LAST WEEK!

Okay, I'm entering the last week(ish) of my Facebook diet.

Now is the time to start thinking of how I reintegrate. What I don't want to do is spend the second half of next week on Facebook constantly paging through everything I missed. I need to treat it like those people who come back from vacation and just delete everything in their inboxes and move forward.

Spoiler alert, I was never one of those people.

So I won't end up doing that. What I would guess I will do is look at my page and answer any questions and deal with anything that I feel needs dealt with and then move on.

I already talked about how I was going to drop some of the local news stations and try others. And I am going to clear out some of the people on my feed that I never interact with. I have missed being informed about different views of the news and I have missed seeing and hearing what is going on in my friend's lives so I think that will help that process.

Clearing out some people to make room for others is something that I had to do on Instagram as well. Since I hadn't really been using it much I tried following a bunch of different people. I think I mentioned it was mostly drag queens and hockey players right? Well the drag queens had to go. They post too much. I should have realized this, honestly. I have a friend who is part of the Imperial Court system in San Francisco and I should have realized that her busy schedule times 10 people posting about things like that PLUS their own tour dates was going to be overwhelming. Drag is all about self promotion. They are out there putting on shows for a living so they need their followers to be big fans who want to come see them. So it's a constant "this is where I am, this is what I'm doing, look at this thing I just got, come see this thing I am working on." I get it. It's important for the career, but it's too much.

And they all throw a lot of shade at each other in the comments and I am not up for drag levels of drama. I'm just not.

Which is a good reminder for my Facebook feed. And how I want to curate it as well.

Not that there is a lot of drag drama on my feed, I just don't want much drama at all.

I've already talked before about how I've gotten careful about posting on public posts. Even friends who have their status updates set to public. I try not to post. Or at least am careful what the subject is before I post. I don't want some of that in my feed. I don't want my friends who aren't their friends to have to deal with the drama. And often it's not even my friend's drama it's their friends. Or it's people who post on it because it's a public post and they can. I don't want to spread their nonsense.

I talk all the time about how happiness is a choice. Well it's also something that once you choose to be happy you have to make sure you are choosing the things that make you happy as well. It's not going to be the same for everyone. It's just not. Sports and politics make me happy. Even when my team is losing, and when the politics are insane, following the teams and players that I like and understanding what is happening in the world make me happy. Even when they make me mad.

Crazy right?

But it's true. Not following politics isn't an option for me. I don't understand people who ignore it all. And who tell people things like "it's not that big of a deal." or "get over it" or "go outside and take a walk" what is wrong with you? Do you think that walking outside will make it go away? Do you think ignoring a problem makes it less of a problem? That not knowing is a good way to live? Well, yeah, they do. And they think something is wrong with me for reading about, posting about, making comments on things that I have very little control over. Different strokes.

So there won't be an ending to my political posts. Sorry for those of you that wish I would just shut up about it all, not going to happen.

And as you saw from the first half, also not going to stop posting about sports. You missed the last half of The World Cup so count yourselves lucky there and move on. Hockey season and Michigan football are coming so enjoy the sporadic Timbers posts between here and there and go take a walk it they are too much for you. (kidding)

I might write another recap post about coming back on but this might the end of the learning for me so I might not. Basically I reinforced things I already knew about myself.

1. I hate feeling like I'm not in control of something. That's the first and main thing. I needed the break mainly just to let myself know that I could do it. Habits that become addictions are not a thing I'm okay with. So breaking the habit of checking constantly was needed. I know I can do so I don't have to prove to myself that I need to do it anymore.

2. I actually get a lot of joy out of Facebook. I miss the friends who have stopped using it over the years. There are people I met through Facebook who have left the platform that I still wonder about and wish I knew how they were doing. I don't want that to end up being all of you that are still on my list.

3. I enjoy reading different news sources in a convenient location. And I like seeing how my friends are reacting to the latest developments. The send of connection that I feel when we are all watching a world event, good and bad, is something I like. It feeds something in my soul.

4. I don't miss the drama. I don't miss the stupidity. I think I will be faster on the hide and block buttons than I have been. There is a difference between a difference in opinions and spreading lies. If you are a conspiracy theory nutjob then you need to just shush and go back to your tinfoil hats and let the grown ups talk. Even if you are the president of the United States...

5. I like wishing people a happy birthday. I've kept up with that, as far as I know. I made a list before I logged out and I've been able to use my phone reminders to go directly to pages to send wishes. I think being able to tell people happy birthday, to let them know that right at that moment on the day they came in to the world someone was thinking about them, and wishing them happiness is nice. I know for a lot of people it's just a rote thing, but I really do take a moment to think about that person. To send happiness their direction. For whatever that is worth to them, it makes me feel good so it's doing that at least.

There might be more things that I can't think of right now, but that seems to be it. Basically I like to talk. I like that you listen. I like to listen. I like that you talk. I miss your kids, your food, your vacations and your insights.

And for today, here is what you missed from me:

"Rand Paul trying to act like he matters again. We all know you will cave and vote for him, stop acting like you are anything other than a Trump Toady."

"The White House says that it's ridiculous to think that Trump's ALL CAPS TWEETS to Iran have anything to do with trying to recapture his tough guy stance after the Putin show last week. Sure it doesn't...we all believe you...sure..."

"Do you think that when Trump hears Ivanka reading a bedtime story to her kids he rushes in to the room to say, 'GOODNIGHT MOON! GOODNIGHT ROOM! SEE? NO COLLUSION!' I mean it's pretty much his response to everything he reads, right?"

(the living room is so not getting done, but now it's 90 degrees everyday so you really can't blame me, right?)