If you are a weddingpreneur like me you always work on your business, there’s no weekday or weekend. Social media is also something that we use regularly (do you?) to promote ourselves. Besides, being a planner you probably have weddings and / or events on the weekends so these are very prolific days for us to be active and share on social media. It seems like we are on social media every. single. day. For this reason, many professionals have a love + hate relationship with social media and, the more they try to use it actively, the more overwhelmed they get (and sometimes they give up).

I personally get a lot of inspiration from social media and it’s a great way for me to interact with people on a more personal level so I don’t see it as a terrible monster threatening my life.  It takes time, yes, but it’s worth it. The key is: do not replace in-person relationships with social media, you’re not supposed to be active online only. You should first establish a relationship in person and engage, then keep the relationship alive by being social. That’s what social media is for! I simply make social media part of my daily life and I treat it as a way to stay around my connections.

I will write a blog post specifically on how I handle my social media accounts: how often I post, what I post on each account, and what I use to help with automation. But, let’s stay on topic here… Should you ever unplug from social media and keep your sanity in this world that seems to rely only on the internet?

The answer is YES: You should take a break from social media if you experience the following:

You have FOMO (fear of missing out)

Do you ever find yourself glued to your phone or tablet when you’re away from your computer? Do you ever check your social media accounts to see what happened while you were away grocery shopping? Or maybe you check your Instagram feed while you are at the grocery store? Enough is enough and we can’t simply be connected all the time. Let it go!

You are wasting time

Are you always trying to catch up on social media and you can’t accomplish your goals or finish your projects? It’s very easy to get carried away when you are at your computer trying to focus on your to-do list. You constantly receive notifications from your friends on Facebook or about a new broadcast on Periscope, or a new beautiful image on Instagram, and you feel the urgency to respond, to interact. And, maybe that image or post will give you an idea for a new project… So now you start working on that one, putting the previous task on hold. That will generate a multi-tasking chain that will slow down your productivity and will leave you frustrated at the end of the day (your to-do list will grow more and more). Set aside blocks of time (1 hour of work and 10 minutes to check social media updates). Turn off all social media notifications while you work on your task if you can’t resist the temptations to check the updates

You are getting depressed

Your Facebook feed is a list of victories, successes, and happy moments from your friends, family or colleagues, and that makes you think you’re the only one in this world struggling to achieve success. No, you’re not! We all experience failures, real life has sad and bad times for everybody and your friends are exactly like you, They just don’t post about those difficult times. Don’t get sucked into this vicious cycle: the more you see them happy the more depressed you get, and your business will be affected. Focus on your victories and set goals on how to accomplish more

You are ignoring real-life relationships

If you’re using social media exclusively for your business, avoid checking your accounts when you are home with your family, or cooking dinner. Set boundaries. Spend quality time with people around you, and maybe try to post less when you celebrate special occasions with friends and family. You cannot take that precious time back and you will miss out on memorable moments. Stop concentrating on finding the perfect filter for the image you want to post on Instagram RIGHT NOW… You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?

~~~ TAKE ACTION ~~~ Try to go “unplugged” from social media for 24 hours on a weekend when you don’t have any events or weddings and see how it feels. Do you get anxious? Or do you love it? I think you will choose the second answer – believe me, it’s liberating!

~~~ LEAVE A COMMENT ~~~ Do you ever unplug from social media? if so, how often? Is it a weekend things or you do this every 1-2-4 weeks?

Photo courtesy by Freepik

Sabrina Cadini

Holistic Precision Life Coach, Brain Wellness Coach, and Life-Work Balance Strategist helping busy professionals and high achievers live and work better by prioritizing themselves. I use different modalities (epigenetics, neuroscience, chronobiology, and positive psychology) to implement effective lifestyle changes.