Facebook Ban! (Sort of.)

So I decided to not post anything on Facebook during the entire month of March. (It feels scary to write it down because now I actually have to follow through with it... even if no one is reading this.)

Anyone who has seen my Facebook page knows this is a big deal for me. I'm pretty private about my personal life on Facebook (much like I am in real life) and I would never dream of sharing mundane details of my daily activities with the whole world, but when I read an interesting article or come across an inspirational quote, all I want to do is tell people. I don't know why that's so important to me, but it is. If I read something that teaches me something new and valuable, or helps me feel less lost or sad or desperate, then I share it, because what if it helps someone else too? I cannot fathom how somebody can keep big discoveries like that to themselves. (No judgement there, I just personally can't resist the temptation and marvel at those who can, or who don't have it at all.)

But I'm starting to wonder if lately I've been using this sharing I do as a way to avoid challenging myself to dig deeper. It's easy to share someone else's words with a simple "I agree!" attached; it's a lot harder to process and analyze those finds critically and then use them to form my own opinions. I need to do more of that, especially since I feel like I constantly have so many thoughts and ideas buzzing around in my head. I need to start practicing the art of organizing my feelings and, more importantly, articulating them. I'm hoping prohibiting myself from posting anything on Facebook will motivate me to write more and get my own thoughts out there for a change. (By "out there" I pretty much just mean this blog. That no one reads. But, you know... baby steps.)

This feels like somewhat of a fake Facebook ban, because I am still planning on checking it every day. I'm only banning myself from posting anything, not from reading what other people post. I kind of wanted to quit completely for the month (or more) just to see what it felt like, but I decided not to for two big reasons. Firstly, I'm looking for a new place to live, and there are certain queer and queer-friendly housing groups on Facebook that are extremely helpful resources at the moment. I'm hopeful I'll figure out my future living situation through one of those groups, so I can't leave Facebook now and potentially miss out on a great housing opportunity.

The other reason is A-CAMP!! I'm finally finally finally going to A-Camp in May and I am 1000% super over the moon excited about this. There's an A-Camp Facebook group for all the people going, and it's just been so much fun for me to read people's posts and experience us slowly getting to know each other via the internet prior to our big gay camping trip. I just can't leave that for a whole month!

In short, I will consider quitting Facebook for an undetermined amount of time after A-Camp and after I have signed a lease somewhere. But definitely not right now.