In a weekend where I began to feel social media grating on my nerves, I made a conscious decision to blur out all of the hype and focus on what I enjoy about my hobbies.
Instead of becoming irritated by the number of times the Official Filofax Instagram account posted pictures of the new Slate Grey shade for their Finsbury organisers – which, I have to say, is the best colour they’ve released in any binder for several years – I sat back and admired my own Original binder and enjoyed the deep fuchsia shade. Instead of moaning about the amount of dot-grid paper everywhere, I basked in the knowledge that I’ve found an insert that really works for me in the Personal size and that no matter how much Filofax hype their newest inserts, they still produce the good old standard ones which have stood the test of time.
I’ve also enjoyed my knitting. I haven’t needed wildly expensive hand-dyed yarns, super though these are; I have been just as happy working with relatively inexpensive wool. There was potential to be rather narked this morning as I was intending to buy the new Rowan Knitting Magazine, but I checked it out on their website and realised that I didn’t like any of the patterns in it. It’s disappointing when that happens, but as I don’t need any new knitting patterns it doesn’t really matter. That’s the magic thing, really – deciding not to care about the things that don’t suit me.
I finally wrote dry the cartridge of Viper Green ink and moved gratefully on to my pen filled with Burned Orange which completely suits my mood. For all of 12 hours I had my magic number of three pens inked, then I went and spoiled it by deciding to fill my dad’s Parker 51 with some Diamine Pansy. It was a sudden decision; a desire to use that particular pen. Perhaps the magic number of pens inked is really four, not three? Pansy is more of a neutral colour compared to some in my arsenal, so it will be good when I want to be more serious.
Even the sky is mellow this evening, fitting in perfectly with that September journal spread I wrote about previously. Now, all I’ve got to do is stay away from social media until bedtime. How hard can that be?
Pam Alison Knits 
I love this mindset! Here’s to finding joy and contentedness in the little things.
Do you know, over the past years I slowly deleted my social media accounts. Some were much harder than others. I’m totally off now (well, I suppose Ravelry could be considered social media, I’m still on that). There are some things I miss, but not enough to compensate for all the bad that social media brought to my psyche. It was a very long process, though, done in many baby steps. Social media is tough!
Funnily enough, Ravelry was the first one I ditched and the easiest by far because I tend to have interactions with family members on the others. I do have a limited way of viewing the social media I look at, which makes life very convoluted but helps me to avoid a lot of the major irritations. Every now and again I have a look at the general things that the companies think I ought to enjoy seeing, but mostly I just look at a small selection of posts of my own choosing.
Do you think social media is tough because people are just generally difficult, but we’re more used to ignoring them in the real world?
I think social media is tough because it feels so real but yet, isn’t, right? Everyone is a heightened version of themselves on social media and it seems easier to be really negative. It seems like a fair number of friendships have ended because of Facebook. Most of what I like best about people can only be appreciated in conversation in real life. I think people are generally pretty great, but social media often brings out the worst in people. In real life, we can find connections beyond, say, our political affiliations, that we really are far more alike than different.
Does that make sense?
You are right, new shiny things are nice but the thrill fades away quickly. I have enough wool expect for socks, enough notebooks for the next months and I now have some nice new cheapish fountain pens plus some nice inks. I am mostly tempted by nice fabric, but I have lots left for sewing, so I hope I can avoid to buy much more. But it’s tough..
It’s a delicate balance, isn’t it? New things are thrilling and some thrills are rightly transient, but there’s something very shallow and dissatisfying about a relentless pursuit of the new. I think we need to develop relationships with our possessions and take our time to weave them into the fabric of our lives.
It helped me to remind myself that the reason I get irritated by some of the social media craziness is because I care about the things I’m interested in and I want to see them in a positive light.