233. Five Reasons You Need a Social Media Break

This episode is for you if you have been thinking about taking a break away from social media.

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Hello hello beautiful souls, friends of LL, and of course I’m your host LL Lucy Liu. If you are new welcome welcome  and if you’ve been here before welcome back. 

First a little update, I took the summer off for family vacation, traveled to Taiwan and Vietnam andI am fully recharged and ready to share my positive energy with you. 

Some of you may have noticed I didn’t post anything on social media for the entire summer since it was my decision to take a break from social media.

Of course my clients still have access to me no matter where I am in the world. 

This summer, besides Taiwan I finally checked off another bucket list destination and traveled to northern Vietnam of Hanoi. About a 2.5 hour drive from the capital of Hanoi, recognized as a natural wonder of the world, the Northern Vietnamese paradise of Ha Long Bay indeed lived up to the hype. Yes it was crowded, but yes the scenic beauty was still so worth it!

So while I mentioned me taking a social media break, I wanted to talk a little bit more about well, taking a social media break. 

Let’s start with the benefits of taking a social media break:

Omg there are so many where do I even start! 

1. Clarity! If you know me you will know how much I love having clarity and everytime I take a social media break, long or short, there is always newfound clarity. And that’s also exactly what I help my clients to achieve, because after all, clarity is priceless. To reach your full potential, clarity is crucial in all areas of your life. You need clarity in your values and priorities, you need clarity about your purpose and goals, you need clarity around knowing your strengths so that it’ll allow you to leverage them, you need clarity around knowing your weaknesses so you can make improvements. You need clarity about your boundaries and setting clear limits to protect your time, energy, and well-being. You need clarity in your relationships and you need clarity about your habits and routines that will support your consistent progress towards your goals.
2. Try it yourself, taking a social media break will simply put you in a better mood. Studies found that decreasing social media time leads to increased mental health and well-being. Participants even reported decreased depression and loneliness. Of course you are going to feel better when you are not comparing yourself to others, when you are not constantly feeling anxious to check your apps, when you are actually living your own life instead of looking at someone’s else’s highlight reel. 
3. More Confidence: Social media can be a slippery slope for lower self-esteem. It makes you feel behind because you might see everyone else is accomplishing or having so much. Still focusing on what you lack. Focus on how much you already have in life or how far you have already come. You are enough just the way you are. You are at the exact place you need to be in life. 
4. Having Gratitude: Instead of thinking, “I can’t believe she’s on vacation again or omg she bought a new ____”, you’re better able to focus on the good things in your own life. When you start having deeper gratitudes for your own life, that’s when you start having more joy, confidence, resilience, all the factors you need in order to live a good life, well they are all there, you just need to see it. 
5. New Possibilities: When you’re not spending countless hours scrolling, you can spend all of that time doing … well, whatever you want. Pick up a hobby. Get some extra sleep. Create something new. Actually start traveling. Finally getting to the gym or getting outside. The possibilities are endless! 

So now you have my top 5 reasons why you need to take a social media break, I wanted to share with you the single habit that helped me the most to have a successful break is to actually not have the apps on your phone. 

If you think people might worry about your absence then announce it ahead of time, then remove the apps from your phone and set a specific time frame when you will be back. 

Notice how you feel, notice how your mood or confidence level or gratitude level changes.

Be mindful of your body and also set a new intention for when you return. You can always create new routines for when you restart back on social media.

Follow accounts that only make you feel good about yourself and feel motivated. If an account gives you any form of discomfort, whether that’s fear, stress or anxiety, unfollow them. Instagrams only suggest content that is relevant to you, my feed is full of motivational speeches, inspirational quotes, everytime I open my app, I am uplifted and motivated and happy. Make sure what you see on your explore page makes you confident and happy. 

Experiment with what works best for you, after all, always remember that it’s your life, take control.

Cheers to you enjoying your social media break and enjoying life and I’ll see you in the next episode.