A few weeks ago, I taught a message at Riv about rhythms of work and rest. A couple days after preaching this message, I was riding in the car with my wife and I realized it was almost July. This may mean nothing to you, but for me that means an important month in my personal rhythm was right around the corner: my annual social media fast.
To be honest, I had totally forgotten about this whole thing. Last summer, I took a three month sabbatical that included a break from social media so the idea of a dedicated break like this slipped my mind.
To be even more honest, that moment in the car felt like a big exhale to me. I hadn’t realized how much of a weight and distraction social media had become for me until I reflected on the prospect of stepping away for a bit.
I’m gonna take the month of July off of social media and I can’t wait.
Here are the rules I am setting for myself:
- No social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat) with the exception of snapping with my family a bit because that’s not a drain for me at all. If I find myself tempted to snap anyone else, I’ll just delete the app from my phone. But I think I should be good.
- No news apps. I am finding reading the news to be a discouraging drain and an all too often source of meaningless distraction. I’m liking the Spotify “Daily Drive” news bits so I’ll keep that going.
- No YouTube.
- No blogs (reading or writing).
This is the stuff I have every intention of doing instead:
- Reading some of the growing pile of books I accumulated this year, including some fun reading.
- Watching a ton of baseball.
- Vacation.
- Hitting a church planting conference.
- Writing (I have a new book idea I’m psyched out of my mind about…).
- Staring at my yard.
- Writing some messages for the fall (I’m even more psyched about a series I am launching in September).
So…that’s it. Enjoy your July…I know I’m gonna enjoy mine.