stopped. I mean, there were the occasional clicks on the FB app out of habit… but then, I deleted my FB app from my phone. That was a game changer. Now, I only check FB on my computer or tablet. It’s not drastic, but it’s a start in the direction of living… actually just living. Not living to see how many likes my status gets or my latest photo, but just living in the moment- and not needing to relive the current moment five seconds from now… not needing constant affirmation that my life is exciting. The parts of life that I love the most, most people would probably consider quite dull.

That’s what I’ve realized in the first week of 2014… I like doing things that aren’t exciting enough to share, and it’s an incredible weight off my shoulders when I don’t have to turn it into something exciting enough to post. I’ve rediscovered my love of reading fiction, my love of writing just to write. I’ve realized I like to cook… and most of all, I like to just sit and think about and ponder and wonder and pause and be in awe of all that God has done and is doing. It’s weird.

I recently had some girls over and we talked about our favorite books that we read the past year and what we learned in 2013 and what our hopes were for 2014. After everyone left, I sat on the couch for at least 45 minutes just thanking the Lord for all that He did that night and smiling as I thought on the fact that it all came together despite my fears and insecurities… God showed up. It was awesome.

I can’t really Instagram that though. Like that moment with just God and I. If I did – it would kind of ruin it anyway. I don’t think I could really capture it. And ya know what – it was still lovely, and I still remember it without the photo to have proof of it happening.

This is revolutionary for me.

I would just like to reiterate that I do not think social media is bad. I like it. I just need to take a break from it… take a step back. That’s not to say you won’t see me posting here or there… maybe it’s just for a time, maybe it’s forever. I don’t know, but I like it so far.

“Life is too deep for words, so don’t try to describe it. Just live it.” -C.S. Lewis