Continuing my “Week Of Zen” I encourage you to follow my instructions.
Click on the image below and……
Did you do it? Did ya? Sigh. Here’s you second chance….
Are you back? So soon? You mean you didn’t finish?
To be honest, I didn’t either. But it’s cool, huh? Makes you think.
Why’s it difficult to sit still for two minutes and just be?
I’ve been feeling God’s gentle beckon for me to “unplug.” I can’t seem to argue with Him when I find myself reading about a stranger’s bowl of oatmeal (again) or the new shirt they bought. My eyes start to glaze over. I scroll. Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.
It’s Blog Fog.
Think of all the blog posts you’ve taken two minutes of your time to read. Now ask yourself…”Why?”
Would your time be better spent staring at the waves? Relaxing?
I encourage you to take a grand inventory of the blogs you read. Examine what you like about them. Ask yourself “Why am I reading this?”
Keep reading the blogs you enjoy. The rest of them? Hit the unsubscribe button. There’s no shame in it.
Everything’s Zen.
Edited to add- I actually cleared my Google Reader some time ago. Incredibly liberating.
If I read your blog and you write about oatmeal or t-shirts it’s because I love you and your blog no matter what you write about. I just had a bunch of blogs in my Reader that I never commented on, never got a real “feel” for the writer and I would find myself skimming their blogs after I read all my favorites (i.e. yours). That’s what I mean by blog fog. I recognized in hindsight this could come across negatively and that is NOT my intention.
I totally get what you mean!
I went through a ‘spring cleaning’ of my google readers and eliminated a lot of blogs that I no longer felt connected with. Those blogs were more generated to unhealthy eating, unhealthy body image, and triggering stuff for me. I also eliminated those that were focused a bit too much on food (don’t get me wrong; I know it is vital to their recovery and something they enjoy blogging about, but it is just too … you know… for me). It was liberating when I saw JUST blogs I enjoyed reading and following.
I started a new habit last week; COMPUTER FREE day, and guess what; I loved my day without checking facebook, blogging, emails, and etc because I had so much free time to do what I wanted to focus on.
I’m going to have a computer-free day every week. It’s quite liberating and helps me to quieten my mind a lot more.
Oh, no I get it. God has told me recently “Step AWAY from the Food.” I get it.
I see where you’re coming from. I cleaned out a lot of my running blogs because I no longer identified with the blogger at all. A lot of them I started following because “oh, she runs too”, well there were ones on there who only ran marathons and half marathons or who constantly talked about how it was sooo easy to run 7-8 minute miles (NOT). I just wasn’t getting enjoyment out of their blogs- rather I was feeling inadequate reading them!
So bye bye bloggers! I also cleaned out some of my coupon blogs because you really only have to follow like 2-3 coupon blogs, they all repost the same things, ultimately.
I still follow all my personal friends because I like them as people and don’t care what they write about although I may not comment on every single entry.
Sometimes you just gotta unplug. So with you on this.
It’s odd that for a while it is common to feel a pull to read a blog when you just don’t enjoy it anymore.
That’s why I liked that image of the hands and the mouse.
I am the same way. I just went through and deleted a lot of blogs because I wasn’t actually reading them. It seemed like a task or chore to read and it wasn’t doing anything for me.
i meditate through walking quietly in the woods with my dog. it’s a beautiful thing. i shall continue subscribing to your blog!
xo ~ http://www.nicoleandgwendolyn.com
Ha I totally failed at the “sitting still for 2 minutes” thing.
I realized the exact same thing lately–I’ve come across far too many blogs to read and keep up with them all. They don’t all appeal to me so cutting some of them out of my life feels so good. Now I can actually have a life
I like how if you move your mouse at all, it flashes “FAIL” in a big red block.
I love you!
SO crazy, I wish I was able to sit through that whole thing.
Even though I’m on my “blogging break” I’m still read ‘em and I cleaned out my reader to. No sense in reading blogs I don’t enjoy.
