Radio Silence: Media Fast

We are about halfway through Month 4 of this crazy little mutiny against excess, as Jen Hatmaker calls it in her book.

A group of us started strong in February eating only seven foods for one month. (really, really hard)

Then we wore seven items of clothing in March. (easy peasy)

Then in April we tried to give away seven things a day. Some gals did great. Others of us procrastinated. I am still going through my things and giving them away here in Month 4, because I didn’t finish in April.

But that’s ok because this month is giving up seven forms of media, or as I like to call it, Radio Silence.

And friends, I have had WAY more time to clean out closets.

All those minutes of checking email, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, my blog, email again, Instagram again, my blog again, looking up how much plane tickets are to Paris, seeing how much a book costs that someone told mentioned, checking cruise deals, wondering what’s playing at the dollar theater…oh and checking my email again, checking Instagram again. On and on and on.

Those minutes add up to precious hours of my life, and now I have been able to do really important things like memorize the words to my new favorite song (I did not give up music) and play Nertz 15 times a day with Simon. And Headbands. We’ve played a lot of rounds of Headbands, which is a really fun game until SOMEONE memorizes all the cards. (I’m looking at you, Ben Chino.)

Seriously, though, in addition to finally getting around to cleaning out the closets, I have made room in my life for a couple of things that I’ve been saying for YEARS I wanted to do. It turns out that I just needed a little (or a lot) more space to do the things I have always meant to do.

I know people say that you make time for what’s important to you.

They say we all have only 24 hours in a day.

And those are true statements. So in that case, reading is really important to me. And laundry. And eating. People, I always make time for eating.

But then there are those activities that sit in the non-urgent box. The ones I only hope I will do. Sometimes I even say I will do them, but then all of a sudden, making dinner is way more important.

Reclaiming the crevasses of my life, the ten minutes I check email or Instagram, for something else has turned into larger chunks of time set aside for other parts of the day. And with those chunks I am writing. I am memorizing. And oh my goodness, I am even exercising.

I am finding that sometimes I am downright giddy about having these new blocks of time. It is starting to stay really light in the evenings and I know we aren’t going to all settle in for a movie, so instead we go for a walk. Or I will fix a drink and sit down with my notebook.

And I love it. Really, I do. I feel so productive that I really don’t want to go back.

But I do miss you on Instagram.