Peace Out
Almost a year ago I drafted this post to share. I’m not sure why I never shared it or what made me change my mind but here it is.
Stepping Away
I am stepping away from social. I think everyone in my generation feels the struggle with finding the balance with social media. In 2024 I dabbled a few times in taking a step back from it & it was good for me in every way I expected. But looking into 2025 I’m feeling the overwhelming desire to set it down completely as I work on finding a simpler life with less noise & more time. It’s hard for me, not because I love to consume it but because I love to create. I have so much knowledge & passion for so many things that I want to share. I recently was talking to a mom who said that when she read my gummy post, she turned over her whole kitchen & made some huge changes for her kids & her family. That’s why I’ve continued to stay on social even though I know it’s not great for me. I never wanted to be the next big nutrition influencer or ‘the’ account to follow for foster care; I just wanted to share in hopes of helping one person, one family. And I’ve done that. I hope to inspire many more, but I need to find a way to do that that is manageable & healthy for me. Creating content, while something I love, is SUPER time-consuming and in the land of insta if it’s a story, it’s gone in 24 hours and if it’s a post, it’s only seen by a small amount of people, and that’s IF you post regularly and it doesn’t get buried in the sea of ads. So it’s left me wondering where to go from here, and I’ve decided I’m going to go back to my roots, back to where it started, and where I wanted it to be, and that’s a blog. A place I can write without a character limit, a place I can share links easily.. A place I can share recipes and stories. Ultimately, something that requires less but allows more. My plan in the next few months is to streamline that into a e-newsletter of sorts, so those of you who really like my content can still get it in an easy-to-consume way, but that will take some time. This account will remain here for now…I will periodically share links to the blog. If you are someone I’ve become Instagram friends with ( you know who you are), know that I am still very interested in what’s going on in your life, and I hope that we can find a way to connect beyond the apps. It’s not goodbye, just a break.
While I still feel all the things I did a year ago when I wrote that post, I feel even more strongly about it now that it doesn’t serve me right now. If I’m honest, I don’t really think it serves anyone really. What was initially built to connect and arguably entertain us has turned into something else entirely, and now, after spending just a few minutes on it a day, I can feel the shift in myself, and I don’t like it..
I’ve been reading and listening to a lot more about the idea of raising kids without it, and that is starting to feel even heavier. How can I feel so strongly about limiting my kids' screen time, keeping them off social media, and teaching them appropriate boundaries about online usage when I’m not really modeling that the best that I could be for them? They notice even if we don’t think they do. What feels like a few minutes every day usually actually adds up to hours per week, in a time when we are constantly saying we don’t have enough time. Enough time to exercise, enough time to spend with our kids or our spouse, enough time to garden or cook, or even simply to sleep. We have enough time, it's just about how we are spending it, and that is weighing on me more every day.
I still feel very strongly that I want to keep creating content, keep sharing ideas, information, and inspiration, and I’m not entirely sure what that will look like. Thinking maybe a Patreon page where you can still see what I’m feeding my kids and growing in my garden, but with the option to subscribe for more detailed content and cooking videos. Not entirely sure just yet. And that’s part of the problem. I want to do more than what I’m doing now in terms of nutrition education for families, and I need time to figure out what that can look like. When my husband and I sat down to talk about stepping away from social media it allowed me to conclude that i won’t be able to figure out what I want that to look like while I”m still consuming content. While I don’t play the comparison game on social media I do find myself being like “oh that’s a good idea, I could do it like but maybe a little better or different”. And while there isn’t really anything wrong with that, I want an original idea, not a watered-down regurgitated concept. I’ve got it in me, but the vision is cloudy. I need space and time for clarity.
So that’s where I’m at, and I feel really good about it. When Facebook became a thing almost 2 decades ago, I was one of the last of my friends to join. I had a few people telling me that I should because my boyfriend at the time was posting pictures with girls in bikinis. For some context, he was a professional fisherman working in the islands at the time, so not out of the scope of his lifestyle or environment at the time, but the pressure from everyone else is what made me join. Not long after that it became a place that was necessary for my business. There were countless times over the last decade I said, “if it wasn’t for my business, I wouldn’t have social media”. Well, I closed my business almost 2 years ago at this point, and here I still am. My husband pointed out that I wanted Peas and Pixels to be a business of sort, but again no real plan for what that would or could look like. So I’m stepping back to maybe figure that out, or not. I’m ok either way.
If you are a mom that I have connected with while in the pits of parenting, I see you, I will still be thinking of you. If you are a foster parent, know that I am still supporting your journey and praying for you and the little ones and their families you are walking beside. If you are a business I love and support, I truly do know how much social media interaction matters to grow and support your business. Please know that I will continue to support you in any other way I can. Lastly, if you are someone who finds my content valuable, please don’t go anywhere. Something more is coming, just not entirely sure what that is just yet, but I promise there will be something. And if you are someone who supports me through my affiliate links by buying products I love, such as Earthley, Crunchi, or numerous others, I so appreciate your continued support.