I SO feel you on this one… I actually have a hard time connecting to some blogs, even when there’s no good reason for it because it’s a perfectly nice blog by a perfectly nice person—or so I assume. I generally feel like interacting behind a screen is pretty inorganic, as far as interpersonal relating goes, but at the same time if the vibe’s not there… I just can’t commit. There aren’t that many that I read all the time, in the end, which makes me feel like an elitist snob. Boo me.
I didn’t do your two minutes because my “retirement” has been filled with exactly those moments of doing nothing and just thinking… yet the click made me realise that I think it’s time I start meditating again—message received!
Great post!
I was obsessed with “healthy living blogs” for a couple of years. It wasn’t a super destructive thing, but over the last couple of months I just haven’t read any. At all. The only blogs I read are ED recovery blogs, mostly, or blogs that aren’t primarily about food. Very interesting how the interest just waned– or just changed, I guess. I think it’s very important to clear out the clutter. And just be.
i feel like the past few weeks have been forced unplugging due to circumstances. It was nice. A fog has been lifted. Enjoy your zen.
YES! Sometimes we realize what is truly important. My prayers for y’all over there in Tex
Yes yes and yes to all of the above. I didn’t make it past 2 min. I started fiddling 10sec in and then failed again after 30sec in. Maybe I need to work on some patience??
On a monthly basis I go through and clean out my reader. Most of the time I’m deleting “popular” blogs that I keep because I feel like I should be up on trends, but usually they make me feel like crap. Lately I’ve been finding great photography blogs that give me more inspiration and push me creatively. And then there are one’s like yours that I love because you’re simply honest and someone I would actually like to hang out with in person
It took me 1 sec and then I moved my mouse…heehee.
Thanks for your kind words!
I am very much in person like I am on my blog…except I talk instead of write and I usually have onion and hummus breath.
I didn’t make it through the 2 minutes either, so lame. I cleared out my reader about a month ago and need to do it again; I definitely get the blog fog no doubt. Stepping away from technology all together needs to happen a bit more in my life!
Katie : )
I like Ash’s idea about a one day a week offline.
I’ve been doing this periodically for the last year. I find new ones, get rid of old ones…I don’t feel any guilt at all.
I like your attitude!
I rather obsessively clear out things I don’t think I need, and that includes my blog subscriptions. I’ve also been off of Facebook for over 3 months, and I’ve finally cut ties with an old blog and its community after way to long of feeling like maintaining it was a chore.
It’s hard to find a moment of peace and quiet in NYC…the whole city could benefit from a mandatory zen moment.
That would be crazy if NYC stopped for a sec.
Sometimes I can “unplug” from things, other times I’m like the unstoppable force. Usually early in the morning I’m a lot more zen. I increase speed all day I guess, until I crash
Momentum.
I failed too
. And I am too ashamed to even type a guess at how many minutes I have wasted in the past 24 hours surfing from post to post in exactly the kind of blog-fog you describle…
For me it seems like a kind of compulsive consumption – searching for inspiration / information / motivation / entertainment (delete as appropriate to blog). The reminder to be a little more discerning in my consumption was very welcome.
Hope your week of zen is going well and you are feeling more at peace in all sorts of ways.
Love and bearhugs, x x x
I found I kept reading many blogs waiting for …I dunno? A recipe that I would make or something but at the end of the day I was like…..I have NO connection with this women and I really don’t need to know about her bridal shower.
Then I wouldn’t go back but it would clog up my reader.
However for the blogs I love and enjoy I still spend the time.
I totally get this post. For a long time I would find myself reading blogs late into the night – blogs that did’nt interest me in the slightest and that I knew were simply a way to spend the time. Why? To get away from thinking. Since then I’ve had a few blogging breaks and although I do still enjoy reading blogs I balance it with other more mentally stimulating activities.
Great post
!
Yes…mental stimulation is the opposite of blog fog.
Good call!
