Part Irish Goodbye, Part Harry Houdini

I wish I could say my week absence has been due to lack of screen time. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. I’ve wanted to update every day since the last post, but by the time the evenings hit, I had no motivation or drive to do so. I can’t really place my finger on why.

As for screen time, it hasn’t gone any lower, it’s just changed what I’m doom scrolling. No Instagram, no Facebook. I’ve spent more time opening the forums, though they don’t have the time sink features built in that we’ve all been programmed to use for dopamine hits. (read: there’s not 30 second clips for me to get sucked into). I check Reddit from time to time, and I admit I did catch myself reading a few different articles, that I otherwise wouldn’t search for, but again, they aren’t in a format designed to trap you. I also caught myself doing so and closed the app. I started playing my Nintendo Switch again, but it doesn’t consume me to no end, it just entertains me for a short period of time and then I am done… And I suppose that’s not really the problem. The problem isn’t screen time necessarily, it’s what is on the screen and thus far, I am comfortable with my decision to rid myself of the poisons of social media. I have found myself only mildly inconvenienced thus far. I encourage everyone to join me, even if you don’t revert back to 2002 and start a blog.

The past fortnight has been a tough one due to a minor ankle/foot injury keeping from being too active. Perhaps that’s part of the drained feeling I have by the end of the night– evening really. While I really dislike exercise, I am also a firm believer that exercise, especially getting outside, is great for mental and physical health.. That coupled with a healthy diet and good sleep and I think I’d feel a lot better come the end of the day. The Orthopedic doctor gave me an ankle wrap and told me it’s probably tendinitis and it’s not a big deal, but it could take a few more weeks to heal up completely. I have a few more hiking trails to do for the two challenges I’m part of. I planned to already be on the mountain right now, but I woke up to it downpouring, so instead, an update for all my fine readers. (I don’t actually think I have any.) We’ll see the rest of the week goes.

Beyond that, I may start trying to categorize my posts. I feel myself compelled to record other facets of my life here, in addition to quitting social media. A few of the other things that I may jot down is the above mentioned exercise/sleep/diet and see how it effects my day to day life. Essentially, anything that I think is a lifestyle change, especially towards improving my own life, would be recorded, success or fail. I don’t think it’s the “likes” I needed from the socials, I think it’s just a matter of record keeping for me that helps keep me on track and motivated.

Alright, it’s Monday morning at 8:41AM. It sounds like the rain has stopped. At the very least, I’m going to go organize a list to tackle the remaining challenges, so I have a plan of attack for when the weather gets better. Hell, maybe even today.