I don't believe that I'm addicted to Facebook, but since I have the app on my phone, I check it when the girls are napping or in bed for the night, I'm eating a snack or lunch at work, I'm bored, before I go to bed. I'll stop there. Hmmm. Addicted is defined as "devoted or given up to a practice or habit or to something psychologically or physically habit-forming." Hmmm. Nope, I'm not addicted. Not me.
After a few days of convincing myself that I "needed" to look at Facebook at least 2-3 times a week to check on certain events, I decided that I would break the 21 days into parts. I didn't really have a plan as to how to divide up my days, but I finally decided to get started.
Day 1 - Friday, Sept 13th - that's Friday the 13th if you didn't catch that. Who starts challenging things on a day known for "bad" events?! I do, of course. I wake up at 5:02 am (yes, those 2 extra minutes of sleep are critical), get ready for boot camp, and head over to my instructors house. Class starts at 5:30am. I'm sitting there in my car. No other cars are around. My instructors garage door is closed. 5:26am. 5:27am. Where is everyone? I'm certain that bootcamp was cancelled and our instructor let us know via Facebook like she always does with class changes. I knew it. I should have checked Facebook before I left the house. I should check it right now while I'm sitting in the car. Finally at 5:28am, another car shows up and the garage door goes up. Class is held like always and we have about 20 girls that day. I'm convinced that the Devil was trying to make me fail at my challenge on Day 1 at 5:28am. What are the odds that I was the first to arrive and that many girls showed up between 5:28-5:30am. Hey Devil - You Lose!
I'm now on Day 9. Only 12 more days to go. That's 21 straight days. Once I got started, I got competitive and I knew that I couldn't break up the challenge. I had to go 21 days straight. I'll admit it, I think about Facebook everyday, but I haven't felt tempted to look at it. I mean, I get emails from Facebook every other day letting me know that I'm "missing out." I have 35 notifications, 2 messages, and 2 friend requests that are pending. Sure, I would like to know what those are about, but I also know how quickly technology changes so I was already so far behind on Day 2 that it wasn't worth breaking the challenge to catch up on old news. Right?! Now, I'm wondering how many notifications, messages, and friend requests that I can rack up in 21 days. Oh, I'm too competitive. :)
To keep things fair, I also challenged my best friend to a challenge of my own. My challenge to her was devoting 30 straight minutes a day (for 30 days) to sitting on your butt. As moms (and dads), we always go go go, and we rarely take time to rest until we hit the pillow at night. This challenge forces me to sit down and watch TV or read a book or just relax. As dumb as it sounds, the first few days were tough. I would watch the clock thinking, "I can get up in 17 minutes .... 12 minutes ... 9 minutes." It was ridiculous. I now savor those 30 minutes. I look forward to them. I'm on day 17 and loving every second of those 30 minutes.
So, know that if you comment on this blog post on Facebook, I won't see if for 12 more days. And, I wouldn't be true to my competitive self if I didn't take this time to challenge you as well. What do you say? No Facebook for 21 days. 30 Minutes of Rest for 30 Days. Are you up for it? Whatever challenges you accept, I hope that they mold you into a better person. I have substituted by bedtime Facebook checks for a daily devotional and it's been awesome. I don't miss the "drama" on Facebook, but I do miss the daily Bible verses and uplifting posts that so many of my friends share. So, I'll see you soon ... or not, if you've accepted this challenge. Good luck!
Just in case you need an update on my life, here are some of the highlights:
- I'm training for a half marathon in November and my current schedule had me run 6 miles this morning. My legs are still tired as I type this.
- Bailey is LOVING Kindergarten! She was already awesome, but she's made so many positive changed in the past few weeks. It's great to see her grow in her independence.
- With Bailey in school, Lou has stepped up as Parker's protector. She's turned into quite the "big" sister. Don't get me wrong, they still fight, but we are seeing improvements.
- And Parker. Well, she just rocks! She's talking a lot, singing the entire alphabet, and cheesing it up for the camera. This is her enjoying some home made cake after dinner tonight.
