I had a conversation with Taylor quickly in passing Monday morning as we were getting ready for our day, in between brushing B’s teeth and feeding the birds. And I quote, “being off social media has been life changing.” A comment made by someone who was reluctant to read Digital Minimalism and told me he didn’t have to take a break because he didn’t have a problem using his phone. I have seen some of the changes he’s made over the last two weeks and was secretly thrilled to hear his shared enthusiasm.
I can’t describe how I feel with one word but I’ll try with many –
Lighter. Tidier / organized. Rested. Full-filled. Motivated. Accomplished. And yes, a tad bit curious – curious of what I’ve missed from a specific number of accounts on IG.
I can tell you I don’t feel disconnected from friends and family, even though my interactions are far less frequent.
One thing / change that I made for myself during this reset was to archive all of my emails and start fresh – it’s been so wonderful! Each day when I log in I’m not overwhelmed by the number of emails I’m facing and can quickly delete or sort what’s arrived overnight. While my goal is to keep my inbox as close to zero, I’m finding sales are approaching that I’d like to take advantage of (i.e. holiday cards, prints for B’s baby book, etc.) and am keeping them there as a reminder of tasks I need to complete. Once items are ordered, I’ll delete. But this refresh in my email has shown me how much spam and random businesses I’m subscribed to – I can now easily report spam and unsubscribe from those I no longer wish to see. I’m typing this out and it seems so simple but it really has had an impact on me.
Another change I’ve implemented for myself is reducing the number of laundry baskets in the bathroom. I had a big one for colors and a big one for whites and a small one for running loads up and down from the basement, but I’ve eliminated the two larger baskets and am solely using the smaller basket. We rarely wear white clothes with a toddler (and Taylor is no longer wearing an undershirt each day to work), so when the basket is full, I throw in a load. I’ve found it’s preventing a full days worth of laundry that often happened on a Saturday or Sunday and is now done more frequently but efficiently. I’m thinking with this new method, should I stick to it, we should be able to reduce our total number of clothing items – more on that later.
Other than the Great British Baking Show that we abruptly stopped watching each week on Fridays, I honestly don’t miss streaming shows in the evenings – and was happy to hear that Taylor is in agreement (!). As a result, we are both drinking less and sleeping more = win win for our wallets and health. We’re both still reading a ton, I’ve almost completed B’s stocking and have cast on a Christmas gift, Taylor has started spinning again and while I haven’t had the energy or motivation to resume working out, I’m not beating myself up over it. I’m feeling pretty good about myself these days despite mom bods often being… weird. New is a better word. Mom bods are new.
End of week two statistics: Screen time is down 25% from the previous week, totaling 1 hour and 13 minutes a day. Marco Polo continues to be the most used app, eating up a total of 2h 12m of my total time (out of 8h 34m total).
