Week One: Bringing theCauseCoach back to Facebook

This is the first week of the rest of my life, right? With my lay-off and the holiday weekend behind me, I’m focusing on what’s next.

Have you seen that I’m back on Facebook? After taking a stand at the end of last year and completely deleting my account followed by a three month hiatus, I rejoined on March 31. I simply felt, in light of the lockdown and pending sense of doom at that time, a bit disconnected. I hadn’t, as I had hoped, found an alternative to Facebook.

What did I find in the time away? 

I found my true friends – the people who stayed in touch via text and email. I was able to find two friends willing to put me up for part of the week and also have a great girls night out with a bunch of “Ramsey Moms” on my return to New Jersey in January — all through text! Imagine that!

I found a sense of discipline. While off Facebook I regained my focus and got much better at managing distractions.  After the first week I stopped picking up my phone aimlessly. Without random “news” popping up in front of me, I created more of a strategy to getting my fill of current events. My morning now involves a cup of coffee and 15 minutes skimming a few online subscriptions (WaPo, NYT, Chicago Tribune and TheSkimm). 

Ultimately, I found my way back. On my terms. While I admittedly re-friended more people than I intended to initially, I still have less than half the number of “friends” I had previously. If we haven’t reconnected, please don’t take it personally, I have accepted every request I have received from everyone I actually know. If you annoy me, I will just unfollow you and would expect you to do the same. 🙂

I’ve been much more strategic about the groups I’ve joined and pages I’ve liked because I don’t want my news feed filled with stuff that isn’t useful to me. I would expect you to do the same. I report ads I don’t want to see and have my settings in a way as to minimize distractions. 

At first I was frustrated by the fact that I deleted my entire account and my old stuff just wasn’t available easily (I did down load it, so it’s available, just takes more time). Then I realized how liberating that is!! – knowing old memories of stuff I’d rather not remember and acknowledgments from friends about events in the past, I’d rather leave there won’t pop up on anniversaries.

Plus every stupid thing I said to anyone, anywhere on Facebook is magically gone! Now I catch myself. If I had a dollar for every comment I’ve written and then deleted in the past three months, I wouldn’t have to worry about finding business or a full-time job! So, I’ve also found that old dogs can learn new tricks.

Speaking of business, losing my business page was where I had the most regret, then I thought a new beginning is good there too. So yesterday, I reestablished my business page on Facebook and going strong into promoting my coaching business – not only here in Chicago, but the last few months have also shown me that there is certainly a place for virtual coaching.

That’s what’s next.

While I don’t want stuff in my news feed that isn’t useful to me, and you shouldn’t either, if you’re a women looking to achieve wellness of body, mind and spirit, and be your personal best (or love one who is). If you too are looking to answer the question What’s Next? I think you will find following theCauseCoach on Facebook useful.

And no, you don’t need to be a runner. Just be open to possibilities, ready to live your passion and say good-bye to self-doubt. And yeah, I might just inspire you to run too.