The JOY of Missing Out

The JOY of missing out… what a concept! I read this the other day and could not believe how JOY FILLED it made me feel! That’s my new intention- no more FOMO; it’s all about the JOMO.

This week it’s been COLD and snowing, and I’ve loved it! We’ve been hunkered down inside playing cards and music, watching Netflix and planning our year. Where we’ll visit, what we’ll do when we get there and dreaming of all the possibilities this year holds. I’ve had plenty of time to ponder what it’s like since I pulled the trigger and deleted my Facebook account. Being social without social media. (IG might be next…stay tuned!)

You read that right. I did it. I deleted my facebook account. I wrote about doing it in an earlier post but didn’t know if I’d have the courage to pull the trigger, or hit the button. It took a full 30 days for the process to complete, but complete it did. How did it feel? SCARY! It did (at first). As ridiculous as that may sound, it was NOT a decision I took lightly. I stuck with the feeling of fear and did it anyway. And I feel better for it. I knew in my heart that the feeling of fear was only my monkey mind trying to talk me out of it, so I stayed with the feeling and felt it change to excitement! And then JOY.

I set the intention, made the decision and then got to work. I knew I didn’t want to lose all of my photos I’d posted over the years, because let’s face it…FB sometimes worked as a “back up plan” (for me anyway.) I’ve discovered several things through this process:

1. No one has noticed I’m gone. Nope. Not a soul.
2. Facebook was hoping I’d change my mind. As is I mentioned above; it takes a full 30 days for your account to be permanently deleted. It’s a safety net of sorts- which can be a good thing if you change your mind. (And yes, I had moments where I questioned my decision- which is exactly what FB wanted me to do.) But, you must be careful if you truly want to delete your account. If you log in to FB even once during that 30 days (from the way I understand it) your account will remain active.

So I got busy and did my research. I read a couple of articles on permanently deleting social media accounts and made notes. The first thing I did was download my FB file. This is includes everything I’ve ever done on FB. All of my photos, posts, comments, likes, etc. It’s all there. It was a fairly large file and took a bit for the download to complete. I was thrilled it was an option; it made it easier for sure!

So what has happened in the me time? (not a typo!) Well…just that. I’ve got more time now to do the things I want to do. Play, read, make photos, have real conversations with people, and most importantly be more present. How could I not be? The time that I’ve freed up from FB is more time to live in the moment. That’s my daily intention now. I have to get up and remind myself of it, still. And that’s OK. Eventually, it will become like brushing my teeth or taking a shower. I know and trust this to be true.

Are you interested in deleting your FB account? Leave a comment below and let’s talk! xo, Marie

These are the articles I found helpful. Why and how.