Hey hey friends! 

It's day 8 and I haven't cheated yet!  I cannot tell you how proud of myself I am.  I secretly had some doubts going into this thing that I might be tempted to cheat a little and hop on social media and scroll a little. 

It's been an interesting and sometimes surprising process.  My anxiety seems to be waaaaay down and my average steps per day is waaaaay up!  What I'm finding lately is the little things that bubble up - like wanting to "check in" on social media when we are trying a new fish fry, like we did on Friday night.   As we were enjoying the food at Cedar Creek Rustic Village in Lyndon Station, I kept wanting to open my phone and tag the restaurant and type a little review for them.  

The other kind of "funny" thing I didn't realize I do is... when I meet someone in person that looks a little familiar and I learn their name, I almost always go to Facebook to see if we are already friends or if maybe we've met before through mutual friends.  The lovely woman who served us Friday night looked familiar and noted she was just filling in that evening as a favor.  Her day job was as a realtor.  When I saw her name, I couldn't help but think..."Hmm, I bet I know her on social media."  I wanted to quick look her up, but of course with no social media apps on my phone, I couldn't.   But then I asked myself - "why does it matter?"  And the answer was "it doesn't."  LOL   I had this self realization that looking people up on social media "just to see" is kind of ridiculous and really serves no purpose.  Does it matter if I'm already friends with them on social media?  Nope.  Will it change any interaction I have with them in person?  Nope.   I can't help but shake my head at myself wondering why I ever started this goofy habit. 

I'm still feeling a bit of worry that I'm missing out on something or missing important life updates from people.  Although close family has simply messaged, text, or called me if anything has come up.  

The one thing that was a little surprising was I had anticipated more people reaching out via email to chat since I was leaving social media for the month.  But so far no emails.   I have had a couple people reach out via Messenger to say they took my lead and also left social media for lent.  So I'll be curious to catch up with them and see how they are doing and what they are finding. 

This past weekend we had a lot of family come over.  My daughter and her fiance came home from Milwaukee, WI to visit.  My older daughter and her significant other as well as my sister and her family all came over to swim and enjoy a nice family dinner together.  I didn't really realize until after everyone left that it didn't bother me even once when anyone had their face down in their phone.  I realized I felt so much more present even though I had my phone near me most of the time.  I didn't feel pressed to check notifications or nervously scroll when I wasn't busy talking or listening to someone.  

The other thing I've noticed is I have an urge to share insights when they come up.  As I mentioned in a prior blog post, I've been listening to a book by Wayne Dyer and it's been very thought provoking and after a session of listening to it, I do feel the urge to want to post my thoughts on social media.  I'm glad I decided to start this blog, so I can at least get some of those inspiring thoughts down. 

I do notice that I seem to be checking my emails more often, so I'm going to work on not opening my Gmail so frequently.  That's not a good use of my time when I'm working on replacing habits of checking notifications.   My OCD doesn't like to see the little red flags on my home screen showing me I have things that need to be opened and looked at.  I might actually shift some of those apps off of my home screen so they aren't calling out to me. 

Next, my husband and I started Whole30 yesterday.  I figured it was just as good of a time as any to work on our health.  It's real food and is supposed to be an anti-inflammatory type program which I very much need.   I'm not thinking of it as a restrictive program, even though it is.  I'm trying to think of it as a "getting back to basics" program.  I'm excited to try new things like making my own mayonnaise and salad dressings.  I'm going to learn to replace those sugary treats with fruit or other healtier options.   Brian and I both like vegetables, but this will help us make sure we are actually adding them to most of our meals instead of just once in a while.   I'm also a "dipper" meaning I love condiments and love to dip my food in condiments like ranch dressing, mayo, ketchup, sour cream, french onion dip, A-1 sauce, 57 sauce, etc.   Unless I make it myself, all of these are a no no on the Whole30 plan.  I can't believe how many things have so much added sugars and other additives that are inflammatory and unhealthy.  While I hope I shed a few pounds during these 30 days, that's not the goal.  The goal is reduce inflammation, feel healthier, and learn to cook and eat differently using whole foods.  When we are done with the 30 days, we will slowly...and I mean VERY slowly add in other foods.  This will help us determine which foods cause bloating, inflammation, headaches, heartburn, etc.  This program is basically meant to reset your gut health. 

I feel like this post has been a little all over the place lol  But I had a lot of different thoughts to jot down.  

Talk soon! 

Wendy