Spoonful of Imagination

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What I Noticed From My Social Media Break

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Hello friends!

Most of you probably know that we have closed our non-profit art studio this summer. With that big change, a lot of questions, comments, and feelings from within myself and from people came as a result.

Change can be tricky, right!? It is one of those layered things that can mix both beautiful and hard. I have found that during change is a tender season, which makes you really moldable. It’s all the more reason to protect what voices you listen too and how you invest your time. I knew for this season I needed to pull back from social media and be more present with those who know me… and more quiet to hear God’s voice.

I took two months off social media, and it was a great break. A few things I noticed:

I looked up a lot more. Have you found yourself saying you wish you had more time in the day?

I got so much more time back in my day when I went off social media. I don’t play games on my phone, so other than normal phone calls, texts, and emails, my phone is a camera. When I stopped using social media, my phone time went down from 5+ hours a day to less than 1 hour. I often would pick up my phone in an empty moment and realize I had nothing to do on it, so I would sit it down and go look to see what everyone else was doing. I’ve watched a lot of live basketball 🙂

I processed my own stuff a lot more. When our mind is full so are our emotions.

I found that not seeing and absorbing as much information, pictures, reels, videos, and content my mind was more freed up. I was able to think through my own thoughts, feelings, and emotions; as well as, have energy to do the same for those around me. As an ennegram 4, I am a big feeler. I can feel what others may be feeling in a situation. That can be considered a gift in a lot of social settings, but it also can be a big weight in processing and carrying things that were never mine to carry. In this time of not seeing others lives so upfront, I did feel a little lost at first. I quickly then got to really understand what I was carrying with closing a chapter of my life (with the studio) and where my kids ages and needs are today.

I focused on what I enjoyed. Take a picture of what catches your eye.

For the first time in years, when I scroll my phone’s camera roll, I see my family, experiences or things that I love. I had no pressure in this social media break to “market” something, or showcase the latest at the studio, yet I could be present in what I loved. As I still took a lot of pictures, I found myself reaching out to family more. Another added bonus, my growing teens were more agreeable to take pictures. They no longer had to worry ‘where was this picture going?’ or ‘who is going to see this?’. They knew their pictures were staying on my phone or going directly to family.

I was more present with those I love. We never outgrow the need for friends.

Without interacting with friends online, I found myself getting together with friends and family more. Sharing laughs over meals, drinks, sweat in the sun or swimming in the rain, I was creating real moments and memories of knowing and being known.

I did activities I enjoy! What things are life giving to you?

I love to read, be in nature, and create. You would think if I love it, I would do it more, but life is so busy. As I had more time in my day, I found myself reading more. I also planted flower bulbs and tomato plants. I even re-did a room in my house that started with pulling up the carpet! As I created time in my day to do things with my hands that I love, I was reconnecting with things that build me up.

Life can feel so urgent. The pressure to see something when it happens, to “be in the know” and to respond to messages immediately can create days that feel like riptides pulling you through. What I noticed when I said no to social media, I was saying yes to living intentionally and life just moved slower.

It’s ok to rest. We were all made to have seasons in life just like there are seasons in the year. Some years are more obviously producing and some are more restful (or work behind the scenes) in nature. I hope if you feel a nudge to step back and take a social media break that you too can make it possible. Time goes so quickly as I can clearly see in these time lapse photos of when we opened the studio and when we closed it five years later.

Thank you for all the support. Remember, you can imagine the possibilities! We only have one life. Go out and creatively live it!

_____________________________

 

Quiet

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Our hearts continue to be heavy and with all the victims and the families from the Sandy Hook shooting.

Our thoughts, conversations, and prayers are continually turned towards these families as we are mourning and grieving with them in this time of great loss.

May God grant peace to all who have been affected and give us hearts as one to help carry them through.

I’ll be quiet on all my social medias today as I reflect.  I’ll be back tomorrow or Wednesday.

I’m BACK!!! (with info about our trip across the country!)

