It's been a WEEK! [Now it's been two]

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TaylorJoy
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It's been a WEEK! [Now it's been two]

[Update is in newest post.] It's been a week, with two minor setbacks, since I first realized I was addicted to facebook, and logged off. I'm so thankful. It started last Tuesday morning--I just thought, "I need to stay off facebook for the next hour, just so I can get breakfast done, and a crockpot ready for dinner before the pregnancy sickness kicks in."

I started having rapid heartbeats, shallow breathing, and a huge rush of anxiety. An HOUR??? Off of FACEBOOK?? That should NOT make the fight-or-flight response kick in!!!! In that moment, I realized I'd gone beyond overuse into addiction, and I had to stop.

Now, even though I'm sick, I've been reading books, writing, and using my not-feeling-sick time to do things I enjoy. It's HARD as HELL. I had no idea I was avoiding so much pain in my life. I had no idea that I didn't really have good coping skills for life. Heck, I thought I was doing pretty well.

I just took a nap (cause my almost-two-year-old has slept almost THREE HOURS! YAAAAY!) and woke up with a song in my head. This is huge for me, because I realized I'd started *thinking* in the space of "status updates." Even my thought life had become a vessel for quirky 2-line zingers that would make me giggle. I felt so good knowing that my mind was healing, and that I'd be able to think more clearly soon.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that, one day at a time, I'm sober. Thank you so much for having this site and for being there.

TaylorJoy

Patria
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That is really awesome

That is really awesome Taylor, I'm very proud of you.

I got out of Facebook also; I didn't decide to with any meaningful thought; it just happened. I realized I spent too much time on Facebook (not checking up on friends and co-workers) but to answer all the provocative political comments. And it occurred to me, that the FB was taking up too much of my time, and I was sick and tired of hearing about every waking moment of my friend's. I love my friends, but give me a break, I didn't need to hear about every meal they consumed, or every breath they took.

Yes it is hard Taylor. My first month was full of angst, anxiety, sweats, twitching and tweaking (you would have thought I was getting off crack), and couldn't pay attention to anything. Plus my sleep was crap.

It does get better! honestly.

Allyson2213
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Great job Taylor. The first

Great job Taylor. The first weeks are the hardest for most of us, but I can tell that it gets better so hang in there. I'm not an active FB user anymore. I decided to take a break from it when I quit WoW three years ago because I was an avid gamer of Farmville and another flash games there so I thought it would be of help to avoid temptation, and it was. Now I've lost my interest on that site.

"Take what you need and leave the rest." I got nothing but moments to live.

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I also have been backing off

I also have been backing off facebook. I was checking it WAY too often. Why do people need to know when I sneeze or when I cheer when my hometeam hits a homerun? They don't. While I love my FB friends, there really are only a handful that I call real friends. The others are just acquaintences. I'm moderating my online stuff these days because I'm already at the computer enough with my photos and photoshop. It feels good to get out and take pics or watch my Oakland A's beat the Tigers!!!! LOL! I had to get that in here hehe.

Good for you Taylor for recognizing your triggers and doing something about it.

LearningSerenity
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Congrats, Taylor!  It's

Congrats, Taylor! It's crazy how withdrawal symptoms show up with electronic stuff, isn't it? I'm glad you were able to recognize it for what it was and reach a good decision about it. I consider myself blessed to have never had a facebook account...even early on, I recognized that I'd wind up addicted to it (before I was willing to admit to being a gaming addict, ironically enough), so to this day I've never created an account.

Keep up the good work! :)

When you're going through hell...keep going. --Winston Churchill There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still --Corrie ten Boom

TaylorJoy
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I'm thrilled, it's been two

I'm thrilled, it's been two weeks now, with only two minor setbacks as I started getting emails from facebook about notifications. Nope, none of them were important. I ALMOST got on just now, because I couldn't find my recipe books [I'm allergic to wheat and milk, so I make almost all of my own food, and have made or modified a lot of recipes] and I was convinced that the only place I could find it was a note I put on facebook. Well, lo and behold, I found a two-year-old blog that I'd started and abandoned [imagine that] and it had the recipe on it. :-] Yaaaaaaay.

I also found a sponsor. Thanks so much for being there, Olga.

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Yay!  You found a

Yay! You found a sponsor. That's awesome Taylor. Keep up the good work!

LearningSerenity
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Fantastic!  You're doing

Fantastic! You're doing great, and it sounds like your HP is helping you out too...nice save on the addict-brain telling you that you needed facebook for the recipie when it was really somewhere else too. Keep it up!

When you're going through hell...keep going. --Winston Churchill There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still --Corrie ten Boom

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