Why I Got Off Social Media

We all have that one struggle in our lives that no matter what we do, it just won’t go away. For me, it’s always been the lie that I’m not good enough. I’d see other’s accomplishments and think, “I’m not doing enough.” I’d look at my dreams, and rather than work on them, I’d bury them because I didn’t want to look like a fool. I didn’t like taking chances that would make me look like a failure. And no matter how much I prayed and read scripture, it wasn’t going away. Sure, I made improvements but the improvements did not outweigh the struggle.

Eventually, the key to killing the lie got through to me, even after YEARS of hearing it in worship service, from my parents and in the bible itself (isn’t it funny how so many times, the answer we’re looking for has been sitting right in front of us?) :

I needed to make a 180.

That simple. And that complicated. What I needed to do was not pray for an extra 10 minutes or read more chapters. The answer was intentional living. Like a recovering alcoholic who turns down going to a party where he knows there’s going to be alcohol, I needed to take extreme steps to stay a mile away from the lie. I couldn’t just limit my hours or fast a day a week. No. I learned that you can’t expect yourself to beat anything you aren’t deliberately fighting.

So, I got off social media. Why? Because social media was the biggest contributor in my life to the lie that I wasn’t good enough. Through it, I would compare myself to others, try to make it “look” like I was good enough and envy.

However, despite the evidence, I struggled. I had a lot of “what ifs” and “what abouts.”

What about those people I impact through social media?

What if someone needs to contact me about something important?

What about all the people I could pray for by knowing what’s going on in their lives?

What if I need to promote good, godly things?

And you know what He said?

I’m God, you’re not. I’m in control. I don’t need you but I choose you, and right now, you need to take care of yourself and get healthy. Because at the end of the day, you can’t give what you don’t have.

180s are hard to do and hard to stay with. I’m not gonna deny there have been a couple of times where I’ve almost turned my social media back on. But you know what’s happened since I made the u-turn a month ago? I’ve found and believed the truth: Jesus makes me good enough. All my worries about getting off of social media? Not one of them have had any basis. Best of all, I’ve realized that the very thing I kept avoiding letting go of was actually the very thing that was keeping me from walking into the truth.

180s. They’re radical. They rock the boat. They are what Jesus calls us to do.