Blogmas Day 21 || Enjoying The Present

I'm sure a lot of you can relate to me when I say that I am addicted to my phone. I spend most of my time on it, usually endlessly scrolling through some kind of social media and just generally avoiding doing anything that I may have to do in the real world. That was until recently when I decided that I needed to learn to limit my use of it in order to be in a better place mentally.

I used to spend a lot of time on my phone, not only on social media but also texting friends. Which is great that we are able to do that but it also has its downsides. For me personally, I feel like it made me not only feel lonelier but it also made me so comfortable with that bit of communication that I never actually felt the need to go out and socialise with my friends in real life too.

When you go from chatting away to friends to suddenly nothing because they're asleep or busy, it made me feel lonely and pretty crappy. I felt like I needed someone else in my life, which prompted me to download a dating app.

After being on the app for a while and being let down by a few guys, I decided I'd had enough of that crap and took some time away from my phone. That's when I realised that I don't feel lonely at all, and I don't need someone else in my life either. The only reason I was feeling lonely is because of that need I'd developed to constantly be talking to someone, which is crazy. Having now taken a step back, I realise I'm more than happy with the people I have in my life and more than happy with the time I spend on my own doing my own thing. Being attached to my phone had become toxic to me. 

Not being on my phone texting all the time has also made me actually want to leave the house, and it's made me feel like I can do so alone. Crazy, right?

I hadn't realised how dependent I'd become on it, how much I was living my life through a screen instead of enjoying the now. I was getting home from work and spending hours on my phone procrastinating. I spent hours doing the same thing at the weekend, because to me at that moment it was easier than actually living in the now.

Now I get home from work and I don't sit down with my phone, instead, I write and do stuff I enjoy doing. It has changed the way I feel massively. I've started doing things that I've wanted to do for a while, I've started being a bit more organised and more importantly I've started feeling happier with myself.

This isn't just taking a break from my phone, this is learning to limit my use of it. Although that is a bit more difficult to do when you have work to do on it and run multiple social media accounts. However, it's definitely something I will be doing. Can you relate to this? How much time do you think you waste on your phone? Let me know in the comments.