I was talking to my women's group tonight and sharing with them about my decision to step away from social media for a year.
And my answer is complicated. And also, it's so simple. I heard a quote a long time ago, I don't remember who said it, or where I heard it…
But it was “create before consume”. And it got me thinking about the world th
at we live in, especially Western society. We are so focused on more. More cars, more wealth, more status, more friends, more influence, more power, more men or women, more diamonds, more sneakers, more food and more alcohol. More working overtime, more and more and more and more. And in that state of more, we consume everything in our path.
And we become a cancer on the planet and on each other. But we are not inherently a cancer, we are stewards, in fact, creators. But we have to choose. And we choose through our actions.
And anytime we choose evil action, “evil” meaning anti-life, anti-love, anti-peace… Anytime we choose to consume more than we create, we are in a state of imbalance with ourselves and with the earth and with each other. And I wouldn't even say that this “disease of more” is our fault. It is passed down through generational trauma and societal norms and cultural collective values and religious indoctrination. And we adopt these stories because we don't know any better. And the story that we've been given, and the tale we’ve been told, is one of conquest and domination. And we need a new story.
And in order to write that new story we need to heal the old one need to grieve and forgive…
We need to set each other and ourselves free through the heart. As we continue to heal we realize that we are not a cancer, that we do have a choice. And we then step into [a story] of giving more than we take… of loving more than we hate.
We become stewards of our bodies, our minds, our hearts, our souls… then of our children and our parents and our siblings, and our families… and then of our communities… and then of our countries… and then of all of humanity. We become stewards of the Earth itself, the way that it was always meant to be.
But it requires that we act. Not just dream. We must choose. And these choices are not guaranteed to be easy!
So, I'm giving up social media for a year because it feeds in me a desire for more and an inability to focus on what I truly desire for myself and for the planet, which is intimate connections full of presence. Or long days of rewarding work doing exactly what I love. Time to create, and be bored, and pause, and listen. And that platform and others like it - they take my attention and my time. And therefore, my god given birthright to create. And so, I'm choosing to sacrifice something that is not easy, by the way. I'm actually a bit scared of this process and a bit doubtful that I'll make it a year, if I'm being really honest.
But it's something that I've been feeling very called to for some time. And the thing that finally did it was a podcast with Joe Rogan. And a gentleman whose name I can't remember. But it's one of the more recent ones. This doctor studies human development, and he's looking at children and social media. (I'm going to completely butcher the story.) But please listen to the podcast. Essentially, they surveyed a bunch of 16- or 17-year-olds and said, “Hey, if you were given the choice to not have social media until you were, you know, 16, would you have said yes?” And the kids then would say, “Well, if it's just me, no, but if everybody had to wait until 16, then yes, I would have liked that.”
Kids don't want this. They feel obligated by social pressure to have it (social media). And so do I. But really, it's not what I want. What I want is deep connection with people that I can be with and talk to face to face. Celebrate life with. And when I heard that part of the podcast, my heart just broke. But I instantly knew that I had to do this. Because it's my vote. My choice is my vote for the kind of world that I really want to live in. And the world that we're in right now is not it. It's not it. And social media plays a really, really big part of that puzzle. And I don't necessarily think the answer is to completely get rid of it. But its current form, isn't working for me anymore in the kind of world that I dream of and the kind of world that my heart aches for.
For those who have been subscribers for a long time, I want to first of all say “Thank you” for sticking around. I haven’t been posting a lot since I began this Substack. However, this year I plan to make one post per day on what it means “to be a woman of peace living in a world at war.” If you do not desire to receive a post per day, feel free to unsubscribe. But I truly hope you stick around and follow this journey of seeking greater peace at a time when we could all use a whole lot more.
xoxo,
Sarah