February’s Survival Guide to The Online World {7 Ways To Avoid Being Sucked In}

1. Keep stacks of books everywhere. Stash a few books in bags, beside beds, and on tables. Actual books can satisfy our need to escape and fill those down time minutes in a richer and more beautiful way. The craving we have for juicy stories, interesting news, and magical inspiration is met in the practice of flipping a few pages. {Two books I keep beside me, as physical reminders to find my livelihood in the quiet places and not the crazy crowds, are “Go and Tell No One” by Kristin Hill and “Unseen” by Sara Hagerty. Or find my whole list of favorites here.
2. Regularly disappear from social media without apology or an announcement. Delete the apps, shut down our computer, and remember we are the wild ones, un-tethered from the loud, dominant voices of our day. We are here to pioneer a different path, do we know where He is leading us?
3. Make simmering, slow-cooker type relationships, instead of following the quick and easy, no-risk recipes presented to us. Let’s be the friends who reach for tangible connection every day be it around the table or in a phone call, showing our faces, sharing our voices, lending our hands, and giving our hearts slowly and deeply to those around us.  
4. Rebel against consumerism by carrying our compelling, poetic, and simple purpose into the world. Without one we will surely get lost looking for ourselves along the trails of endless links and virtual shelves waiting for us to open and explore. Our true self comes emerges we respond to the subtle whispers in the core of our being.
5. Shelter our soul from overexposure.  Even good and helpful information can leave us overwhelmed, lacking the motivation to move into our own lives with creativity and zeal. We are humans with real limitations and certain capacities. Determining how much we need to shield ourselves from the constant influx of the online world is not a sign of fear but a move of wisdom.
6. Share 1% with the world. Live the other 99% sequestered in fields of freedom, released from the need to share it with anyone other than your kindred friends and family.
7. Stare out windows and step outdoors. Tune into the seasons, sights, and sounds of nature. Activate all your senses- there is a profound message reverberating throughout creation. Learn the rhythms of the outdoor world and the online world quickly loses its appeal.

I’m curious…what else you would add to this list?