The snowflakes of time

 The first proper snowstorm of the winter, a little over a month into the season. Just last week I was meeting with a retired friend on his porch, gifting him some baked goods and basking in the sun and conversation (masked, and from about ten feet apart). Breaking a sweat from the sunbeams. Now I sit hunkered in our little cabin, snow blotting out the view from the upstairs balcony, the deck so full that you couldn't tell I had shoveled a good foot off of it this morning. All day the snow has descended - full and fluffy, small and sideways, ever-gathering, blanketing the earth in its softness. Not really a storm at all - rather peaceful - but thick and constant enough to keep the visibility below half a mile throughout the day. 23.5" inches at last measure, and that was already about three hours ago.

I didn't want this snow to come right now. I was feeling restless, wanting to get out, desirous of some alone-time in the woods, on a rock, beside a stream, with a journal and an ink pen. The sort of daydream whose reality is only conducive to pleasant weather. Instead, I got a proper snow event, tying me and my partner to these four walls and this roof and that wood stove and each other for the duration. So much for solitude.

Since my previous blog entry, I have made some significant changes to my social media 'diet,' shall we say. First and foremost, I deleted my Instagram account. And I haven't missed it a bit yet. But knowing that this was not enough, I went through the trouble of cleaning up my Facebook as well, to make that experience (so long as I stick around on the platform) a bit less noisy. I went from being in 18 groups down to 6, from 150 likes and follows of brands or personalities to fewer than 40, from 197 friends to under 150. I also removed a bunch of my information from there, because it's not Fb's business, and it's certainly known data for those who are actually my friends. The result is that I've actually seen some posts from folks that I want to read their posts, some of them for the first time in who knows how long! Finally, I went into Etsy and officially closed my store - I only ever made one sale on it anyway. Furthermore, I un-favorited lots of items and shops on there as well, because I do not like all the same things I liked a decade ago. Shocker.

These were just some of the first steps that I've taken in my journey to take back control of my online presence, and I've felt pretty good about them so far. If only it were that easy to make tweaks and changes to life in the real world!