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Today’s art is by Sean David Williams and was found here.

healing moment: log off

I regret to inform me that not having social media apps on my phone is a good thing for me. I deleted them on Tuesday night, before Ash Wednesday and — much to my upset — the evening of Ash Wednesday I slept for 10 hours straight. I am not happy with the clarity of the results!

This weekend, while traveling, I allowed myself to have them again. I joked that I was cramming all my feast days into one weekend. My reasoning was that there is a difference between being alone at home mindlessly numbing with the scroll when I could be doing something better with my time, and using social media while I am stuck in an airport, unable to do those other better things. I stand by my reasoning and my use of social media this weekend.

But, upon getting home, I deleted them again Monday night. I’ve needed to post something for work, but I didn’t re-download the app, I posted it from mobile. Still, I found myself checking the notifications via mobile, repeating the pattern I wished to leave behind.

So I deleted it from my browser, too. I am not checking it on my phone now, only doing work things — and only work things from my computer. It’s an important distinction, because the barrier serves to make me really ask the question: Can this wait?

I don’t know what “logging off” looks like for you, and I deeply empathize with why it might not be easy to do. Remember: I am full time self-employed, and most of the marketing I have to do in order to keep a roof over my head is via social media. So I really mean it when I say I empathize.

But I wonder if there are gentle ways you could log off? If you could delete even one of the apps? You could even just delete them for the weekends, or the evening, or one day. It doesn’t have to be drastic, and it doesn’t have to last for 40 days (I crammed all my feast days into Lent 1!), but I wonder if there is even a small way you could log off?

May you find space in your life to log off, and in that expanse, find joy and peace.

With love & care,
EJW

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gather the inklings

healing moment: log off