I deleted Facebook and Instagram from my phone on the Day After Thanksgiving last year. I did it in response to a couple things. The official reason was so I could “rest merry” during the holidays out of a desire to spend more time focused on my family as my oldest daughter is getting married this year and it would be her last Christmas at home.
The unofficial reason? I had an unhealthy relationship with social media. It may not seem like it, as I my posts were always full of encouragement, reflections on my life (which is truly blessed beyond words), and a celebration of all the things I love.
But in reality, I was feeling creatively empty.
I was obsessing over creating new things for people to read on Facebook and what I could share to my stories on Instagram, trying to build a personal brand and following on LinkedIn–while I felt like I honestly had very little to say that was coming from me. The spark of creativity was nothing but a flicker, the fire of passionate creation a heap of smoldering embers, quenched by the need to “build my audience” on social media–which was a pretty empty thing, in fact.
Most of the people who I am friends with on Facebook? I have not seen the majority of them in 7 years. Of the nearly 2000 “friends” who I was trying to connect with, only a handful were people I still saw regularly and who actually knew me beyond my days as a pastor at two different churches in Seattle. The nearly 2000 connections on LinkedIn? I have met maybe 100 of them personally, and only a few of them have I worked with in the last two years. And if I didn’t hashtag enough Disney words on my Instagram, I couldn’t generate very much interest in my posts.
You get it. In my honest desire to share my creativity with the world, I was focusing on people who didn’t really know me anymore, if at all. And I was more concerned about connecting with these people than I was on listening to my heart and hearing what it had to say, what God was trying to say through me–and what He was trying to say to me. I was so busy trying to inspire others that I stopped being inspired. I stopped listening and hearing what He had to say to me and through me.
The last few months have been filled with introspection, journaling, and a lot of time in scripture. Really getting into my book Resting Merry for myself, and not so I could share it with people on Facebook was a big game changer for my enjoyment and appreciation of the holiday season. Digging into the book of Romans in the New Year has reminded me of the amazingness of God’s grace, my justification by faith that I did nothing to deserve, and my journal has been setting me up to blog regularly on the things I am learning. All of this has re-fired my imagination, re-igniting the spark of creation that went dormant, leaving me refreshed and inspired in a way I’ve not been in a very long time.
The spark is lit. What happens next?
Well, I hope you enjoy reading the blog. I would love if you subscribed to it. I am going to be posting here regularly, some long form writing and shorter content. The podcast is coming back to life again, because I finally feel like I have something to say. I’d be honored if you’d listen and share it. My RestingMerry newsletter is reawakening with purpose. You can subscribe to it, too, and get weekly updates on what I’m working on, where I’m speaking next, and a bit of the kind of content I used to share on Facebook. If you love my books, you you can follow me as an author here. My current best-seller is my guide to baptism for kids (which is why I’m working on a sequel).
God is doing something cool in my life, and having time to be quiet, to think about it more, to introspect before I try to put something out there has awakened some pretty great thoughts that I am excited to work on and share in the coming year. Honestly, there is some really great stuff in the works, and none of it would have been possible if I hadn’t walked away from social media. Will I go back? I’m not sure, because in the few months I’ve been without it, I’ve been able to focus on what matters most, rediscover my voice, and find inspiration I’ve needed.
What about you?
Is there something you need to give up to help you refocus? Have you ever given up something to reawaken your creativity or help you find your voice? Any great scripture you’ve turned to as you refocused? Please share in the comments!
Duane S. Montague 