Hey, friends, welcome back to another episode of the Business Journey podcast. I'm Rebecca, and I'm really pumped for today's topic. We talking about my break from social media. This is one of those episodes that I'm just peeling back the curtain of what my life has been like for the past couple of months, and I'm really excited to share with you. I don't have any notes for this, so I'm kind of winging it, but I just really wanted to be very authentic and genuine with you guys and be able to just show you my heart and like what this thing has looked like for me. So that's what this episode is going to look like. Not quite as structured as some of my other episodes, but I think that you'll still find it valuable. And hopefully, you know, maybe you'll decide you want to take a break from social media, too. So here's the backstory. OK, so this journey started for me a couple of months ago at the beginning of August. I, before that was very, very active on my social media. And when I say active, I mean, like, yes, of course, I was still posting for business and stuff, but I would spend hours just scrolling through Instagram and Facebook. And, you know, all the things I was watching reels all the time. And it just it sucks you in like, it's a little crazy. And so you know this chipping away on for quite some time where my screen time was up and it was just what I did when I was bored or when I had extra time, I was scrolling through social media and I've had seasons where I've, you know, tried to set limits and things like that. But you know, and I liked how it was, but I never like really stuck with it. And so this time what really got me was one day, you know, in the evening, I had already put my kids down for bed. I had noticed that day that any time I didn't have something to do, I was reaching for my phone. And if I didn't know where my phone was, I almost got kind of panicky. It was. It was really weird, and I didn't like the way that it made me feel like I needed to have my phone. And then that evening, I remember sitting in bed and I felt so anxious like my heart was beating super fast. I was, you know, had a short temper with my husband. Poor guy. He was, he was so understanding. He's like, Are you OK? Like, what is wrong with you? He could tell that something just wasn't right with me, and my heart was being super fast, and I was just very anxious. And I'm not a naturally anxious person. I've never really struggled with anxiety in my life, so I knew whenever I started feeling anxious that something was wrong, like what is happening in my body right now? Like, I didn't like it. And so I put two and two together that the reason I was feeling so anxious was because I was literally addicted to my phone. And, you know, I've never been one to like, do drugs or anything like that. But I almost relate the feeling that need and that craving to constantly be up to date on things and like need to know what's going on when I'm really not missing anything. It's like, I relate it to like people on drugs that they literally like feel the need to, you know, be involved there. And so I, when I recognize that in myself, I didn't like what I was seeing, and I knew that if it was making me feel like this, I was not being the best version of myself. I was not being the best wife that I could be. I was not being the best mom that I could be. And that's not fair for my family to, you know, suffer because of my inability to have self-control and my lack of self-control. So I decided at that point that I was going to take a major break from my social media. Now, obviously, a lot of my business is run on social media, and so there's only so much I could do. But you know, I have a team that there is scheduling posts out and things like that. And so I let them schedule the posts. And if there was something that I had to post, I would like hop into the app just to post it, and then I would get out. And so the very first thing I did was I deleted the apps from my home screen. Now the new iOS update, it allows you to delete an app without, like really deleting it. So it like hides it from your home screen, but you can still access it if you need it. So that is what I did was I knew I needed to access it, but I wanted to make it harder because, you know, my first instinct when I open my phone, I knew where my Instagram app was and I would go there without even realizing it. And so the first step for me was to delete it from my home screen, so I wouldn't even see it. And if I couldn't see it, I wouldn't be, you know, as tempted to go into it. I also turn off all notifications for it, which I had some notifications turned off, but I turned off all notifications for it and I set up time limits, which your phone had. Was it in your settings? I can't remember where it is. I'm like literally playing off right now, your screen time, you can set down time or like app limits. And so I set like very restrictive app limits in my Instagram, on my Facebook because those are the two that like really used up a lot of my time because I'm not a tic tok person. So maybe there is the tic tok? I don't know. But I knew that Facebook and Instagram were really