Six months baby and what the fuck have I learnt?

Since I binned Facebook for a much-needed hiatus a while ago, my friends have peppered me with a whole slew of questions:

“How will you cope without Facebook?” (Very well actually).

“Won’t you be missing out?” (Er…nah. Not really).

“How will you know what people are doing?” (Easy. I’ll just fucking ask them).

One of the reason why I fucked off Facebook in the first place is how it made me feel.

Quite often as I would (all too fucking regularly) check through the news feed, I would feel annoyed. And irritated. And disconnected. Which are the exact opposites of how social media is supposed to make you feel. It seemed like it was no social, but all ME-dia, if you know what I mean.
But the trouble was, I was still checking it constantly. More than constantly if I’m brutally fucking honest. Since I got my smart phone, checking Facebook had become like a nervous tick.
So in November, I took action.
I decided to delete my Facebook account for a while and see what happened.
Since then, six months have passed.
I have to say, quite honestly, it’s one of the best choices I ever made.
Why?
I’m about to tell you.
For one, I started this blog and finally, finally, in my writing life, I get to be me. I get to write about things that turn my crank. I also get to swear like a sailor, which as you will know by now, is something that I love.
By switching my focus inwards instead of outward, I turned off all the little voices in my head that would look at Facebook and then complain “Oh!…Look at them, look what they’re doing…you should be doing something more fabulous with your life too.”
So now, instead of comparing my perfectly good existence with the filtered snap-shot that people post on Facebook, I am concentrating on my own world.
So what exactly have I been doing with my time since I nixed my Facebook tick?

1. Reading. I have read a fuck-load of books since I started my Yifof challenge six months ago, over 20 to be precise.
Some of them have been great, laugh-out-fucking-loud masterpieces, others have been disappointingly mediocre. However, all were time well-wasted.

2. Reconnecting with friends

I decided at the outset of this challenge that I would try and have more real contact with my Facebook friends. So far this has been going well. I’ve written letters, video chatted and met many more of my FB friend in person than I usually would. Thanks to all my FB friends who have humoured me in this endeavour. But the funny thing is, of all the people I said I would telephone, I haven’t called anyone yet. Why? I dunno. If I’m brutally honest, talking on the phone these days, kinda makes me nervous. I’ve gotten so used to firing off emails, that now I shy away from the phone. Clearly this is something I need to work on further. So if I said I would call you, I will. I just need to get over myself first.

3.Connecting with new people

Since starting this blog, thousands of people, in over 45 different countries have logged in, read my posts and commented on what I have to say.
I’ve gotta say, that blows me away. Thinking of people all over the world, reading my words and then taking the time to write me comments to say thanks for making them laugh, is just about the best feeling in the world. I haven’t even announced to anyone that I’m writing this blog yet, especially not on Facebook. But since it’s my six month anniversary (a feat in itself, cos I’m a terrible commitment-phobe) I think it’s high time I posted about Yifof on my news feed to see what happens…Oh the hypocrisy…Don’t cha just love it!

4. Writing

Writing has always been my first love. I’ve loved words from the moment I could speak (and a chatty little fucker I was too) and I dictated stories to my Mum until I could write my own stories. Words have always seemed like magic to me. Writing them, reading good words; it’s all the same to me.
Since I’ve been frittering away less time on social media, I have managed to carve out so much more time for my own creative writing.
I currently have two books (non-fiction) in progress. I’m so fucking excited, I can’t even begin to tell you!

5. Each month I have been setting myself a fresh challenge. As well as writing more and connecting with other people, I’ve also cleaned the shit and clutter out of my house. Now I’m currently (well hopefully) cleaning the shit and toxins out of my body, by following Joe Cross’s juice reboot. Today is day 22 of my 30 day juice fast. It has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but also the most empowering. I’ve also just begun a daily commitment to exercising. Since I began this blog, setting myself a new challenge each month has been a fun task, one that I have really began to look forward to. It is also definitely one I’m going to stick with. However, I promise NOT to blog about the upcoming “Sex every day for a month, no excuses” challenge that my husband so kindly suggested.

So six months in, all I can say is, I can’t wait to see what the next six months brings.
One thing is for sure though, no matter what, I’ll be enjoying every fucking minute.