March 15, 2023

I set my alarm for 7:00 and fell back to sleep until 7:23. The time change, ya know?

I want to speed through this transition and just be adjusted to it already, but it’s also not really something I can force. Eventually we will all be waking at a normal time again and the boys won’t be staying up chatting until past 11.

But the older and wiser I get, I feel the prompting to not wish away these times of transitions. Once I make up my mind about something I generally just want to get there. Skip the drive, skip the line, let’s go. Maybe that’s how everyone feels, just wanting the next thing to happen instead of “enjoying the journey”.

As I was falling asleep last night I was praying and talking to the Lord about eliminating distractions in my life. The biggest one is social media. It’s been the biggest distraction for quite some time. He prompted me to do something that I’ve always dismissed when Brad’s suggested it: set the screen time functions on my phone.

I promptly went in and set an hour for social media a day. I’ve always thought I would just ignore these phone tools and find a way around it, but maybe it’s enough of a warning that I can learn to listen to it and stop myself before deep diving into Instagram stories.

The Lord also prompted me to think about the rules I have for my kids and how and when they are allowed to have screen time. They have to get all their schoolwork and morning routine stuff finished before they get 30 minutes of free computer time. So this morning I made sure I didn’t check anything on my phone until I had properly had my morning time, eaten breakfast, gotten dressed, etc. It really helped.

I don’t know yet whether this will stick, but I do think it was prompted by the Lord and that’s a pretty good indicator of the outcome. I have wanted to sign off all my accounts for good, but have felt God’s hand keeping me here so that I can actually learn how to healthfully interact with technology.