Summer Wishlist

Happy almost Summer!

I have been dreaming about this Summer for a while. I am hoping for some beautiful weather and in the words of Eric Church I'm hoping for "A July Saturday night". Summer has always has always held some magical energy I am hoping for all the good vibes for this summer. 

This summer I am wishing for:

-Beach days

-Pool days 

-Concerts 

-Adventures

-Mini golf

-Fireworks

-Baseball games

I am also wishing for:

-a peace of mind

-calmness

-reflection

-contentness

-guidance

-a path

-excitement

I think to find these things, especially the more abstract things this summer, something needs to change. My relationship with social media has been weird in the last few years and its gotten worse the last few months. While I love it and it's a great tool to connect with friends and find new friends, find new products and companies and to build your 'network'; it has been overwhelming for me- the constant product pushing, showing the highlight reel of life and the 'pressure' to always be on your phone to stay up to date and to stay relevant. I don't want that right now in my life. 

There are so many things that I want to do but I am constantly dragged back to my phone because I want to see what's happening. I was never like this but it has become me and I don't like it at all. I have so many hobbies that have been pushed aside, I finally said ENOUGH! I want to do more than sit on my phone. I want to better myself and not bring myself down because I am comparing myself to those on social media. 

With all that being said, I am looking forward to taking social media off my phone and getting up and doing all the things I been dreaming about doing. I am hoping that this will re-ignite my passions and bring me back to my old self- the one who was not obsessed with social media and what is happening online. There are so many neat things that are happening outside of the phone, I want to try to experience them all. 

On Wednesday, June 21, I am going to be starting my Social Media free Summer.

Here are some questions that you might have about my Social Media free Summer: 

What does this mean for WGJ? I do not consider my blog social media; I will be continuing to write posts and publishing posts. I have a schedule that I follow pretty regularly and keep myself accountable because of it. I hope to not be so regimented and to give myself grace with these posts this summer. 
New "Random" posts will be on pause because those posts come from screenshots of social media posts. I will have one last new Random post in the beginning of July (with screenshots from the first few weeks of June). 

Will I miss the interaction with other bloggers on Social Media? yes and no. I love connecting with other bloggers especially local ones but for my mental health, I think this is the best choice for me. I have seen both the good and bad with bloggers and influencers; I am not sure if that fits with what I am trying to do in life right now.

What about my #OOTD instastories daily posts? Those will be put on hold for a while BUT I will still continue to take daily photos and have a monthly post on here with my outfits. I started not liking to post my daily outfits because I kept catching myself checking who looked at the stories and thinking about why hasn't more people looked at this. Not good!

How will I find things that are happening around me? By word of mouth, subscribing to the town's newsletter and doing some google searches. I don't think it's going to be that hard.

What will I be filling my time without social media? Diving back into my hobbies, spending time outside, spending time on myself and learning new things. WGJ will be a part of my summer too!

and lastly...

What made you come to this decision? There wasn't one singular event but there was a combination of things that I was seeing (product placement in not appropriate posts); things that I was doing (obsessively checking to see my likes AND seeing what I was missing) and what I was thinking (I should be doing more; Why am I not getting more followers? What can I do more to make me more popular). Doing all these things was not making me happy or proud of myself. I was never like this and I knew I had to do something different. If I want a different outcome, I know I have to do something different.

Also, on this topic, Emily Ley from Simplified took a sabbatical from Social Media in the beginning of the year and she chatted about how it really cleared her mind and made her focus on what is important. I have been thinking about this since she mentioned it. This article and this article are very much on point with how I'm feeling and what I am doing too.

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Here's to trying something new and to a summer I hope I never forget. 

[[This summer, put your phone away and make some memories no one knows about. Make memories that are completely yours.]]