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Last time I posted, I was leaving for the beach and needed a media silence.  That was almost exactly one month ago.  I am back and here to tell you that beach trip was only the beginning of our travels!!   I am sorry I could not reveal the full extent of our trip, but we were gone for almost a month. For all the stalkers and house toilet paper rollers out there, we didn’t want it to be hugely wide known that our house would be vacant for weeks on end.  This little blog of mine is not huge by any means, but you know, a girls gotta be careful!

We left August 8 and headed to Florida, from there we started our travels to the west coast!  Our goal was to see our beloved friends in California, and we did that and had so many awesome stops before and after!

We got back this past Saturday, and we have been adjusting to life back at home, doing laundry, and seeing family.  Its been bitter sweet to get back from such an incredible trip.  In the coming days, I will be sharing more details from our trip.  The post I am most excited to share with you is the FACTS from living on the road for 25 days, while driving across the United States, with a 5, 3, and 1 year old.

Thank you for being patient with my while I took time away from social media.  This was a great time for me to just enjoy my family.  That was my only “to-do”. While gone, I really got to recenter my priorities, process what I am doing and where I am going, and just be FREE!  Matt and I had some amazing talks and got to dream together.  It’s incredible how pulling yourself out of your “norm” and being freeed up can bring you back to the root of who you are, what you want to be about, and what matters in life.  We had an amazing trip, and I can’t wait to share more of it with you!!

For all of our friends/family that we didn’t get to see on this road trip, we will get to you next time!!  There will be more road trips!  Isn’t that a success alone?!  I can honestly say, I can’t wait to get back on the road.  More coming along these lines too!!  I have some great ideas for blog posts (well, that are exciting to me!?!  I hope you enjoy them as well!) and series that I can’t wait to share!  I missed this little outlet of mine!

For now, let me leave you with some fun shots from our travels:

Thank you so much for stopping by!!

IDEAfarm and Silence

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Yesterday, IDEAfarm 2012 ended.  It is crazy that this event that we have been planning, dreaming of, and looking forward to has come and gone.  It was amazing!  This was our third summer to do IDEAfarm, and I have left feeling inspired after every single one.  It is a weird feeling to want to give and invest in others, but yet walk away encouraged, challenged, and inspired.

The students and leaders that we had come were incredible.  Their stories, their passions, their dreams are moving.  They were real, honest, and open.  When those three things are together there is such a sense of community instantly.  I am still processing all that I felt and what I feel like is going on inside of me.

Yes, I helped prepare the food and was a small, small part to help pull this event off.  BUT, I got to listen to some amazing sessions and talk to some amazing people.  I feel like Matt and I have had such a crazy summer and have been going and going non-stop.  I had a had two-hour drive (both ways) by myself .  On top of that I had a deep heart inspiring time.  It left me well…soft.  I don’t know another word to describe it right now.  I feel at a tender place.  Open, challenged and seeking maybe?  I have been so busy going.  I have been moving and doing things a little off course

I don’t feel like I am way off course or anything.  It’s more that I just need time to breathe, re-center, and figure some things out.  A key point in Andrew’s talk on Friday night was “we can be a small part in something BIG or a BIG part in something small”.  I can’t shake that concept.  It’s burning in me, and I am trying to figure out what I am about.  I want to be a small part in something big.

I’ve gotten to build into these two beauties since they were in seventh grade.  I look at them now, and they are two of the most gorgeous girls I know.

Literally, they are so inspiring.  I walk away from talking to them, and I know they are impacting the world for good.  I can not take credit at all for them, but I look at them and think of all those times I was tired and worn out from pouring into some “young kids”.  Maybe here I was a small part in something big? There were so many times I wanted to quit being their small group leader cause they were “out of control”, “didn’t get it”, and “didn’t care”.  We hung in there together.  They put up with me crying at them, fighting for their hearts (and attention), and starting my family.