taking up a lot of my time, and so I set very restrictive time limits. We're talking like 30 minutes a day, like total. Or maybe I said, I think I did 20 minutes a day total, so was enough time for me to post something if I needed to, to check in or answer questions from you guys and then just get off because it wasn't time for me, you know, to scroll, I could scroll a little bit to like, stay up to date with some of my friends. But you know, other than that, there was just no need. And I can tell you within literally the first like 48 hours, I felt an incredible difference from being super intentional in saying, No, I'm not going to let these apps run my life. I am going to separate myself from them and instead I picked up a book. So I love reading, but I usually like whenever I get in those seasons where I'm very just immersed in social media, I find that I don't read as much because the time I would be reading, I'm, you know, picking up my phone or whatever. And so I picked some good books and any time that I would instinctively reach my phone, I would reach for a book instead, or I would just sit there and be still with myself. You know, it's crazy because we, like nowadays pretty much don't know how to be bored because there's always something for us to do or read or researcher, you know, scroll through. And so allowing myself the time to just be bored made all the difference, guys immediately. My anxiety that I was experiencing went away. I felt more present with my kids, and I felt more joy like I wasn't missing anything because I could just enjoy the time that I was spending with my kids or reading a book or whatever. And it was just an incredible feeling, guys. And I continued that within the first week of my screen, time dropped dramatically. And you know, at the times, there are certain times that I feel like I'm more vulnerable to scrolling. And so at those times I would go plug in my phone, you know, next to my bed and walk away because, you know, I would have my Apple Watch on. So if somebody needed to get a hold of me, you know, somebody was calling me or I had a text message or a slack notification from a team member, then I would get it on my watch, but I can't scroll on my watch. So that's the benefit of it. And, you know, if I needed to do something else, I would do it on my computer instead. And so by plugging in my phone and stepping away, or I like to call it purposely losing my phone by purposely losing my phone, I was less likely to get sucked in to just the mindless scrolling. And I was worried at first of like, what would it be like? Like, am I going to miss milestones from like family and friends and stuff because like, we don't live in the same state as our family. And so I don't want to miss, you know, keeping up with my family on social media and so or, you know, friends back home, I want to stay up to date, but I want to be separate still. And so it was awesome because, you know, something would happen and my husband would say, Oh, did you see such and such? And like constantly, I was like, No, I actually didn't. But what was cool there is this one instance where some friends of ours, they've been in this adoption journey for years. I'm talking like, I think like two, two and a half years that they've been, you know, in this journey of adoption and they finally got their kids home and it was just incredible. And after I did my social media break, you know, they got their kids dedicated at church in Texas and I'm in Nashville. So obviously I missed it. And so my husband asking, he's like, Did you see they dedicated the kids? And I was like, No, I didn't. But what was so cool was I opened up my Facebook and their post was the very first one because, you know, the algorithms had boosted it because obviously a lot of our mutual friends had commented and were engaging with it. So there was no way I would miss it because it was a big deal. And I found the same goes for Instagram and all the things that, you know, if something is happening in a close friend or a family's life or something that I like should probably be seeing when I open up my Facebook or my Instagram. Instagram most of the time, that's what's at the top because, you know, I like to hate on algorithms, but sometimes they can be really helpful. And so in those instances, I wasn't missing anything by not constantly scrolling. I was able to check in, you know, once a day or sometimes twice a day. Answer messages that I missed. And, you know, catch up on any like major milestone events in my friends and families lives. You know what's so funny? I didn't need to see my friends Instagram Story of what she ate for dinner last night. You know, I didn't need to see the 20 million pictures of, you know, my sister going to the zoo or whatever. Like, there are just some things that I just it's OK to miss. And if it's important enough, the algorithm will boost it. Or, you know, I can go find them. I can go to their page and see what I missed. And I in the last two months, I haven't felt like I've missed anything. Like I, I feel like I've gained a lot by stepping away from social media, stepping away from my phone. But I feel like I