In the past, I’ve mostly avoided social media. When I told people I didn’t have a Facebook account, they looked at me like I was crazy. When I published my first book, I was encouraged to have at least one social media account so people could find me.    And I figured that if I was going to do this, I also wanted to use social media to find a community of writers to share experiences with. 

So I now have accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Linked in. I belong to a writer’s network. I have a website, blog and two email accounts. 

I check them way too often – at least several times a day, sometimes several times an hour. I come to the end of some days where I realize that all I’ve done is spend the day surfing the web and social media. I shouldn’t be spending this much time on this, because there are so many other things I want and need to do, specifically paying attention to what started all this – writing books! 

I am overwhelmed.  Not just with social media but with everything else that needs to be done to write and take care of daily living- like eating, sleeping, exercise and household chores. 

I made a list of the basics (I have 16 items on it) and how much time I thought was reasonable to devote to each in a day/week.

A good goal for me is a post on Facebook and blog once a week, Instagram twice a week, check email twice a day and social media once a day. That sounds like a lot, but compared to my current habits this is a significant reduction in time.   

What I’m looking for is that sometimes elusive condition of balance. Life is like being on a balance board, where you are constantly adjusting your weight so you can stay upright on the board.  The more you practice, the stronger you become.

I think it’s the same way with balance in life. It’s a constant adjustment of where you spend your time and what takes priority each day.

At the end of each day, I want a satisfying answer to the question, “Am I happy about how I spent my day today?”

On Facebook, I talk about nature, poetry, and the life of a writer.
I’d love for you to follow me there!

Lynn H. Wyvill grew up in Washington DC where her favorite activity was sitting under a Japanese red maple tree, watching clouds create pictures in the sky. As a writer, she finds peace and inspiration when hiking in the woods, strolling on sandy beaches, and observing nature’s show in her backyard. Those experiences are captured in her first book, Nature’s Quiet Wisdom. Before writing books, Lynn worked as a radio/TV reporter and writer for the US Department of Agriculture and owned a consulting business that trained professionals on the creation and delivery of effective presentations. She is a lifelong learner, avid reader, small town explorer, and dedicated theater attendee who lives in beautiful Virginia with her husband.