Image: TAN Books
In connection with that, I’ve been taking a critical look at some aspects of my life and where they might be improved. It didn’t take long for me to see a glaring problem that needed to be addressed right away: I spend far too much time online, both on and off social media. At this point, I don’t think I’d be wrong if I said it was an addiction, but as of yet it’s still fairly mild. That said, “clear and present, albeit mild” is the state at which it’s important to take concrete, real steps lest things get worse — which they can do alarmingly quickly.
To that end, I’ll be going quiet on most social media and limiting the time I spend online. I’m not going to completely give it up, but the list of specific areas is quite short and limited to items where I don’t think I can risk being completely offline. I do plan to stick to that list.
The other thing I’ll be doing is working my way through the book Know Thyself: 100 Guided Meditations on Humility of Heart, which is based on the writings of Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo. I plan to read through one each morning and one each evening, which will have me finishing sometime during the Easter Octave.
The goal is both reading and reflection, using a Lectio Divina-like technique that has worked for me several times in the past. The end game is to address my prideful tendencies, which have been bothering me for some time now, while also hopefully breaking my bad habits around social media and being online.
Maintaining this blog is on the short list of things I’m allowed to keep doing, since it exists not for its own sake but rather as an outlet for me to practice both writing and writing-related deadlines. If I seem to have vanished in a few other places, though, don’t worry. I’ll be back, and hopefully I’ll be more grounded and settled when I am.