haven't missed out on anything, which was the biggest surprise to me, honestly, because I was a little nervous. But I knew that I didn't like the version of myself that I was. So by purposely stepping away, I've just I've gained so much more from that experience. And it was funny because I didn't really talk about it on social media that I was like taking that break because I didn't want it to seem super obvious because I was still going to be posting and, you know, engaging in my communities and things like that. But I still wanted to, you know, step away. So I think I talked about it once and just like updating everybody of like, Hey, you might not see my face as much. And so a friend of mine reached out and asked her like, Hey, how's like the social media break going? Because they thought I was only doing it for a week? And they said, Well, how was it? And I was like, Well, actually, it's now a lifestyle because I liked it that much. And I, you know, I didn't want it to just be a week thing. I wanted it to be the new normal, and I was kind of inspired by my business coach, Graham Cochran, and he did a year off social media. And this was last year. In 2020, I guess it was good timing. He missed out on a lot. But you did a year of social media and then after that year, he just decided he liked it and didn't want to go back because he experienced the same things I was talking about of not feeling like you're missing anything. And so here now, you know, eight months into the nine, whatever. I don't even know what month are in, however many months into the year. This year's almost over. And he's still without social media and is loving it. And you know what? His business continues to grow, and that's what's been so cool is like, my business has still continued to grow and it's been fine. I didn't need to be scrolling all the time and like super super active. And so I just hope that this is like an encouragement to you guys. I'm sure I'll be doing an update because this is only two months in. I want to keep you guys updated with like how this journey is going and how it's making me feel and how my business is doing. You know, stepping away from social media, but I really hope this episode is an encouragement to somebody out there that maybe you're like that and you did it. Maybe you don't even realize, like how addicted to your phone that you are or how often you're scrolling instead of, you know, sitting and watching a movie with your kids or whatever it may be. I want to be a source of encouragement to you that like, you can do it if you need the permission slip or like the challenge. Here's your challenge. Like, take some time away from social media, except for the things like you have to do to keep your business running and see how it makes you feel. Because I would bet that you will like the version of yourself without social media a whole lot better than, the person that just scrolled mindlessly. And so, you know, if you need some accountability or, you know, just somebody to cheer you on. Reach out to me. I would love to, you know, cheer you on in this journey. Or if you're like, I'm going to do this thing like DM me on Instagram and tell me, like, OK, Rebecca, I'm committing to doing this thing because I think there's power in saying it out loud or, you know, typing it to somebody. And so I just challenge you. Let's make it happen. Let me know. And it's funny that I'm like DM me on Instagram to tell me, you're getting off social media. But like, I'm telling you, I jump into my DMs, you know, once or twice a day or shoot me an email, whatever. Hello@Rebeccaricephoto.com. And I'd love to just cheer you on because I think that this journey is one that more people should do. More people should try this out because there's just so much value. And I didn't realize how detrimental scrolling on social media was for my mental health. And guys, your mental health matters. You want to be the best version of yourself that you can be. And so whatever this looks like for you, I hope this is helpful. If you're like, I'm good, at least you get to hear my story. And this is like a little bit of accountability for me because I'm sharing this journey with you guys and I want you all to, you know, check in with me and ask me how it's going because. You know, I can't do this thing by myself, either, so anyways, I know this episode is different than most of our episodes, but you know, I just wanted to get personal because this is called the Business Journey podcast, because this is a journey, right ? And part of that journey is our personal life. And so thank you for allowing me to get a little personal here today. And you know, next week, we'll be back with another practical episode, and I know you're going to love it, but just wanted to be able to peel back the curtain of, you know, my heart and what's been going on because, you know, my business is so near and dear to me. And you guys are such you all play such a huge role in just shaping my life. And so I wanted to share that journey with you guys. So I hope you enjoyed it. And then we'll see you back this time next week. You guys have an awesome week bye.
Episode Transcript
