New years Resolutions

We all do it, every year we compile an un-realistic list of things we want to alter to better ourselves ready for the New Year ahead...

I've never stuck to any of mine. And that's not for the want of trying, but I lack commitment, you'll get to know this. My work life suffers massively because of it.

So this year I decided to chose just one thing I wanted to try out, and that was a social media cleanse.

I'd come to realise that I was way too active on socials and my life quickly revolved around taking the perfect shot in times when I could have just been present in the moment. I was becoming so addicted to creating my brands via social platforms that i'd lost myself.

Lot's of influencers have gone public with this way of thinking, and many have left social media completely. Well that was too unrealistic for me, being a PR agent and marketeer, I still had to use social platforms for work each and every day but as for my personal profiles, I decided a 1 month media cleanse was definitely in order.

I didn't just not post. I completely de-activated all of my accounts and deleted the apps to reduce temptation.

As ridiculous as it sounds it was extremely difficult to break the habit of using Social Media.
Every time I left the house I was conscious that I needed to be photo ready just incase a media moment arose. Every pretty coffee I bought I began to stage ready for a shot and I physically had to pause and stop myself from staging elements of my life.
After around 5 days the need to create photo worthy situations just stopped.
I stopped reaching for my phone, I left my trusty 7d at home.
And I actually started living again.

Our Christmas photos are far from insta-worthy, but they're real.
We spent New Years child free, sober and in Pyjamas with not a care in the world.
We went travelling and haven't shared a single precious moment of our romantic weekend away.

I'd never felt so intensely connected with my day to day surroundings.
I felt completely present in each and every moment.
And i'd successfully fought the urge to show anyone what we'd been upto.

It was the most refreshing month of my entire life.

Relationship wise, there's articles far and wide around the effects of using social media, the negative impact it can have on your relationships, the open platform you create to easily allow others access to you when there would otherwise be no connection at all.
You realise once your away from it that your subconscious is consciously creating a release from the day to day life you've chosen, to allow connection with every other single person using that platform on the planet.
Personally, my socials have brought me so many new connections that this was a very practical and positive effect of social media, I couldn't possibly say otherwise.

My previous media exposure, work with Artists and other high profile clients has boosted my social media following to a healthy level required for my field of expertise, allowing for new connections every day. My LinkedIn is now ranked which makes way for new collaborations and partnerships, in fact, I secured my most recent high profile client just yesterday via LinkedIn, which is again extremely positive. But you cannot just keep social private in the world I work in, you're expected to have a very prominent online presence and I've worked hard to get mine.
I've come to realise from this period of cleansing though that the initial importance of that squeaky clean, marble & peony infused, grey and white profile means nothing, and does not set you aside from the rest, and in fact, are boring & repetitive.. Real connections and collaborations that are worth your while are far more interested in seeing a more real-life yet still consistant approach to your personal feed.
I have two children, I'm extremely proud of that, so I share it; I want my connections to know that I've worked pretty damn hard to leave the 9-5 lifestyle and show my children that you can achieve anything that you set your mind to and that mommy didn't settle for a 'behind the counter' kind of job. I want my clients to know that I entered entrepreneurship for that exact reason and that I chose flexible working as a way of life.

Of course there's elements of my personal life that I choose not to share, mostly because I'm too busy enjoying it to want to share anything more or make ridiculous statements about current meaningful friendships and relationships, life is full of change and I fully embrace that, I learnt that the hard way. I came across a quote once, and chuckled to myself.
"When you gotta delete your post because your just not the same person you were 6 minutes ago"
at the time I found it funny because of the relevance it held to my own life, I was so wildly spontaneous that any life choices I made one day would need deleting the next, friendships, relationships, work..
That's when I made some much needed changes to my feed.
I wanted to keep the most important moments that could change private, for once I felt I had nothing to prove. Im still content with that choice today.

Instead I choose to blog. I am a mother. A partner in life. An entrepreneur. And I share that with a different world here.

Content that I have finally found what works for me.