“Cherish your solitude. Take trains by yourself to places you have never been. Sleep out alone under the stars. Learn how to drive a stick shift. Go so far away that you stop being afraid of not coming back. Say no when you don’t want to do something. Say yes if your instincts are strong, even if everyone around you disagrees. Decide whether you want to be liked or admired. Decide if fitting in is more important than finding out what you’re doing here. Believe in kissing.” – Eve Ensler

By Dawn Onley

Normally around this time of year, without fail, I grow tired of social media. It’s not Facebook or Twitter’s fault. I’ll claim full responsibility.

I’m an “all-in” type of personality. This means that when I pull up Facebook or sign on to Twitter, several times each day, I’m reading updates, writing posts, liking pictures, researching groups, clicking links to news articles and reading those articles.

It’s extremely time consuming. And stressful.

Before long, information overload causes my internal hard drive to crash. When this happens, you know what else comes with it?

• Mood swings
• Exhaustion
• Irritability
• Worry, that I’m wasting too much time online instead of doing

To make matters worse, this political season has me particularly vexed. As I scroll my timeline, I see posts that I really want to comment on, but I have to restrain myself as not to cuss. Seriously. Who are these people supporting that lunatic?

But I digress.

Because of my social media fatigue, I take a break each year to reconnect and reengage with the things that feed my spirit: Books, writing projects, spending time with friends and family, baking, long, early morning walks.

Real stuff.

That time is now. I’m in desperate need of a reset; a recalibration. Lately, I’ve been even pondering getting rid of my cell phone altogether and taking all phone conversations back to the land line.

As much as we’ve gained by the Internet, 24/7 connectivity and virtually unlimited access to information – and we’ve gained a lot – I sometimes miss the old days, before call waiting and multiples means of accessing a person. I want more of the family discussions at the dinner table. I want to engage with my community more – in person and fully focused.

I’m looking forward to Dawn time, where I can hone my writing craft each day, by reading, writing, and experiencing more of life. I’m looking forward to silencing the noise so I can hear my words, my voice.

You’ll still see the Women Who Hope blog posts on Facebook and Twitter. I’d encourage you to like both of those pages (Facebook: Women Who Hope; Twitter: @ForWomenWhoHope) to stay in the loop of what we’re doing. However, I will shut my personal page down soon for at least a month, possibly two.

Just to regroup. I’m really looking forward to this!