Detached

I write when I write.

It’s been a minute since I have attempted to post. Someone brought to my attention that I do not post as often as many other individuals that have blogs. That made me smile, mainly because I don’t write for others per se; I write for me. I appreciate those that my writings have touched or made think, yet at the same time, I don’t write for the responses, but I write for the therapy of getting out my thoughts. With that said, I write when I have something to say or have a need to write.

There is this thought that I always have something to say, and that is so far from the truth. Am I opinionated, indeed! Do I speak my mind, yes, I do; however, when these scenarios take place its because I have something to say. Duh! Now when it comes to writing, I don’t believe in writing just to gain an audience or to keep traction. I consider writing one’s truth, getting it out, and those who it’s for will glean from it, whether it’s a post a day or one that comes in phases.

Write from within, write for you, write with a purpose, but never write for responses, reactions, or the need for people’s acceptance of your writing. It’ll be for who it’s for, Period! Which brings me to the point of this post.

Disconnection

I am known to drop off the face of the Earth without a single word. I like to free myself from the grip of this world and become isolated with myself to read, think, and just be one with myself. I regroup, focus, and bring my thoughts & perspective, back into order. We live in a world now that everything is at our fingertips, social media being one that makes people feel like they have gained relationships and that they know people, and the truth is as close as we may feel to people they aren’t as close as you think they are.

It’s nice to post and comment and feel like all of the people you come in contact with via social media are friends, but in reality, they are far from it, they are there to ignite a camaraderie only through technology. There is a massive part of me that enjoys the ways of old, knowing, and understanding that real relationships cultivate. When you can touch, smell, and look at the individuals you deem essential to share space. They are the ones that have your phone number, those that you can sit in a coffee shop with and converse, those you can welcome into your home and break bread with.

Many people are connected to me online that think they know me based on what I post but have no idea of who I am, good or bad. When I detach from such platforms, it gives me peace and an ability to tap back into the space that rejuvenates and feed me. It also removes those who aren’t connected and puts them out of reach. Social media and technology have caused us to lose a lot even though we feel like we have gained a lot with it.

The unbroken circle

When you detach from the artificial and reattach to those things that matter, it allows you to realign your focus back to what’s right in front of you and cause everything else that once distracted you to fade into the background. As impressive as social media is, it can become a distraction. We find ourselves looking at the lives of others more than we focus on our own, we like and comment and scroll repeatedly for hours without any conviction, wasting time unnecessarily. We feel as though we aren’t distracted because we are using it to build “our brand,” yet we do not do anything for “our brand” outside of social media. So what happens when social media is no longer available, how will our relationships/connections be cultivated?

By detaching, you can know who’s in your circle, whose number is in your phone, that can contact you when not connected to Apps. It’ll cause you to call your circle and meet up, sit across from each other, and have real conversations, laughter, and not once have to look down at your phone. Making you engage with who you are in front of without having your phone as your crutch. Your authentic circle is essential, building relationships that are personal in person.

And most of all, building a relationship with yourself without the need to pick your phone up every minute just to repeat what you did five minutes ago by scrolling. By detaching, disabling your apps for a time, and uninstalling them from your phone forces you to look at the sky when you walk out your door, take in the trees and smell the blooming flowers.  You can witness life going on around you that we often ignore because we are too busy looking down instead of out and up. Taking in all that is around us and throwing ourselves into the beauty of this Earth that technology cant give. Let’s embrace the people in the pictures instead of liking them. Detaching will show you when it all falls who is truly around you. There is nothing wrong with social media; it has its place, but in the grand scheme of things, I believe we have lost the balance of it and that it guides us more than anything else in our life.

Let’s go back to being with people. Let’s go back to books giving us knowledge, not MeMes. When attraction didn’t come from filters or digital imagery but instead guided through mental, spirit, and tangible connection.

We scream we want real and authenticity yet; we believe more of what we see through a cropped photo or a 60-sec video than we do from a real person in real-time. You will never truly know people or yourself from social media, and you will only know people by first understanding who you are and second by reclaiming your time and occupying space with people.

If this post isn’t for you and you can balance it all, good. But if you are one who knows that it has become a distraction yet, you can’t seem to part from it; you may want to consider doing just that-parting from it for a time—not deleting but just disabling. Trust me, everything that you feel like you will miss will be there when you get back. And honestly, those connections you need the most are already in your reach; just pick up the phone. If you use the platform for business, that’s awesome, but even with business and work, people take PTO and vacation time. There is a world out here outside of social media. There is a life separate from that platform; we all once lived it, don’t get caught up in an artificial world, and forget about the real world. Selah!