Put me in Coach!

 

So, I've been thinking. I'm about to think out loud on the blog. This combination can be dangerous. But I really need to get it out there. We will see if I have courage/gumption to press share. I'm about to talk about something that is a little touchy. It's the blessing/curse relationship I have with fakebook...I mean facebook. It has served me well in the past so don't think I'm saying this is for anyone except me. But facebook was a blessing....

-back when I needed to locate my sister when she was MIA after a missed rehab stint. That was the initial reason I got on it in the first place. But we've found her and that was 10 years ago.

-I have prayed for hundreds of people through seeing their situation on facebook.

-Perhaps closest to my heart is when SelahBelle was in the hospital and I used it to elicit the prayers of His people, fast, effectively and easily without ever leaving my sweet baby's side.

-It has been a lifeline through which I communicated with the outside world when I was too depressed with Momma depression after birthing tiny miracles times 3.

-I've bettered my marriage, my parenting, and learned countless things about countless things from reading things others have "shared".

- I've had the ability to share Jesus with others by simply posting God's word and pressing post.

-I've been able to share and learn about sad, heartbreaking abortion truths and raise awareness for myself and others.

 

Wow, sounds like a great place to be, doesn't it?

But there's another list I want to make...you know the one. The ugliness that it also envokes. I am sure that most of this is limited to my own experience so feel free to judge away. I know its ugly, that is why I am deciding if drastic measures needs to take place.

Facebook has been a curse of sorts by...

-Causing me to spend countless hours that I can not retrieve stalking people's lives that I do not truly know in real life, but their online drama airing sucks me in every. time.

- Tempting me to look at my phone all throughout the day when I should be driving, paying attention to something else or talking to someone.

- worry...oh worry how I despise your attack on my brain daily. Facebook has a way of making me worry about what I said or didn't say on someones post. Thinking and rethinking it ad nauseum.

-Be obsessive with sicknesses. If I see someone is sick on facebook I will happily pray for them, while similtaneosly counting back the hours since the last time we could have been "exposed" to their strep throat/stomach virus/hangnail. I even get frustrated because I then can calculate how long they stayed at home and could then expose my children post sickness. (I know, I'm nutso)

-Compare. Feel inferior. Compare. Feel Superior. Repeat.

 

And my last one on this list is the main reason I have decided...err...trying to make the plunge...to remove myself from facebook.

 

I titled the post, Put Me in Coach...because I need to "get in the game" with my kiddos on a better basis. I've got laundry out the wazoo, dishes in the washer and dinner is in the ov...wait, not it's not. Thus, my point. To make this family of 5 go. I've got to do a lot of things. After all of the above is done, I can plop down and read facebook with my time and therefore starting down the road of one of the above scenarios...or I can sit down with my children and be "in the game". Read. Engage. Or just be. Or I could even do the laundry...if I've gotta. I could have a quiet time. I could play a game with my children. I could just sit and watch them. I could be ready to talk to Mick when he gets home, not answer one more message, etc.  I think about the fact that SelahBelle has never seen me without my phone. I literally take it everywhere. I didn't have access to all this internetz with my first two. So she really has gotten the shaft on my attention. It makes me sad. But being sad, doesn't multiply my attention for her. But getting off of facebook will. While I feel like the things I listed first are great things they don't outweigh the things I miss with my own family. If I am making disciples here and imparting to them what I know, learn and study in the Bible and elsewhere I will be "sharing" things in real life. So, what's a girl to do? I know myself well enough to know my addictive personality and any kind of "limit" I made for myself on "the book" would simply get broken with my justification. So I think I've gotta make the break. I'm going to do it for a 30 day trial period and then reevaluate. I am worried I will miss something major...like someones latest workout regimine or the latest lost tooth. No seriously, I do think we rely on it heavily to be the go between nowadays. But I'll have to rely on calling, texting or instagramming. I know, I'm not giving up my online scrapbook. Just yet. I'm gonna see how much time this facebook sabbatical frees up and then decide if I need to pair down even more.

So, wish me luck and I'll keep you posted....here...not on facebook:)