19 Days With No Facebook

It has been 19 days since I deactivated my Facebook account and this is an interesting time to post about my experience. (The number 19 is a number of power in Stephen King's Dark Tower series which I am reading right now for my third time so this arouses a unique feeling of fate, or ka, in me.)

I must report that it is going splendidly not having Facebook. It feels great and at this point I don`t even feel the compulsion to check my account for messages and updates. It is just out of mind now. I`ve had a few people comment to me that they had trouble finding me after realizing I was no longer on the social media site, but after getting in touch with a few people they were able to track me down easily through email. I honestly feel awesome not spending any time on Facebook at all. Maybe soon I will write a post about my experiences having a flip phone instead of a smartphone. Yesterday, I actually had a colleague who was shocked that I didn't own an iPhone. Hahaha!

Maitri

In developing a healthier life for myself and focusing on positive actions, like meditating, eating good food, sleeping better, and exercising, I gain a deeper appreciation for life. For my life. I feel healthier and happier. I enjoy simply being. The joy of moving within the world comes out of treating my body and my mind with respect. With love.

I read an article on maitri by Pema Chodron, a teacher of Tibetan Buddhism.  Essentially, the core concept of maitri is to cultivate unconditional love, but in particular an unconditional love and friendliness towards oneself. This is a concept I have been trying to create for myself. Rather than be hard on myself for my failures and short-comings, I take these opportunities to learn and gently talk to myself about the experience. What happened? Where can I improve on this matter? There is no point in punishing myself. Often, we already suffer enough from our mistakes. Why prolong our own suffering by putting ourselves down? Instead, I have opted for forgiveness of myself and turned my focus not on the mistakes and bad choices I have made, but on the positive actions I can now do instead.

You can read Pema Chodron's article here:

http://old-shambhala.shambhala.org/teachers/pema/maitri1.php

Focus

Now that I am starting to say NO to a lot of projects, I have the freedom to really focus on what I want to do. I have a few personal projects right now that I have the time to really dedicate to. A while ago I talked a lot about minimalism and even did a month long experiment of getting rid of many material possessions. By having less stuff I can appreciate the things I have a lot more. The things I have that really matter to me and add value to my life. 

Having less projects to work on is also a form of minimalism. It doesn't have to be material things that I let go of. I can de-clutter my life of things to do as well. Sometimes we overwhelm our lives with too many activities because we always have to be doing something. We have to do more to appear successful and productive to our peers. We see what everyone else is doing and we want to do more, to have a leg up on the rest of the world. Instead, I need to focus on a few projects and really do a good job. With this new focus on important things in my life I can cultivate a passion for these things and really be in the moment and love what I do.

Saying "NO"

The past few weeks....no, actually the past few months....have been very stressful for me. I have a tendency to want to do too many things. I take on too many projects. I try to do way more than is humanly possible. What happens is I end up feeling stressed out and only doing each project half as well as I should be doing them. Not even half as well - that is giving myself too much credit. So now I have a plan.

I am saying NO to more projects than I will say YES to. I need to slow down and strip my schedule down to what I really want to do. With too much to do, it is hard to focus on being healthy and hard to focus on doing good work. I am always thinking about the next project or the next task that needs to be done, rather than focusing on the task I am actually doing right now. So until 2015, I am only focusing on a few personal projects, my relationships, my health, and my job. This is more than enough to focus on right now and I don't need more projects on the go. I recently tied up all my projects of the past few months and now it is time to say NO....at least for a while.

Facebook Update

I went the whole weekend without missing Facebook at all. The funny thing is that I have had many people already comment on me being off the site. A lot of people have been trying to find me and to their surprise I am not there! There actually has not been a lot of negative feedback from it though. People seem to be cool with me not being online as much. And so far it has been great for me. I feel a lot more connected to reality now.

It was fairly easy to forgo the social media this weekend as it was the Silver Wave Film Festival all weekend and so I had a lot of events and social interaction in person. It was a great weekend and I was even nominated for and won a few awards for a few films I worked on. Going home, I really wanted to share my mild success via Facebook but again realized that I no longer was using it. I settled for sharing it with my family and loved ones and posted a mere tweet on Twitter. I am really just content with getting some recognition for my artwork. Facebook would just be me tooting my own horn and I really don't need the fame. On to another week Facebook-free!

No Facebook

Another day of no Facebook. It is strange how much our habits become part of our routine. One of the first things I did at work today was go to www.facebook.com in my browser. I didn't give in to logging in but I did go to the website before any of my other frequent sites I visit. Interesting to notice this kind of behavior. So far so good though.

1st Day of No Facebook

Today is my first day of no Facebook.

Last night was kind of strange. I had to do some editing work on my laptop and checked my emails from the client. Naturally I pulled up another tab to check my Facebook at the same time. It had become a habit for me to check email and Facebook at the same time. So it was weird to have to think about the fact that I don't have an account anymore. I could have easily reactivated my account and check it anyways, but I am glad to find that I am not so attached to the social media site to have a strong desire to do that. 

Today, I am sitting in a Starbucks and writing this blog, sipping my coffee while copying over my documentary project to the client's hard drive. It still feels weird to not be checking Facebook right now. But it is probably a good thing. Now that I am done writing this update, I think I will read a book for while instead of staying on the computer. 

Cheers!

Quitting Facebook

Today I am deactivating my Facebook account. I have found that I waste way too much time on it and it doesn't do anything for me. I waste time reading other people's statuses, looking at other people's photos, and watching videos that I could find on my own if I were so inclined. Going on Facebook becomes a slippery slope into wasting my time and I only have so much of that. 

Instead I want to focus my free time on things that matter to me. Things that add value to my life. Whether it be reading a book, writing some poetry, learning something new on Khan Academy, painting a picture, or just going outside and enjoying the present moment, I want to do something that feels like I am actively in the moment and doing it. I want to live life and not watch it pass by one status at a time. This may not be goodbye to Facebook forever, but I am planning on keeping my account deactivated until at least December 1st. I may go longer. I will see how it goes and if going without Facebook has any positive or negative effects in my life. This is an experiment, and I'll be keeping tabs with it on my blog here. Obviously I won't be posting anything new on Facebook, but you can still follow me on Twitter and on Google+. Cheers!

Question!

I ask a lot of questions. 

I believe in questioning everything.

Some people find this frustrating.

But it is the only way to learn.

The only way to realize.

The only way to live.

The only way.

To the truth.

Halloween is Over

Now that Halloween is over I can look back on my eating habits. I decided to treat myself (or trick myself?) into buying a bunch of candy for the holiday. Halloween is my favorite holiday season so of course I had to celebrate one of the biggest traditions: sweets! I bought a bunch of orange and black jellybeans, Halloween kisses, mel-o-creme pumpkins, and sour witches. It was great, but after eating candy every day for a week, I could feel the toll it took on my body. 

As well as eating a bunch of candy, I volunteered at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre's Haunted Tours four nights of the past week. This left me tired every morning and I neglected my plans of going to the gym each day to catch up on sleep. On top of that, I went to a few Halloween parties and ate more candy and drank some alcohol (not too much though!).

So it looks like I have a lot to work on. Well it is November now; a brand new month! We have snow in Fredericton already and a lot of it too! Time for me to restart my healthy living plans. I plan on eating less junk food this month (but not planning on cutting it out completely like in September), and eating a healthier three meals each day. I also plan on getting more gym time, especially focusing on running (on the treadmill now due to snow and slush). So let's get to it! I already did the gym this morning so I am off to a good start. Let's keep it up!