A half-sabbatical from social media

I broke my Facebook addiction! Yes, I did it! In this blog entry, I spoke about Facebook Addiction Disorder, and the problems I was having by wasting time on social media instead of doing more productive things. So, on March 5th, I said goodbye to Facebook. At first I thought it was going to be a temporary thing; through Facebook I got reconnected with a lot of friends from my childhood, family members that I had not seen for several years, plus it was always good to laugh at the things that people post - so much drama sometimes! But for the past 5 weeks or so, I have not missed it, not at all, and then I wonder if I will ever be back. We will see.

Meanwhile, I have kept somewhat connected through Instagram and through Twitter, hence the "half-sabbatical" concept. But Twitter is way too fast for me, and you can only do so much on Instagram, so after the irregular post or photo, I go back to having my free time. 

So what have I been doing with this new free time? Well, the first couple of days were a bit weird because it was an adjustment; I was not sure what to do with that free time. But I quickly caught up and started reading again. If you know me, you now that I am an avid reader. Why, during my school years, I would approach the teachers during the first day of school and ask for the books to be read, and get to it right away! I can safely say that we have over 1,000 books in this house, and that's not counting the electronic versions.

Gone Girl, 12 Years a Slave, Confessions of a Wild Child,
En el Laberinto de la Esperanza, and Ripper (not pictured).

And then I read the book that nearly drove me insane, Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn. My doctor had recommended this book last year for my trip to Hawaii, but I didn't get around to read it until now. I can't remember another book that stirred so many emotions in me. By the end of the book, I was ready to send my Nook flying…if I had had an actual book, I would have done it. I can't wait for the movie later on this year. I read this book in about three days; I took my Nook with me everywhere, which is what I used to do pre-social media times. I would take advantage of waiting periods at the doctor's offices, read during my lunch breaks, etc. But with the advent of social media, I would be distracted by all the applications and would waste my time reading peoples statuses and chismes. 

Residencial Zeno Gandía, El Cotto, Arecibo.
With my sister and brother in front of the apartment where I was born.

Anyway, I started reading, and then I couldn't stop. During this month I have read a total of 5 books, and 9 books since January! After watching the movie 12 Years a Slave, I devoured the book, which is much richer in detail than the movie. I read a moving story, En el Laberinto de la Esperanza, by a colleague in the field, Juan Carlos Riascos, who shares his family's journey as an HIV-positive family back when HIV was still taboo in our communities. I read Ripper, by Isabel Allende, one of my favorite authors, and was very surprised but equally satisfied with the change of genre: she masters it beautifully! I delved into some trashy reading with Jackie Collins and Confessions of a Wild Child, and I have to say, it is probably the last book I will read from her; I need a new trashy author for when I want to read casually.

Besides reading, I have started working on a writing project that I have been contemplating for a while. I have written a couple of short stories about things that happened in my hometown of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. I grew up in a public housing complex, El Cotto, and it was quite an experience, one that I am grateful to have experienced because it taught me a lot and it has greatly contributed to the person I am today. There are so many negative connotations to being from public housing, but my experience has been different - I think that there's good and bad everywhere, and while there are many stories from El Cotto that have a bad taste to it, there are so many more that are success stories, and those are the ones that I want to bring to life. I am very excited about this project and look forward it to really getting into it soon. 

Patt Hollinger Pickett, Ph.D., said" We all have the same 24/7. What we do with our time becomes our priority. Avoid priorities by default." And that is exactly what I am working on doing: determining my priorities instead of letting time go by or wasting it on things that have not benefit for me and for my family. I still have a lot of work on, a long way to go, but I am encouraged by the way things are going. And within this context, I may be able to integrate social media in a way that furthers my interest instead of it taking over my time to explore these.

One step at a time gets me closer to where I want to be.