Facebook Free & Other October Updates

Part 1 is social media update, Part 2 is life updates.

Part 1: Facebook Deletion
I suppose I should begin with with the short, yet simple point, that my Facebook is completely deleted. That is, after all, the whole point of this blog, isn’t it? My quitting social media. Obviously, there haven’t been as many updates as I anticipated. I thought ridding myself of social media was going to force my hand to use this as a constant source of entertainment, but alas, obviously, I haven’t done great at keep up.

Facebook takes 30 days to permanently delete after you deactivate it. My 30 days was up last week. I’ve been scared to test it, but this morning, I finally did. Now, like the friends in my previous post, I am but a ghost on the platform. It took about a day of accidentally trying to click back to the website, but honestly, it ended up being far easier than I expected. I’ve had a friend use Marketplace for me to sell a big ticket item, but otherwise, I just took phone numbers of the people I stayed in touch with on messenger and… Well, I guess that’s it. I implore all of you who find yourselves taking too much time on Facebook to follow my lead. Come on in, the water’s warm. This morning, I knew I had two alternate Facebook accounts that I never used.. So, I logged in, navigated the incredibly tricky process of deletion and rid myself of those too. They were simply place holders for groups where I was admin for when I deactivated my account. In thirty days, those too will be gone forever- which isn’t really any big feat since they weren’t used to begin with. I am Facebook free.

Instagram still exists, but without the app, it’s all but a useless platform simply linking friends to this gem of a website.

My screen time on my iPhone has gone from 8+ hours per day to < 1 hour per day. Read that again.

Part 2: Life Updates
The truth is, I haven’t been updating this blog, not because I don’t want to share my goings on, (I love sharing my life with friends and family), but rather, I’ve been struggling to find the time to sit down and articulate my thoughts in a clear and concise manner. Hell, I am right now, in real time. Maybe it’s better I don’t update daily, or even every couple of days. Maybe that’ll give me time at the end of each month to look back, reflect, and determine which stuff is worth sharing and which were just trivial moments in a seemingly mundane fragment of time.

I am not going to dwell on my previous post because that would show that I didn’t mean every thing I said. It would show that I was just looking for the attention or an argument, but that isn’t the case. I gave it my all and the return was nil. One friend had reached out a couple of times for the first few days, the other, I never heard from again. The only reason that I am even updating this, rather than laying it to rest completely is because a friend asked if she could share it as she knew someone faced with a similar dilemma. Should that person actually read this, my only real advice is, before you make a decision to write people off, make sure you actually mean it. I’m lucky enough to have so many other friends and hobbies that it helps lessen the sting of knowing the ones I’ve committed the most energy to ended up being the worst for me. With that said, you’ll know.

More generic life updates include trying to get into better shape, I’m trying to become a runner. I suppose I’m just a glutton for punishment. I downloaded the Nike Run Club app and it helped me immensely in the first week. The second week I worked overtime for almost the entire week and needless to say, did not run. Time management coupled with lack of motivation is a recipe for disaster. I did, however, finish the “Giant Master Challenge,” completing all of the trails at Sleeping Giant in one year. That’s cool. I have four more trails to complete the CT DEEP Sky’s The Limit Challenge hiking challenge for 2024, as well. I suppose that’s really all I’ve got for updates on what could be considered a really, really poor fitness journey.

I suppose the real motivating factor for this update was I woke up to a notification that someone had liked my previous post. It was the “ex” referred to in the post with the friend group I’d hope to emulate. In the last twenty or so years of dating, only two women have left me wondering “what if…” at the end our time together. I hadn’t seen this particular person in years, and obviously, feelings and emotions fade after years, so it was fine when my buddy tapped me on the shoulder to tell me some girl across the restaurant was pointing and waving like a lunatic to get our attention. As I squinted through my sand filled eyes (I’d been offroading all day) to make out the blurry outline of this person across the crowded room, I ordered my drink, before getting up to go say hi. I walked up, exclaimed that I knew I should have gone to a different restaurant, and proceeded to be introduced to her husband and one of her little boys. He was so beautiful, I couldn’t believe it.
…The little boy was cute too.
As I stood there surrounded by her family, knowing I had “Good Luck Chuck’d” another one… I thought to myself… “Well, I bought a side by side…”

So anyways! I bought this awesome Side by Side! I don’t know if money can buy happiness, because happiness isn’t really my thing, but mannnn, this new toy is dope!

We’ll end on a more serious note here. I have a great job, I sold my house, I followed my dream and bought a camper and now a side by side. I am doing whatever I want, yet, I am not exactly where I intend to be. However, as I regularly preach to my friends, sometimes you need to take a step backwards in order to take two steps forward. I am currently in the back step, but biding my time while I wait for the things out of my control to occur so I can strike with the methodically laid foundation I’ve set for myself.

See you on the next post.
(May be changing the layout, so all posts are visible on the homepage, but I’m pretty out of my element on this whole web design nonsense.)