Sounds counterintuitive?
Right?
You already know the benefits of visibility and social media presence for your business.
What I am going to share today is, the amazing benefits of “Social Media ABSENCE”, my fun experience with long social media breaks and how every time I go on ‘social media fast’, my business doubles.
I dare you to try it for yourself and see what happens when you do.
Five years ago, I was on my first 10-day Silent meditation retreat — Vipassana and when I came back, for almost 2 months, I was on complete break from social media or any kind of social networking, literally cut off from the world.
Surprisingly, the inquiries in my business kept flooding in and my coaching practice grew exponentially during that period.
Being a blogger and coach, where social media had been the means to connect with my viewers and prospects, I never expected that to happen after such a long break. I was surprised.
‘Though I knew in my heart that it wasn’t merely a coincidence.’
Since then, Every year I take two long digital breaks and this substantial growth happens every time, in my life as well as business.
I realised something important from these experiences.
“Universe is my Biggest Ally.”
Co-creating with this miraculous universe is all about aligning my energy with the pure, abundant energy of this benevolent universe…
And the stillness within me and the inner work I do to tap into that stillness is the pathway to align with the universal mind.
External distractions, and currently the biggest one is our phone, keeps us away and misalign with what matters the most in our lives – “Connection with self, with the people we love, with life itself.”
Our Smart phones, Tablets and social media have made it more & more difficult to connect with ourselves, with inner peace and the Universe, at large, without us realising it.
Over the years, I’ve realised that the ‘Social Media Fast is actually a Spiritual fast’.
It’s like a long Sabbath to observe your relationship with yourself and the divine universe. Deepening the journey inwards, to get to know yourself truly.
More than disconnecting with the virtual world, the important thing is, on my break I was taking time out to connect with myself. I was in a state of deep peace and self-connection, which I do otherwise as well, though I wanted to fully experience that without any external distractions.
The benefits of social media detox are HUGE!! Don’t take my word, experiment for yourself.
Here are few things I experienced when I unplugged for 40 days.
FREEDOM:
The Biggest gift of The Detox is Freedom.
After about 15 days of unplugging, a deep sense of freedom started to seep in my being. I wondered why…
As I reflect back, it’s freedom from the need of validation, from judgement, from dopamine highs (that likes & comments bring on), freedom from an information loaded virtual world, from the pressure of posting regularly and thinking of what to post.
It was sheer joy and a kind of deep relief too.
Ah! I loved it totally. Don’t take me wrong, I enjoy and love my social media engagement and networking, and this break makes that even more enjoyable.
Unbridled Creativity:
One of the coolest perks of a social media detox is that it sparks your creativity, Big time. Test this out too 🙂
While on break, fun ideas for writing, for business, for exciting dates with my family and even home decor were flowing in. And I started penning them down (you’ll see some interesting posts from me, coming soon)
Do you wonder why that happens?
Scrolling through the feed browsing other people’s lives, might inspire you with ideas, but in reality, it also might leave you overwhelmed, pressured to hustle, feeling left behind and might increase your sense of not being good enough.
Looking at other’s amazing achievements can drain your creative energy and might even lead to writer or creator’s block.
By putting your phone away, you literally give yourself time to breathe, to feel, to think, and be in the present moment… and connect with the source of your inner creativity.
Boost in Productivity:
An average human being currently spends 145 minutes every day on Social media, as per recent stats (measure your own usage and you’ll be surprised).
This continuous distraction, and overload of information leads to overthinking, self-doubts, overwhelm, procrastination and wastage of time.
A complete digital break directly impacts your productivity to a great extent.
Improved Focus:
This one is a no – brainer. We all know that social media has badly impacted our focus, concentration and attention span.
As per latest research, average human being’s attention span is 8 seconds now, even less than the notorious poor-focused Gold Fish (with attention span of 9 seconds). This is due to the impact of information overload leading to change in the grey matter in cerebral area which is associated to maintaining the focus.
FOMO Death:
First few days, I was so tempted to check in. I would wonder what my friends and other people in my network would be doing while I am away. After a party with friends, I wondered did anybody tag me in the pics 🙂
Did I cheat? Yes, couple of times, I sneaked into Linkedin (my client had sent me a recommendation that I wanted to see), once on Insta in moments of boredom. But the good thing is it wasn’t more than few seconds, as I remembered my commitment for complete break.
But after 15-20 days, I started to forget as if social media and ‘fear of missing out’ don’t even exist anymore.
Trust me, this feeling is incomparable to any Dopamine high, it’s pure relaxation and calmness, in this world filled with overloaded stimulation.
Pampered Self-care:
Who wouldn’t like to pamper themselves with all that extra time in hand.
I could indulge in some extra self-care like long walks in nature, reading, focusing on nourishing food, taking care of my skin (even my Jade face roller came out during this break, and I loved using it 🙂
Deepened Connection:
When the garbage is out, you make space for clear energy.
Pure energy of connection. Connection with your SELF, with your loved ones, with life itself.
Business Growth:
Your business growth is in direct proportion of the inner work you do.
When you feel completely aligned with your higher purpose, are content with who you are, and operate from abundance, synchronicities happen and prosperity flows naturally…
When you disconnect with the world time to time and start journeying inwards, you get in touch with the beauty and wisdom of stillness within.
When you are being true to yourself and are committed to stand in that truth…you are a force of nature, and things become effortless.
Complete digital breaks give me an opportunity to take extra time to relax, reflect, introspect, read, write, play and helps me come closer to who I am. The business growth is just a by-product of that 🙂
We all care about what truly matters to us, but keep getting distracted to the Shiny objects, after all, we are humans; it’s essential we pause, examine our life regularly and realign ourselves every time we’re losing touch with the “all powerful within and without”.
If you’ve reached at the end of my blog and considering #socialmedia fasting, I’d cheer for you, Go for it. Thank me later 🙂
Feel free to ask, if I can be of any help to you or if you like to have a chat with me.
May the power be with you!