Haha love this. I actually felt a tinge of anxiety when I saw 2:00 to do nothing; I was like, “damn it, I have to pee, turn off the coffeemaker, and finish packing my room…two minutes is an eternity!”
It’s also true though, I find myself subscribing to blogs; then get a little anxious when I see them on my reader- I find that the blogs I truly enjoy are the ones that I will go perusing all the old posts from; true story I once spent a few hours going through all of Eden’s old posts…I guess I have no life
I have creeped the archives of many a blog. If the writing is good? It’s certainly worthwhile.
I got what you meant (and at the same time asked myself if my blog was one of the foggy ones to you, sniff). I myself have hard time “boxing” blogs, and thus the people behind them, into “no longer reads” since I know that we all put quite a lot of heart into what we do. But you are so right, we have to learn to set limits. Just like in any area of life. That is my challenge that I’ve been forced to practice even more intensively that I would have wanted.
You are definitely a not-fog read for me. I mostly read other that ED related blogs but yours is just the best and the one that I feel like I need in that category.
I love cleaning out my google reader. It’s the most liberating feeling!
I actually go through my Reader pretty regularly to clean out blogs that I don’t read. Sometimes I add one, read a few posts, and don’t really feel that connection with the person writing it, which is when I know it’s time to hit unsubscribe. It’s pretty difficult fro me to unplug completely, but I’m trying to spend more time away from the computer because sitting for too long just makes me tired and cranky, and there’s too much of the “real world” to enjoy, that I miss out on when my eyes are glued to the screen.
That’s a really good point to make! Surely, I have more real experiences to experience than reading blogs that I don’t await with bated breath!!
I love yours!
That was SO hard. I’m currently in DBT so it reminds me of mindfulness activities. It was definitely harder the first minute or so.. but the last bit I felt like I was just listening to the waves. Listening and being in the moment.
Missy I still havent figured out how to use Google reader. Well I have, but I hate it! lol maybe thats a good thing?
xx
I have to do this too, really. It does get to be such a fog sometimes, and there are some blogs that I just don’t have the desire to read you know…
Thanks for the food for though!
Have a great one
Scott
I did it and at first it felt like torture…I kept watching the counter. But maybe I should do it every morning!
I only read a few blogs at this time (yours included) because I have so much reading to do for grad school. And frankly a lot of them were triggering for me. I am already reading about anorexia for my thesis; for my free time, I need something else.
The hardest part about the two minutes was not touching the mouse. I only wanted to touch it because it told me not to…I’m not sure what that says about me.
I never really got into the google reader thing. I have one, but I never use it. I don’t really like how it gives everyone’s blog a ‘generic google reader’ appearance. I just blog-hop or tend to remember the url (or type what I can of the url into the tool bar and the Memory of Google does the rest) of blogs I quite like. That said, it is easy to be sucked into trawling through blogs that I just can’t connect with, so it is nice to be de-plugged now and then (which happened last week when my laptop broke).
wonderful truthful points… something to think about love
thanks!
ps… not subaru, nissan
Ahhhh! That was awesome.
This makes me so much better. As a writer, I get frustrated b/c I feel like I write and write and no one cares. This reminds me it’s better for one or two people to care than 100 to pretend they do!
I love how touching the touchpad caused it to say “FAIL” in big red letters… what if I find resting my fingers on the touchpad while resting comfortable?! LOL!
Pretty though… I imagine that you could probably get in your car and drive to the Golf or Atlantic coasts and stare out at the real deal if you wanted
Oh how I need to move to FL!
If I cleared my blog list of one or two blogs I don’t think there would be any left because I’m a terrible blogger in that I guess I’ve never devoted the time to finding a lot of blogs to read in the first place. So, your post somehow makes me feel better about myself
Totally failed. And yeah, it is weird how we can’t sit still for even a little bit. When I sit and do nothing, my mind just fills with things that I “should” be doing. Not fun since it feels like I never get a break.