Quite by “accident,” I did a fast at the beginning of the year several years ago. At the time, I was not in the practice of fasting much (well, except for beets, rutabagas, and okra). However, one of the volunteer groups that I served on was, as a church, doing beginning-of-the-year fasts and invited us to do so as well. So, I decided to fast social media on a whim.
That whim was an extension of where I have been moving more and more over the last several years: to the “unexamined life.” Social media has put so much of our lives (or at least the parts of our lives that we want people to see) out in plain sight for everyone to observe, comment on, (secretly judge), envy, etc…and I have been moving away from that.
This year, I have walked away from things that people can see about me as a form of humility before God. I’ve taken to calling myself a pride-aholic for many years now. Walking away from things or deliberately breaking things that take His place has been a focus, particularly this year. (As I write this, I am even a little concerned about my sharing this post being a point of pride.) However, to provide some examples of things that I’ve walked away from:
- Bible Reading Streaks on the YouVersion App. This was one of the first things that I walked away from. On the YouVersion Bible app, it will record the days in a row that you’ve opened the app and read something on the app. While I would definitively say that Bible reading is something you should do daily, I began to see that sometimes my focus was more on the streak and not on reading the Bible and communing with my Creator. To that end, I felt like I was supposed to break my streak and humble myself even in my Bible reading habits.
- Personal posts on Social Media. My companies have continued to use my social media accounts on the various platforms to communicate our messages. However, while I have gone back on social media after the fast, I’ve not been much in the way of posting much personally. I will interact with others’ posts but I’m not posting much in the way of personal information.
- Sharing personal information about myself to the general population. As self-centered beings, it’s all too easy to always make our story the most important story instead of someone else’s story. So instead of being focused on me, I’m working on being focused on the story and needs of others. I can think of too many personal stories where I shared my information to be heard. . .when, really, no one needed to know or cared because the information I shared was not important.
So, the unexamined life I’m suggesting is not about not examining your life. Rather, it is about personal examination and hearing from God to develop you as an individual the way He sees best instead of the masses. That is not to say that you shouldn’t receive input from others. Trusted friends, family members, colleagues, coaches, leaders, etc. should be allowed to speak into your life. However, just letting anyone speak into your life is not only poor planning, it can be detrimental.
I invite you to join me in the unexamined life and let the Examiner mold you His way.
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