Balancing Social Media & Life

The silence on my blog recently has been reflective of life.
You know, the one I'm living. 

I've read lately a lot of women, mamas, other bloggers who also are in this season as well.  Finding the balance between documenting and living.

This applies to all aspects of social media for me.

Honestly, the only reason I don't delete my facebook account is because I have family and friends spread around the country and some in other countries who I stay up to date on and they on us.  But, there's always been an element about it that annoys me.  So, I don't put much for my statuses... just some pictures and links back here for the most part.  Thank you to those of you who stay in touch and reach out through facebook, comment and acknowledge. I appreciate it very much.

I love twitter. I love the local connection and the mama connection it has for me as well as the sports connection.  I also hate twitter at times. It becomes catty and too clique-ey for me too. 

I've made the decision to be more conscious about my time on twitter as of late. I was ready to delete it completely, but then decided that the good most definitely outweighs the bad.  I've just changed how I use it.  Yeah, I still vent on there when I need to because I try to eliminate that venting to my husband. My family gets the best of me, so sometimes twitter gets the crap that overflows. I'm ok with it.  Other than that, it's a place for me to catch up on news, sports, and my friends who have become real life in person friends. Because let's face it, it's awesome to stay connected, but there's not always enough time to talk on the phone.

I have, however, put social media on the back burner so as to not miss out on what's going on in my own home. 

My husband is not a fan of blogging.  He's not wild about the accessibility it offers crazycakes and since we're dealing with instability in a person, I understand that completely. Suffice to say, that piece of baggage he had to carry forward was damaged. Although, he agrees not to be controlled by the crazy and continue living, so we compromise.  I need this place to write, to express, to connect, and document among other reasons.

When Andrew was a baby, there was no facebook or twitter and I didn't blog. I wrote in a journal and I documented via monthly letters that I physically mailed out.  I suffered from post-partum depression for about 15 months, although I didn't entirely realize it at the time. I found a mom's group that helped my need for social connection. It took effort and it wasn't 24/7.  Seemingly, it was much more balanced. I'm guessing that was the lack of  "at your fingertips."

Just a short 19 months ago, when Lily was a newborn, my 3;00a.m. twitter timeline was sanity saving.

Now, I take some time to read a handful of times a day and that is working for me.

I'm finding the balance.