Choosing to NOT be overwhelmed.

How does one become addicted to social media? I suppose that I have to be careful in this, since I am writing this on a blog, which one could argue is a form of social media. But I need to get the feelings out, and I haven't kept a diary in years. Plus, not many ever read this. So it's kind of like my own diary.

Our church has just finished a series titled Overwhelmed. I work in the children's church twice a month, so I feel like I have been missing out on some important messages. One thing that I have been feeling lately is overwhelmed with working and social media.

Taking on the responsibility of starting my own business by booth renting has added a new stress that I was unprepared for after graduating. I had PLANNED to work at a corporate salon. I had PLANNED that I wouldn't need to bother with booth renting for a while. However, God always seems to laugh at my plans... After all, I never planned on living in the Cornfields of Illinois. I had happily decided I would live in the south all of my life. I have lived in SEVERAL Southern States. In fact, it's easier to tell you the Southern States I have not lived in (VA, SC, LA, TX and AR, rather than list the ones I have.

I'm a very social person. I enjoy being around people and I love having lots of friends. I often say being a best friend is a tier not a position. I have lots of "best friends" because I have moved a lot and had new starts. So you can see that "social" media would be something that I would be totally into, right?

Social media sucks you in and gives you a false sense of community. Not saying that there isn't a community there to have, but at the same time, an online community isn't the same as flesh and bone. It's hard to read and understand the typed word, so intent and meaning is often missed. It's easy to find people you can connect with, yet do you really know them? Do they know your heart? Do they see how much you care and do they return that same level of love for you?

Every time I move, I find myself falling deeper into a social media trap. Funny thing, I haven't moved recently. I just fell into the trap of being overwhelmed by social media. I need to take a break and breathe. And so I am. I even deleted the FB and Twitter apps from my phone. It's very hard- it is SO easy to tap and click. I have about 800 statuses or tweets floating around in my head. But I need to take the break. I need to remember what is important is my family.

Another year, another trip!

I'm so lucky to have a family that enjoys traveling to Disney Parks as much as I do. I never intended for our family to end up at Walt Disney World so often. I thought when we took our first trip in 2010 that we'd go every few years. However, that quickly changed and we have gone again in 2012 and 2014- not to mention a "girls trip" with my best friend this past summer. Now, we are just weeks away from another trip for our family and I'm getting so excited and antsy!

We decided to make this trip a surprise for our daughters and it's been quite an adventure keeping quiet. I'm hoping that we can make it. We've told them that we were going to the "big city" and that we'll be watching the new Cinderella movie at a fancy theater that has a restaurant. Both of those are truthful statements. LOL We will be spending the night at a hotel in the big city... near the airport! LOL  And then we will be heading to the AMC Fork and Screen at Downtown Disney to watch the Cinderella movie one night.

But the hardest part has been keeping quiet. The girls have been on a kick watching as many Disney Park videos as possible. Thank you YouTube for providing literally hours of entertainment! It's going to be amazing to see their smiling faces when we wake them up early to head to the airport!