By SheelaR

As my exit from Facebook nears, I’m filled with a lot of sadness. It has been 7 of the happiest and saddest years of my life… Not necessarily because of Facebook, but because I’ve experienced many highs and lows in that time. Although, regrettably…facebook provided a few of those moments. But the time for me to move on has come.  I’m struggling with how to maintain my presence on Facebook with all that I’ve got planned for my future…and the struggle real. I can no longer reconcile the two. The need for a separation is stronger every day that I breath.

I keep trying to imagine what it’ll feel like… My first day, alone in my thoughts. An acute absence of the mindless distraction that is facebook. Who will I share my most random of thoughts with? When my day is quiet with nothing but the sound of my own heartbeat…with whom will I “LOL” with? This is where my family and friends come into play.  The next year of my life is for them as much as it for me. I’ve missed all of my twenties because I was ambitious. Had I not put a stop to it, my thirties would see the same fate. I need to take care of myself and the people that I love.

I’ve gotten to know and genuinely care about few of you. Nothing is more beautiful than a friendship that is free of bullsh*t and full of love and caring. I’m going to miss all the updates about your life. The photos that I generally don’t look at, but always commit to memory, because I have a photographic memory.  I’m going to miss my friends that provide me with low-key safe place to be me (you know who you are). I’m going to miss those of you who disappear and then reappear like a random dandelion in the springtime…never missing the opportunity to drop in and say hello. I live for those moments.

I’m going to miss being inspired by the sometimes contentious and rancorous debates that are inspired by our current social climate. Hot button issues debated feverishly by passionate intelligent and sometimes downright belligerent folks. I live for an intense exchange of ideas. No one outside of Facebook with fight will me, they’re afraid. It’s not my fault they don’t research the world endlessly; the one benefit of insomnia…

My dad tells me that I’m the smartest person he knows (he’s biased). He tells me that he’s never known of another person that is completely filled with the most random knowledge about everything. He said that he loves our long car rides, because he’s sometimes the unwilling benefactor of all the knowledge that Britanica has to offer. Now that I’m a woman, I can totally appreciate my mom’s “No television” rule when I was a child. It left me with nothing but books, music, and the world to learn from. I’m a sponge, I soak everything I see and hear. My mom is always putting my needs first, even when she should be taking care of herself. She’s the epitome of unselfishness. I want to take this time to spoil and love on her.