Unplugged…and Loving It

Unplugged…and loving it!

Hey y’all! I hope all is well.  I know it’s been a minute since I posted on the blog.  Sorry.  Okay, actually, I’m not sorry about taking a month off from creating content.  I was busy enjoying my life.  There. I said it. Over the past month, I met someone amazing and wanted to spend all of my time with him.  And I don’t regret it at all.  I do have a life outside of CCB Diaries and I want to enjoy every single minute of it.  Also, I didn’t feel inspired to post anything either.  I’d rather not post for a month than post word salad week in and week out just so that I’m “sticking to a blogging schedule”.  I prefer to do things on my terms and stay in my own lane.  If that’s what works for you though, by all means, do you.

Which leads me into my next point.  As a blogger, I share my life with you all along with my style advice.  But there’s a part of my life that I prefer to keep to myself.  Believe it or not, I’m a very private person.  My personal life is just that: personal.  Plus, to be frank, my day-to day life isn’t really that interesting.  Most days consist of going to work, spending time with my BF and family, and running errands.  No latte art (have to drink my coffee during my commute on public transit), no flatlays of meals (I pack my lunch to save money), and no rooftop happy hours (I don’t drink alcohol anyways).  Finally, I’d rather be present and create memories rather than making sure I posted it on Insta Stories.  Maybe I’m just old fashioned or since I didn’t grow up with social media and cellphones that’s why but whatevs.

The point I’m trying to make is this: unplug and enjoy life once in a while.  I think sometimes we feel like “if there wasn’t a photo” or “if you didn’t snapchat it” that it didn’t happen.  Wrong.  IT DID HAPPEN.  And you have your memories to remember it.  Yes, photos and snapchats are great but what you’ll remember most about the experience are the things that took place off camera.  We bloggers get caught up in “doing things for the ‘gram” because we feel obligated to share more facets of our lives, especially now that we have Insta Stories.  I used to never take pictures of my food before I ate it or shoefies while I’m shopping but I do now.  And sometimes I feel ridiculous doing it but I still do it anyway.  And my family and BF know that I have CCB Diaries and are cool with making appearances every now and then.  But I have the blog, they don’t.  Nor did they sign up to be a part of it.  So, I made a personal choice to put my phone down when I’m with them for the most part.  My family (the BF included) is everything to me and my quality time with them is priceless.  I choose in-person conversations over Instagram comments every time.

But on the other hand, these tools make us feel like we’re really getting to know someone because they can share more of their daily lives.  At least it does for me anyways.  For example, one of my favorite bloggers is Something Navy.  Ever since she had her daughter, she snapchats more often so that she can capture her daughter’s milestones.  In the process of watching these snaps every day, I feel like I “know” her daughter and it makes Arielle seem more relatable.  Even though her Instagram feed is highly edited (but it is also fab so if you’re not following her you should), you see more of what she’s like as a wife and mother on Snapchat.

Also, some of my closest friends I’ve met on social media.  Tee, who is also a fab blogger that I think you should follow, gifted me this amazing choker a while back.  I absolutely love it.  I forgot how I found her Instagram and started following her last year (sorry boo) but we instantly clicked.  And although she lives in LA and I was in NYC at the time, we met up when she came to NYC on a work trip last summer and we’re extremely close.

So, I guess, social media isn’t all bad.  It’s about finding balance.  I think I found mine and I’m much happier because of it.  Constantly being on Instagram was making me loathe it and taking a one month hiatus and being completely unplugged last fall made me realize how much I missed it.  So now, I take breaks for my sanity on weekends.  And it feels great.  I feel like I can create content and post on Instagram because I want to, not because I have to.  And that, in turn, is better for everyone because you can continue to expect high quality content from me instead of word salad.  Mmmm BBQ chicken salad sounds really good right now.  I think I know what I’m having for lunch today now.

xoxo, CCB

Photography: Ben DeCastro

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