Hi friends!

Remember how I did a mini social media cleanse for my monthly goal in May? I didn’t take the entire month away from social media, but I decided to make Sundays my “no social media” days for that month. 

See: 12 little monthly goals for 2019

Well, here’s the short story: I loved that mini cleanse. It was the perfect way to kick off my week, and I plan to keep doing it through the rest of the summer! 

Here’s what I gained from taking 1 day a week completely off of social media: 

Let me start with this: social media is part of my job. I make money and I grow my company from social media, so it’s a big part of my life. As long as I’m loving blogging the same way I am right now, I don’t want to quit instagram cold turkey; I just want to learn how to have it in my life in a healthy, meaningful way. That’s why I committed to taking off just 1 day a week instead doing a month-long cleanse. I’m going for balance! 

1. I got sooo much done on Sundays! Social media is a major time suck, y’all! (Please give me an “AMEN” if you relate to that!) I can’t tell you the number of times I’m lying in bed at night about to fall asleep, and I decide to just check “that one instagram account really fast…”

And then it’s 45 minutes later and I’m going to bed later than I intended, and I’ve done nothing meaningful with that time. Ugh.

When I decided that I wasn’t allowed to even open a single social media app on Sundays, I filled my day with tons of other great stuff! Here are some of the other activities I was able to do on an instagram-free day: 

• Batch write a bunch of blog posts for the week 
• Read an entire book cover-to-cover
• Meal prep and write my grocery list for the week so I have healthy weeknight dinners planned
• Binge watch a Netflix show (currently working through Handmaids tale!)
• Spend hours with my hubs (Alamo draft house + restaurants + pool time are some of our favorite weekend activities)

I’m amazed at how much time pops up in my day when I’m not given the option of using social media. Just try it! 

2. It reminded me that I don’t have to post anything to social media. I have a feeling there are plenty of foodies/bloggers/influencers who are reading this, so you’ll completely relate:

If you have a job or hobby that involves posting on social media, do you ever feel exhausted by going to a restaurant because it also means posting instagram stories, editing photos, and engaging on social media? I do! 

So when I told myself to take a break on Sundays, it felt really hard at first to go to a restaurant and not post anything! But eventually…I really liked it. It felt fun to go out to eat on a Sunday and not post anything at all to instagram. 

I felt a lot of freedom on Sundays! It was a gentle reminder that I’m not tied to instagram, and I’m allowed to live my life and enjoy the experiences in it and not post anything to IG (even if that double decker ice cream cone would have been completely Instagrammable.) 

3. It reminded me that real life happens away from a screen, not on it. Sooo dumb to need this reminder, right? It’s pretty basic. But when I get wrapped up in social media world, I need the weekly nudge away from the camera and the filters and the captions and the engagement struggles so that I can remember that instagram is a fun hobby, a highlight reel, and a place for inspiration…but real life actually happens away from it. 

4. It helped me stop playing the comparison game. I wrote these 3 tips to deal with instagram jealousy, and I was happy that it resonated with y’all because the struggle is sooo real for me, too! 

I wrote that blog post, and I practice all of those tips, but dealing with instagram jealousy is still a work in progress for me. 

Whenever I feel the pressure rising and I start playing the social media comparison game, I feel extra thankful for that one day each week when I completely remove myself from the situation. 

It is so, so healthy for me to back away from it all on Sundays. I start to feel much more gratitude, excitement, and contentment for my life. 

One more thing to wrap up this little chat: 

My college roommate, Elle, launched The Honestly Pod a few weeks ago. It’s a podcast about living authentically, building community, and being your true, messy self. (It’s awesome – check it out here if that sounds like something that resonates with you.) 

In episode 3, Elle and her co-host talk about creating an “instagram philosophy,” or an approach to how you choose to use social media. What is your “why” behind social media? Why do you post, and what do you hope to get out of it? 

I thought I’d share the two main things I think about before I post on social media. (Note: this is for my public food account, which is different than my private instagram account, which is just for close family and friends. I have a different philosophy for that one!) 

The 2 Questions I ask myself before I post a picture to instagram:

1. Is this going to be helpful? Since I run an Austin food and lifestyle account, I want to make sure that everything I’m posting is going to be helpful in one way or another. 

What’s my goal here? Am I providing a restaurant suggestions, sharing a link to a blog post that will help you find stuff to do in Austin, or hoping to provide some general Austin food inspiration? 

Or… Am I posting something with the goal of boasting/bragging/trying to inflict jealousy in someone else so I can show off my Awesome Filtered Instagram Life?

2. When I post this, what do I want the viewer to feel? Inspired, excited, and hungry are all good answers for my account! 

Less-than, jealous, in awe, or guilty are the wrong feelings. If I think my picture or caption might create those emotions, I need to go back and re-think it. 

I’ve started using these same questions to determine who I’m following on social media, too! I unfollowed a bunch of big name influencers because I was feeling less-than, jealous, and a little bit angry from their accounts. 

A fashion influencer who inspires me to wear cute clothes and create a better style? YES. 

A fashion influencer who makes me feel small because she’s constantly showing off her house/pool/massive Jimmy Choo shoe collection? Not my thing at this point in my life, although that might be something I’d enjoy at another stage of life! 

Ok dolls, that’s it for today. Hope something in here resonated with you! 

Lots of love. XO.