Slow Life Revolution is going into hibernation. It needs more thought, more time to ruminate, and maybe it needs more slowness than I'm giving it.

I'm not closing it, but you won't see me write as many emails or post as much on Slow Life Revolution Instagram.

Tune into my speaking engagement “Scroll Less, Live More” on October 18 @ 8am.

Do you have a hard time making decisions? You aren’t the only one. I made a worksheet you can use for any decision you have to make that will get you clear on what you want and how to make that decision.

My thoughts on how to reconcile a college experience that wasn't what I wanted.

Living without a microwave and toaster is a freeing process.

I just moved and as I was washing my silverware holder, I thought “wouldn’t it be nice to get a brand new shiny white silverware holder for my drawer?” But then I was realizing how cool it was that it was old. I wondered how old it was, who used it first, how many years it’s been sitting in a kitchen drawer somewhere holding silverware.

But for a second, I wanted to throw it away. All those years of its useful-ness could have been sitting in a landfill starting tomorrow for the next 1,000.

The newness of things makes us feel good. Like we are accomplishing something important. We are replacing the old with the new and that feels good for some reason, I'm not sure why.

It wasn’t grimy or broken - reasons that would justify it to be thrown away. It was just beige and from a different time with a different style.

I think the reason I thought I wanted a new one was because of all the things we are being sold online. Everything you see is an ad to get you to buy something. So, of course my brain thought this isn’t good enough. To be better, I should get a brand new white one. Then I will feel better about myself.

I had to catch myself and see the value in the old and the worn.

When I’m faced with too many options, it makes it hard to decide.

So you know what I do then??

I open a social media app when I tell myself “I don’t know what to do.”

I look to others on an app to tell me what to do. I go on social media to feel better, either to have connection with a person or to figure out for myself what I should do with my time.

But it’s contradictory.

Because in the same moment, I am neglecting people who are already around me AND I am neglecting my own empowerment to make a decision on what to do with my time. And it also wastes my time as I’m trying to figure out how to fill my time. AND if that isn’t enough, it makes me feel worse when I get off it. Isn’t that nuts!

Social media gives us the illusion of connection with the outside world.

When in reality, it disconnects us from ourselves, our self-determination, our self-trust, and our ability to reach out, connect and love others.

That’s why learning to trust yourself, your decisions on what you want and how to spend your time is so important.

By imagining how your life could be and what you want, you can get stuck in the fantasy of how your life is now. It feels good because you get a hit of dopamine. But when you pop out of it and you realize you’re not any closer to it, it can feel like a big letdown.

So you decide you’d rather live in the fantasy on Pinterest boards and imagining your dream life than work to get there.

Sound familiar?

But you CAN get the things you want to have.

Imagine this…

✨ Instead of looking at social media and pretending your life is perfect, you looked around and your life was mostly there (because let’s be honest, you’ll never have a 100% perfect life- no one does, not even if it looks like it online).

✨ Imagine how much more capable and powerful you’d feel knowing you built that for yourself. You did the work to build your ideal life as best you can.

By getting off social media, you can build so much more than your ideal life.

You build resiliency, strength, self-trust and confidence to go get the things you want, instead of preferring to live in your daydream.

You know that feeling when you see a picture online on Instagram and you get that drop in your stomach. “They have a better life than me.”

The shame swells over you like a wave. “I should have had it put together by now.”

Then the envy comes up. “Why do they get such a great life and I get THIS?"

Then you decide to go to look up all the things you think will make your life easier and better: I need a new job, how to get that beach body, how to meet the love of your life.

And that is what happens when you compare yourself with something you see on Instagram.

You can remind yourself that it’s not real life and to not compare. But until you learn how to understand and manage your feelings, you won’t know how to prevent the spiral in the first place.

Imagine having the self-trust that comes when you see a photo and DON’T compare yourself… Read on to learn how.

When you swim you can’t bring your phone. Pretty much every other activity your phone can be in your pocket or a bag. Swimming you can’t hold your phone, put it in a pocket or anything.

You need all your focus and ability to be to help you swim and survive in the water. You can only rely on yourself to keep you alive.

And it feels amazing because your brain for once is only focused on that one thing. It’s not fragmented, multi-tasking and getting pings every 5 seconds from apps vying for your attention. Your attention is only on one thing: being in the water.

So how do you create that feeling outside of the water? How do you bring back that focus and attention and freedom back to real life (and by ‘real life’ I mean the life where you use your phone but it’s not taking over your life).

Going on Instagram is a choice. You choose to get lost, waste your time, procrastinate and not live in the real world. When you go on Instagram, you are choosing to escape from your life in some way.

You are choosing to do all of that instead of sitting with yourself, or working, or finding joy in your life now, or having confidence in who you are, or figuring out how to move your life forward yourself.

What if I told you that you can live differently?

• You can focus and get your work done.

• You can trust yourself and be cool with the way you are without needing likes, asking for advice, or comparing yourself with others.

• You can find joy and laughter in the simple things in your life.

• You can learn how to process your emotions and stop buffering.

• You can be yourself and have the life you want.

And it’s super simple.

Whatever you are looking for, you won’t find it behind your phone.

Yet you are always drawn to the social media apps to give you the answers to the questions you have about you life.⁠

You think ‘once I know the answer [to whatever your problem is], then I’ll feel better”.⁠

But what’s wrong with where you are now? ⁠

What’s wrong with not knowing the answer? ⁠

By constantly turning to social media to tell you the answers, you DON’T learn how to trust YOUR process and YOUR own inner voice telling you the answer.⁠

If you find yourself thinking “Someday I’ll get that [house, body, life, etc]”, you’ll find you never get there. Because we like to live in the perfect world of social media where everything is perfect, instead of the messy world of real life.

In social media world, we get to pretend that we are also perfect. But I hate to break it to you, you’re not. No one is!

But when you live in that “perfect” world, you never try anything and you stay stagnant where you are.

It seems like technology is moving very quickly these days without much analysis of what the outcome will be. It seems more and more that the downfall of decisions tech companies make don't outweigh money making opportunities.

That's why we need to make our own decisions on what tech we use and which media we consume.

A lot of people talk about getting your screen time down, but I’ve been thinking more amount of times you pick up your phone.

Being in nature is a great way to disconnect from the online anxiety and overwhelm from being always connected, always on call.

Differentiating between Fact and Thought are a big way to feel better when using your phone and all the apps that make you feel anxious.

Do a weekly screen time check in to evaluate how you're using your time. Open settings and see how long you spent on your phone and which apps in the past week.⁠

Did you know that when you think, “I'm addicted to my phone”, it makes you more addicted?

It makes you turn to your phone even more.

It gives you an excuse to give up.

And it makes you judge yourself that much more for being ‘addicted’.

Because what we think is attached to the results we get in our lives.

This year, I'm pivoting Slow Life Revolution a little…

PIVOT 1: I am re-offering a Control the Scroll program, except this time it is a 6-week coaching program for if you want some help to get off your phone, re-prioritize the way you are spending your time, who you spend it with, resting intentionally, and really taking the time to get to know yourself, where you want to go and how to get there.

PIVOT 2: I’m building a 6-week program geared at Relationship Coaching for Guys. Reach out to find out more!