Aug 012012
 
The world is pulling too much from me right now.
It’s time to re-adjust, re-align, re-configure, re-group, and reflect. Definitely reflect.
I mean, I always reflect … it is a big part of who I am and is a big part of the structure of my day. I spend time each and every morning in quiet contemplation on my yoga mat — some might call it meditation. Each evening I also pause before I go to bed, too, to process the day’s events, though not in as regimented a manner as I do in the morning — at night I typically do it while washing my face or as I close the book I’m reading. I try very hard to consciously make that time reflective rather than worry about or inventory what will happen the next day. I’m not always successful, but it is an active goal.
But lately, I can’t shake the feeling — an intuitive, gut, CORE feeling — that what I’m doing is not enough. This, my “normal” regular balance — plus yoga and other exercise — isn’t enough.  And quite frankly, it’s driving me crazy that it isn’t enough. (“But it’s been fine up till now! I was balanced a few weeks ago!” These are the arguments I have with myself in my head.) Indications are that I need more reflection. And wayyyyy less extroverted energy. I feel like my Vata dosha is tipping the scale a bit too much. 
This might surprise people who know me well, as I am a classic extrovert. I gain energy by being around people. I am very social — too social, some might argue, for my own good (right, Mum?). Well, this is one of those times, I guess. They are rare in my life, but not unheard of. I don’t typically do all-or-nothing. And I don’t typically cut out social activities, either. But from time-to-time I do need to re-focus. The last time I took such measures was probably 3 or 4 years ago. 

I suspect some of this has to do with my being rather unhappy about a handful of Very Specific Things happening in my life at the moment. Unfortunately, I’m not able to go into more detail about these Things right now. (Hey, you know me — as soon as I can, I will. 🙂 )  Also unfortunate is that these Very Specific Things are things I have little control of. I do know that waiting for things to change is just not working for me. And thus … rock—>me<—hard place. I don’t do so well with life stasis in general, and this kind of stasis is my least favorite. 

So. I need to re-evaluate and re-configure, and maybe just spend more time spending time. I do sense that being active on Twitter and Facebook is not making things better right now. I am not sure it’s making it worse, either, mind you. These two networks are my favorite networks for several reasons: I have close friends and colleagues in both places, I feel comfortable in them, and although they have completely different modes and I use them very differently, they both fulfill a need for me to be connected to people and to learn and to grow. I am tremendously attached to these networks and the people who connect with me in them. However, these networks demand energy from me (there’s that Vata again), and as I said earlier, my intuitive sixth sense is kicking in to LOUDLY tell me that I need to redirect that energy. It needs to be better spent elsewhere at the moment. I’m not sure where, exactly, but I do know that lately Twitter and Facebook have been feeling like they are sucking energy out of me. It is NOT normal for me to feel this way. Hence, the decision to withdrawl for a bit.

Earlier today I decided to read my monthly horoscope. I try to stay up-to-date with Susan Miller’s posts (thanks to Rae Rae for putting me onto her!), but I often miss a month here or there. Anyway, today I thought, “Oooooh it’s August 1st. I should see what’s what.” And here was the first bit:

A big, tender full moon will brighten the very start of the month, August 1. It will fall in your privacy sector, Aquarius (9 degrees), so you may simply want to sit back and enjoy your own company. You’ve not had much time to simply take it easy, sleep a bit later than usual, and simply think about your next moves, but this full moon will allow you all the time you need.

🙂

I guess I’m on the right track. I have not been 100% myself lately, and I really want to be.
Thanks in advance for your patience and understanding as I renegotiate my balance. 

I will still be reachable on Skype, email, Instagram, Flickr, my blog (remember when I used to do that?), GChat, SMS, and … old-fashioned phone. I’m not disappearing. Just disengaging from the networks that demand interaction from me — interaction that I greatly value and normally thrive on. I want to be in that headspace again, and I will be, in good time.  

I’m going to try this social network fast for a week, starting Monday… and might go longer. We’ll see. Oh, and if you’d like to join me, that’s cool too. 

[Edit: 2-Aug-2012] I decided I will respond to DMs within Twitter. At least for now. So there ya go. 

 

Jan 292010
 

I was just thinking how fast the day has gone, and why have I done so little, sitting in my pajamas and sipping coffee, when I realized in the last two hours (and a bit) I have:

  • organized 3 group meetings
  • sent 5 emails
  • had 3 IM conversations
  • had one Skype conference call
  • made notes re: conference call in OpenOffice
  • booked a conference room
  • edited two wiki pages
  • uploaded / added to my Flickr photosets and galleries
  • conversed on Twitter about photo editing tools with Rob and Colin
  • had a FB IM chat with an old colleague about using Twitter in his English classroom 
  • checked in on a FB group for a project

… and ALL of the above is for school or my professional development.

Somewhere in there, I also managed to find time to:

  • coordinate a social outing (yay NYC restaurant week!)
  • change my FB profile photo (it's doppelganger week, yo)
  • have a lengthy SMS conversation with my mom about which Taiwanese restaurant she should lunch at in Houston
  • email some recipes to a friend who is starting her own detox next week

Who said I couldn't be productive and be comfortable at the same time?! 🙂

Image: untitled by db*photography under CC2.0

Jan 072010
 

I’ve had way too much time on my hands this holiday. Three weeks in Texas at your parents’ place will do that to you! Anyway, I spent a lot of this extra time online, which is no big surprise if you know me even a teensy bit. (For the record, I also did a lot of other offline things, like go to live music shows, organize my mother’s recipe cards, play Wii, and sit in the hottub. I’m just sayin’…) And the more time I spent on Twitter this holiday, the more I felt like things were too noisy, too unfocused, and rather ADHD-ish. It was bothering me. I gradually, here and there, began unfollowing people who were tweeting weird things like 8 Follow Fridays in a row, play-by-plays of the latest college basketball game, and judgmentalish-sounding tweets about veganism and charter schools. I became irritated by the flow of re-tweets of very simple, basic educational / pedagogical concepts, originally tweeted by some Big Name Important People in Ed Tech who just happen to have 3 jillion followers because they present regularly at the latest ISTE / EDUCAUSE / IFTA / InsertAcronymHERE Conference. It’s not the idea of a re-tweet or the pedagogical concept itself is what’s bothering me, but that 3 jillion followers get so crazy about something so simple — something that I feel really should be a given, not really re-tweetworthy. Basically, I was getting Twitteritis: my Twitterstream was inflamed, throbbing, and needed attention.

After a couple of days, I realized what I really needed to do was a complete overhaul of my Twitterstream. I was gonna need to unfollow the masses.

Credits:
The Snips of Seymour Smith by bcostin

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