On Taking a Social Media Sabbatical + My Plans for the Future

I've known for a while that I wanted to take a conscious step back from social media.

More and more I question whether it's worth mitigating all the harm of these apps in order to access the good. Whether the community and connection with each other we crave is perhaps better built in other spaces. Whether my participation in an app designed to harm our focus and self-worth is a form of complicity. Whether it's possible to do the deep work I crave while constantly feeding the hungry mouth of the algorithm.

I haven't been present on Instagram over the past month due to a combination of illness, low energy levels, and a desire to be present with my family over Christmas. And I've decided to extend my time away for at least another month.

During this dark season of the year, this slow returning of the light, I want to focus on gestating the many creative projects that are brewing within me right now while nurturing myself and my family in all the ways we need in this season.

For years, I’ve planned and created my content in alignment with my menstrual cycle to make the work load feel sustainable. Yet, social media has a way of being ever present in the back of my mind. My brain looks for ways to shape life experiences into posts. I see moments through the lens of Instagram Stories. I wonder whether I should hop on and record the thoughts that are passing through my mind. Even with a cyclic approach, I find social media exhausting and resent its intrusion into areas of my life where it doesn’t belong. And it feels like pushing a rock uphill trying to maintain a healthy, aligned social media presence while fighting an algorithm designed to keep us consuming and addicted.

Stepping back from social media feels like the way to reclaim the energy I need to do these things. But doing so while growing my business also feels truly scary and unknown. So does losing the inspiration and connection that I find in these squares.

But I can't ignore the niggling feeling that there's another way. Hopefully, a better, more spacious, creative way.

For now, I’m focusing on my weekly emails, blog posts, and a new podcast project that will be launching soon. as a way to connect and promote my business.

Yes, it feels scary. Yes, I worry that I’ll never make another sale or find another client again. But it feels like a worthy to see what’s possible by daring to dream of a social media free life.

My plan is to circle back to this app around Imbolc, in early February. To see how I'm feeling about it then. Whether it makes sense to reintegrate social media into my life in some way or if I want to make my time away more permanent.

What has been wonderful has been hearing from so many of you who are feeling the same way. I still want to feel inspired and connected in my online life but Instagram less and less like a source of those feelings. So it gives me hope that together we can forge different ways of connecting and inspiring one another without all the downsides of today’s social media.

I’m drawing a lot of inspiration from Leonie Dawson and Alexandra Franzen who both have free and paid resources on marketing without social media. Here are a few you might find. helpful:

20 ways to find clients and customers without using social media.

Leonie Dawson's Brilliant Biz and Life Academy (you get access to almost all of her digital products for $99, including a great sales course and a course specifically about marketing without social media)

Marketing Without Social Media podcast

Why Me and My Business No Longer Use Social Media

Challenge Log: 21 Days Without Social Media

If you’re also feeling icky about social media, I’d love to chat. Perhaps. you’ll even want to join me in this 30-day experiment. Please feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail. It would be wonderful to know your thoughts and I’m really happy to answer any questions you have.