The “9 After 9” November Challenge

THE “9 AFTER 9” NOVEMBER CHALLENGE

Something has crept up inside of me that I don’t like.

I am mad. I am hurt. I am fed up, frustrated and annoyed.

I am scared; though I can’t put my finger on what it is I am so scared of and I hate to admit a spirit of fear BUT since I love throwing myself under the bus for your entertainment….

Not only that, I am cynical and I am critical.

What has caused this unrest inside of me?

Here I am in the “prime time” of my life feeling like screaming my head off in frustration. For WHAT?!

I should have a spirit of thankfulness, a spirit of joy and gratitude-instead I am sitting over here stressed out.

Does this resonant with anyone else? Am I alone?

I have been thinking about this a lot. What is my problem? And I think I have finally gotten it kind of figured out.

So what is my problem? What has caused me to be so…cranky?

Here it is, you ready?

I am not minding my own business.

Does that sound a little silly…. or maybe sad? I hate to admit it. I hate to be the one to throw that right in my own face but I am pretty sure it is the main root of this funky tree that I have been carrying around.

I set myself up every day to be mad, frustrated, sad and irritated.

Now I bet you are wondering how I am managing that before I even roll out of bed?

But I doubt you will be surprised when I tell you:

Two words.

Social Media.

The thing is, my morning routine looks something like this:

6am-wake up with no alarm because I have lost my ability to sleep in with motherhood (call it a “perk”)
6:01am-Pick up my phone and head straight for IG or Facebook and scroll…………
6:??? Finally get out of bed and get going for the day.

I KNOW I am not alone in this.

You might be thinking to yourself, “at least I am not that bad” or you might be thinking “thank God I’m not the only one!”

But the truth is, there are more out there like me than not. Statistics don’t lie…and they are staggering.

• Earlier people use newspaper for their morning news but now 16 percent users rely on Facebook or Twitter for their morning news.
• 7.4 is the average number of social/communication apps that smartphone users have on their phone.
• Uploading images on Social media networking sites have become the trend nowadays; 5 million images are uploaded daily on Instagram.
• More than 500 million tweets are sent out per day by users.
• People prefer watching videos on YouTube i.e. the average visitor spends 15 minutes a day on YouTube.
• Of iPhone users, 28 percent check their Twitter feed before getting up in the morning.
• It is estimated that the Average American spends nearly one-quarter of their work day browsing social media for non-work related activities.
• People are wasting their precious time on social media networking sites. Between 60 percent and 80 percent of people time on the internet of work has nothing to do with work.

Source: http://dazeinfo.com/2015/01/12/social-media-addiction/

You might be asking why I let myself get dragged down by certain posts or annoyed by others and I wish I knew the concrete answer.

The only thing I can come up with is this; I that I feel like I work very hard, I strive very hard, I care very hard, I love very hard and I HURT very hard. Those that are closest to me know that while my tough exterior might be intimidating to most, I actually am pretty mushy on the inside; I make no apologies for it other than I wish it weren’t so. It leads me to be in this current state I think. I CARE what is going on with my friends, real ones and not so real ones-either way you are a human life and I think you are valuable and I CARE about that value. I want what is best for every person I know well and those that I don’t. No matter what-PERIOD.

While all of the above is true, you guys  also know I have no qualms about telling you when you are about  to do something stupid or questioning your motives on moves you are getting ready to make in your life. The whole “check yourself before you wreck yourself” thing comes to mind. And I am going to let you in on a little secret…

I HATE that I care. I wish I could go through life with only my personal interest at heart. I wish I could go through life and never think a thing about another soul. Instead I am so overwhelmed with this NEED to TRY to help  or this “spirit of caring” that  I am convinced it is going to be the death of me.

I am slightly convinced I care more about you than you do. I care about what you are putting in your body, I care about what you are DOING to your body, I care about how you feel ABOUT your body and I care about what you are feeding your MIND.

….and all my “caring” makes me mad. I let my spirit get upset by posts that people make: the 100 millionth selfie some random person posts because they crave “likes”, the “show off picture” of how great your life REALLY is, a post about heartache that has occurred in your family, and complaints or “drama”. ..It is just stupid and I am done doing it to myself.

I don’t want you to misinterpret my words. I haven’t stopped caring. I wish I could! I am not just going to be torturing myself with it through social media. I have to stop.

And now that I have “purged” all my “secrets” here is what I plan to do about it!

(you guys know I am going to TRY to do SOMETHING about this…)

So I am issuing myself a challenge and I challenge you to do it too! The challenge is called “9 AFTER 9”.

What that means I will only get on Social Media AFTER 9am and I have 9 minutes in my day to spend on it.

I am also going to strive to NOT get on ANY social media after 9pm (though that is a little “mini” goal I set for myself and not a part of this main challenge).

I will not let myself start my day feeding myself this frustration!

I can’t axe social media out of my life completely, the business(s) run a lot through social media and I need to be connected to those things; but I CAN limit my exposure during those times when I should really be spending time with my family anyway.

How many times do you catch yourself reading to your kids and checking Facebook at the same time? How many times do you find yourself “zoning out” on Facebook for “just 5 minutes”, only to look up 20 minutes or more later and the time has completely slipped away.

NEWS FLASH-you don’t get that time back. You NEVER get time back.

I am not preaching at you, I am preaching at myself and I am letting you listen in.

I will repeat myself. YOU DO NOT EVER GET TIME BACK.

BE PRESENT in the NOW of YOUR life.

Be OK with your own life and your own journey.

STOP looking at others’ journey, for it is not yours and you have no business in it.

Know your goals, know your mind, know your CORE VALUES and do not let other people’s minds or thoughts or values (…or lack of them) erode what you are and what you are striving to BECOME.

Care for your family, care for your friends and sit down with them-in person! Be present with who is important in your life.

You might just find yourself happier and healthier-that is my hope for myself at least!

What do you say?

Will you take the challenge with me?

To Less Stress,

Liz Jackson