They have hearts for things that matter and they have dreams and ideas to care and build into women.  They are world changers.  It’s hard for me to realize that I can’t build into girls in the same way these days.  I feel like doing life with people is the way to best build in trust in love so that you have a door to speak into their lives.  It is hard to do that daily with the needs of three young ones.  Although, I will continue to love these girls and be there for them, I know I don’t have the capacity  to do that with a new group of girls.

My season is my kids right now.  I think that’s ok and that is the way it is supposed to be, but yet I have been trying to do SO much more.

My kids are my world and they are my ministry right now.  It wont always be that way, but I have the very small opportunity and gift to build into them with everything in me.  I am not doing that.  I think of how I spend my time and things that are taking from me, and I know I can do better.  I want to do better.

They are my dream, and I need to give them more time and space in my mind.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I am way off.  It’s just convicting to know I can do better.  God’s grace has swept over me.  I can look at my little girl dancing (and dance with her), smiling, and thinking this is the best moment, but also be thinking of a huge to do list.  I’m not as fully present as I want to be.

I have this friend that will sit and color with her kids for thirty minutes straight.  I don’t do that.  I might set them up to color and color for a few minutes, but then I rush off to check email,  fold a load of clothes, or even to check this blog.  I have been having waves of vertigo again, and I know it is because I have been stressed and trying to do too much.  They are my job and all the other “jobs” don’t really matter.

I have lost grasp on that perspective.  I have gotten caught up with doing fun things, trying to have it all together, and taking advantage of not having a “baby” any more.  For so long, we were in survival mode and trying to figure out how to handle three kids.  Don’t get me wrong, we still have hard days with three young kids, but they don’t require the same amount from me.

Or so I had convinced myself.  They do still need me, and they do more now than ever.  Although, their physical needs are easily met, now their hearts are grasping more than ever aswell.  Their little eyes see things and are impacting/imprinting their hearts.  I wanted to keep Caleb home for kindergarten, to build into and impact him.  I praise the Lord he has gotten my attention before I rushed into a school year at the pace I was going.  I would have been impacting him for the worse.  Now, I am more excited than ever to homeschool his little mind and heart.

I know I need to slow down and re-center my priorities, but it’s hard to hold onto that perspective (& figure out how to do it on a daily basis) without allowing the space and time to process and be still.

IDEAfarm started something in me, and I want to give it the attention it deserves.  We leave on Wednesday to head to the beach, and i am so excited about it!  I am going to allow this trip to start a month of social media silence for me.

I think it will be hard at times, but it will also be really good.  Haha I don’t trust myself though, so I am literally going to delete the FaceBook app on my phone to keep me from breaking down.

I am pausing all Friday Project Spotlight posts, and I will probably stop posting for this next month all together on this blog.  I can’t promise that though.  🙂  I am such an inward processor and it helps me to type things out to find clarity on how I feel about things.  If I am not publically posting things, there will definitely be a lot of “drafts” going on that I can post after my “social media silence”.

Today is Aug. 6 and I think I will be back sometime that first week of September.  Thank you for reading about this time.  I appreciate all your prayers and for those of you gave to make IDEAfarm possible.  I can’t tell you how incredible it was.  I feel like I am not doing it or whats going on in me justice with this post, as I am still trying to figure it all out.

I can tell you this though, I felt so so incredibly connected and loved by Jesus this weekend.  The most I have in a while, because I literally just made myself available.  He used people to speak truth over me and to me.  I have not had many moments in my life that I feel like God verbally spoke to me in some way that was so crystal clear.  I had that this weekend.

The moment I fully accepted the challenge going on in my heart, I stood up to walk out of the session (to go help with lunch of course and not running from my confrontation at all)…I received a message that I could not ignore.  God was not going to let me brush this thing off.  I know this is vague.  Haha I don’t have it all figured out, but I am hoping when I come back, I will.

I am praying that this month, I allow God to direct mine and Matt’s paths.  I’m seeking that he will give us a view of what is next for us, with daily ways of how to get there.  Thank you for being on this journey with us!

Thank you so much for being patient with me and caring and loving for my family during this silence.