The view from my cup…sunlight peeking through my office window. The maple tree filters this morning’s bright sunlight. It would be peaceful too, were it not for the chorus of bluejays screeching nearby. Earlier I feed them peanuts in the shell while ‘that guy’ and I had coffee and read the paper on the deck. Now they are reminding me, quite loudly, that they have eaten all of them, and would like more. Now.

The other day I commenced a summer hiatus from social media, other than blog posts periodically. So how’s that going, you might ask. It’s a bit of an adjustment, honestly. I still play Scrabble and read a news feed on my phone. But the number of times I have picked it up out of habit to check Facebook is amazing. I have to relearn life before social media.

One of my primary reasons for a break is that I was beginning to feel like I wasn’t accomplishing enough. I wasn’t reading enough, one of my deepest passions in life. I wasn’t seeing people that I enjoy spending time with occasionally. A lot of folks live close enough to me that we can visit face to face, and that wasn’t happening as often as I would like. I wasn’t writing as much. With several projects in the works, writing couldn’t continue to be sidelined for a tweet or a cute kitten post.

I feel like I’ve stepped back in time, back to a time when the day stretched out before me with endless possibilities. I’m no longer mindlessly wasting hours reading about things that don’t add any value to my world. My blood pressure isn’t rising when I read about injustices that I’m unable to change.

I do wonder about some things, though. Like what literary events I might be missing because they are only posted on social media. (I empathize with my girlfriend Vicki who isn’t on social media and sometimes also misses events) Or I’m curious what my friend’s new pooch, Emmett, is up to now. (Luckily, Emmett lives close by and I might get together with him soon, and his lovely owners too!)

And I also wonder if I’ll be glad to rejoin the online world in a few months, or will my self-imposed hiatus be extended? I’ll keep you posted…