rechelle's lifelyrics

Over 10 years ago, I DELETED my Facebook account. It had stories and pictures of me with my young family, along with some heart-breaking personal relationships that were crumbling to pieces in a virtual world I didn’t understand. But I didn’t realize the cyber implication of my decision. 

In short order, I found out I had forgotten all of the technological connections I had inadvertently attached, over the course of the previous decade, to my closed Facebook account. I was suffering the unintended consequence of prematurely “dying” in the Facebook world. I had to spend hours over the course of the next several weeks creating new login and administrator rights for the accounts I still needed to use. I had to create a new Facebook account to continue the work I was doing for the Junction City Grange, but I was much more careful about adding friends and what I involved myself with on my new account. I ventured into social media on a “need to be involved” basis. I was raising several teenagers and worried about how much they filled their lives and minds with Reddit and other influences. I learned how to be plugged in just enough while avoiding drama I didn’t want to add to my life, and I tried to encourage my kids to do the same. 

Why am I telling you about this?

I guess it’s a cautionary tale of what not to do if you want to disconnect from social media hype or drama. Whatever course you take, just be sure to make a good, unemotional plan that addresses the consequences of your media exposure decisions!

I’m also here to encourage you to explore ways you can limit the noise in your life. 

Lately Ray & I have been enjoying audiobooks and podcast interviews together on our tandem rides, or while in the car together. We’ve even spent entire evenings listening instead of watching a movie. We’ve chosen to plug in to ideas & stories about the human condition, instead of hyper-focusing on the news of the day. We just listened to an interview with Tom Hanks, and he was talking about how much more time he had in his day after deleting a newspaper ap from his phone! I wish I could remember which of Ann Patchett’s personal essays had the part about cautioning parents to consider before giving young children an iPad. I remember thinking it was such a good point. I tried to scan both “These Precious Days” and “This Is The Story of a Happy Marriage” to find the back story so I could remember enough to share with my friends. Anyway, I keep thinking about the warning combined with other laments I’ve been reading or hearing related to the adverse affects of being overly consumed by the disconnected media out there. I’m getting the message that I want to pass along:

Take a deep breath. 

Connect with people in a positive way. 

Find things to be grateful for – even if it’s the beauty of a blooming flower or the sweet sound of music. 

Plug in to things that inspire you to be better.

I hope you’ll spend the time to listen to the 2017 interview of Tom Hanks on the Beautiful Writers Podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beautiful-writers-podcast/id1047012231?i=1000394239140

These are the books we’ve enjoyed over the last couple of months:

“Be Ready When the Luck Happens” by Ina Garten

“Paris In The Present Tense” by Mark Helprin

“These Precious Days” by Ann Patchett

“Uncommon Type” by Tom Hanks

“The Way I Heard It” by Mike Rowe

“This Is The Story Of A Happy Marriage” by Ann Patchett