In the middle of it. . .

     I've reached approximately the middle (one day over the mark) of my November hiatus from instagram. I thought this might be a good time to think about how I'm feeling at the middle point of this social experiment. This break has made me realize so many things, some of which I already knew, and maybe some things I didn't even realize. You know how you have to remove yourself from a situation and look at it from the outside to see what was really going on? Well, that's what I've done, and now it's time to reflect. 


Some of what I've learned 

1. Removing myself from social media gave me back so much time that I had lost. 
     This was by far, the biggest lesson I learned. I have no social media at all right now, and it feels great.  I'm creating more, reading more, and filling up my time in ways that are much more rewarding. 

2. When I make things now I don't share the pics anywhere except on my website, and that lack of feedback has been liberating. 
     I've been in a creative field in one way or another since I was in school, so I'm no stranger to constructive criticism, and it can be very helpful. But, I think without knowing it in some ways those of us who create things and post them on social media are perhaps swayed by positive feedback. What I mean by that is, are we really leading with our hearts, or are we following the likes? Before social media, I would make things and I would have no idea how anyone was going to react until I would take my pieces to a show.  Even though that could be a bit stressful, it was also exhilarating. 

3. My time away has freed up my brain to focus on other ways to grow my business and connect with customers. 
     Because I don't have to plan out my weeks (particularly Monday-Friday) based on taking pics and posting them, I have more time to think about where I want to see Wild Child Fibers go in the next several years. I've come up with what I think is a pretty interesting idea. It'll take some time to make it happen, and the help of my husband, but I think that this idea has some great possibilities. 

4. I'm less stressed out 
     Life is stressful enough, so why add more to it? I'm a stressful person by nature, I push myself too hard, and I expect too much from myself on top of all of that. Why yes, I was that kid who had special permission to take WAY too many credits in college, why do you ask?  Anyway, I really wasn't aware of the emotional impact instagram was having on me until I took it away.  

    What is the take away here in the middle of it all? So far I'd say the biggest question is, where do I go from here? What do I want? Aside from word-of-mouth (always the best form of advertising I think) instagram was how I advertised.  How do we advertise without social media??????? 

Side note: Since my hiatus I have received countless emails from instagram telling me who has posted recently, liked my posts, etc.  I finally had to report the emails as spam and unsubscribe. 

Thanks,
Christa