
We’ve finally made it to 2025, and more importantly, the holidays are officially over. Like many of you, our holiday season was filled with more rushing and travel time than initially expected. The unfortunate thing about that is that it distracts from the real joy of the season, which is connecting with family and friends. This has led me to a real detox now that we’re through the chaos. I’ve always used this time of year to reconnect with myself, grounding and working on projects that allow me to reflect. The winter, in my opinion, is a great time to review, reflect, and restart. This year, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’d like to start taking a step away from some of my reliance on technology. It may seem trivial, but for someone like me, where my business is nearly 80% digitally based, I’ve realized the importance of finding time away from the screen and getting back to basics.
It all started with ditching the Apple Watch a few weeks ago. If you’ve followed me on social media (which I have more to share about shortly), you’ll likely recall me talking about my history with this little device. It’s been a pretty critical part of my health journey, from my weight loss to my heart; a meaningful piece of technology in relation to my world. However, my goal for this year is to be more genuine in my interactions and this means being more present in all things. While I loved the Apple Watch, I realized it was as much of a distraction as it was a helpful tool. It had become more than just something that monitored my life and realistically was evolving into something that continued to keep me connected to the world at all times. To put it simply, I needed to detox from this and other devices. My goal for the year is to be less connected, not only on my wrist but other ways, setting healthy boundaries so I can live a more meaningful and deliberate life. So I severed the metaphorical umbilical cord and picked up my mechanical watch. Now let’s be honest here. I’m not some martyr, because I have a mechanical watch I love, one I’ve owned for many years. So it’s not like this was some chore for me. But it was a simple reminder that I don’t always need to be accessible. I don’t need to be connected to everything. My watch does one thing: it tells the time, and that’s all I want. There is a simplicity to owning something so basic yet beautiful, a joy in interacting with it on a daily basis. My watch will never be outdated, require a charge, or will lack an update. It’s just a watch that sits on my wrist, and that’s all it ever needs to be.
This realization led me to edit other parts of my life. If I could live without my smart watch, what else could I do? So I delved headfirst into removing things from my life that didn’t have real value or reflected who I wanted to be. From paper planners to journaling, I started to take a step back from technology, thinking about things more critically. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that I needed to remove social media from my life. This may not sound like a profound realization, but it is something I had wrestled with for years. Much like removing alcohol from my life two years ago, I knew that while difficult, it was needed. This has always been a double-edged sword for me, because I see its necessity, and much like before (when I deleted my accounts in 2020), I had a lot of anxiety associated with it. When you remove yourself from social media, especially as a business owner, you’re cutting off a hand and some easy access and connections with others. But the realization I had is that if I wanted to be more genuine and more present in my interactions, I needed to remove this from my life. As someone who grew up with social media, from myspace to Facebook, and eventually Instagram and LinkedIn, I’ve seen it evolve over the years, from a platform that was built around connection to an algorithm feeding you ads, and posts from people you don’t or will never know. It’s commodified our interactions and created environments where we care more about our reach than we do about the message. I could just as easily log off and never log back in, but I don’t see the point in maintaining things I’m not actively using. So I will be removing all of my personal social media profiles within the coming weeks. Perhaps this is a dumb idea, but it’s no larger a feat than the first time I did this in 2020, removing nearly 15 years of history in the click of a button.
The takeaway from all of this is that I am more than a digital profile, I am more than what I post on these sites and the kind of following I may or may not have. If my leaving impacts my business, then I have to be okay with that, but I have a feeling that a more intentional life is never a bad thing, and that with time, I will find other ways to connect with people.
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