The Jules Chronicles: Where I’ve Been Lately
For most people, Facebook was something they stumbled upon one day to look up a high school sweetheart or connect with old friends. I didn’t open a personal Facebook account until a few years ago for fear of actually being social. And I’m still not a true fan. For me, social media has always been about engaging with brands and media. Fashion. Arts. Photography. Writing. Creativity. Not necessarily showing an entire album of my family vacation photos (hey, whatever makes you happy, but no thank you.)
And I’ve been around since 2008. Digital has basically been my LIFE for the last decade with my previous job being search engine marketing. So when I deleted every social media app on my phone Friday, I felt a huge GASP from the crowd. And since then sigh of relief. Wanna know what I’ve been doing? Connecting.
I haven’t been connecting with people. If you have my number, friends, I still love you and text me, please. I’ve been connecting with myself. With my health. My family. My job. My God.
Say what? Yeah. Refreshing. A new pair of shoes will satisfy you when you’re 26 (when I was a fresh-faced innocent blogger), but 11 years later, you go the other way and it gets real. I do heart heels, but I’ve found a new path in life that doesn’t always have to involve those shoes. They’re different shoes.
I took these photos on my run today because they’re my favorite spots – an old railroad and the top of a bridge where you can see for miles across the river. Most of the time, I think too much and I say exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time. Character flaw. This run, this spot. It really lets my mind wander free. No one tells me what to think or what to say…how to say it. And I don’t have to worry about saying or thinking the wrong thing. Henry David Thoreau: “Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow.”
I especially love running because it is the most motivating sport I’ve tried. Sports are amazing for motivation and goals, in general, but running allows me to have the self-talk I need every time because if there’s one thing I never do is give up. (Winston Churchill, I adore you.)
See, in running you always have that little voice inside you that wants to quit. And just when you think you can’t do it, you realize you can.
And so as I’ve been away – fasting, if you will – from social media for several days (we’re talking not even browsing), I’ve drawn into my devotions each night. After my run today, this verse from Isaiah 54:10 stuck with me as I thought about how I don’t need to earn God’s love, nor will he ever reject me. It says it’s “unfailing” and that’s really all I could ever need.
“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet God’s unfailing love for you will not be shaken.”
I’m not really sure when I’ll get back on “social media” yet (it is a business for me) but I’m pretty excited about connecting again with the…simple things.
