Monday Mantra: Look Me in the Eye When You’re Talking to Me

This Monday mantra is coming from a very sleepy lady. I had a ton of fun this weekend, enjoying my husband's company, catching up with my sister-in-law, going out to lunch with a wonderful friend and gaining some amazing advice. I also took some photos at the downtown Yakima Lighted Parade while dancing, waving and hosting the event.

In between those moments I was checking my social media, reading up on news and feeling a little empty.

I'm not sure if it was the moment I saw a past co-worker mention her Nickelodeon special, "Spongebob" streaming on Amazon or the incredibly beautiful charcuterie board I missed out on at an event I didn't know happened. But a voice inside of me said very clearly, "You need to check yourself on your phone usage."

Raise your hand if you have ever used your phone for so long your eyes start to water. Did you put it down? Me neither.

I've heard Jubal mention there's a bone growing in our neck and that in a few generations people will actually be a little bent over because of how much time we spend looking at our phones. Yowza.

So I figured I would run a synopsis on my phone to see where I am spending most of my time. Care to try it, too? I have a Samsung, so below are the directions to get you started:

Head to your Settings, then click on Battery. A list of apps will appear below with their respective percentages of battery usage for the last 24 hours or seven days. In the upper right hand corner, you'll find a clock icon. Click on that, and the time you spend using the apps will be added beneath their names.

It looks like my No. 1 app -- and no shocker to me -- is Facebook. I spent 10 hours and 45 minutes on it last week, with it on in the background for 19 hours and 49 minutes. Dang.

No. 2 is Instagram. I spent 3 hours and 15 minutes using it

No. 3  is Snapchat with 5 minutes hahaha :)

Not as bad as I thought, but I can always do better. So I figured this holiday season I am going to work on not checking my social media as much. I don't want to fall in the rabbit hole of comparing my life with other people's. Don't get me wrong, I love knowing what my friends are up to, but some of the news headlines bum me out -- or a very happy announcement for one person turns me into a negative Nancy. I say these things because it's important to be honest with the fact that life isn't perfect. We aren't always happy, but we can always strive to look at what we're up to and how we can change our environment to alter our mood.

The goal for next week is to try and cut down on it all. Not go dark, because part of my job requires me to post things online, but I don't think I will be hanging around as long on each one, and I'll be making a point to not just browse when I am bored. I can read, or take a nap or knock out one of the 20 different projects I have always wanted to complete.

No time like the present, and when we keep complaining there's not enough time in the day while we waste our minutes looking at everyone else's lives. Well, there it is there.

You got this, we got this so let's go :)