I got up at 5:15 this morning to begin my daily rituals. I make my coffee, let the old lady (dog) out to do her thing, pet my cat, rinse my face with cold water and sit on my sofa. I reckon with a few messages I may have received after 6 I rarely answer messages once I’m in family mode some work responses may mean I’m going back and forth all night so I wait until the morning to respond.

My responses are more calculated.

Email convos are handled post first cup of coffee

I open my medias and look at the notifications, messages or tags. If it’s a good week of sports I’ll open up ESPN for about 2 minutes and absorb all I need for sports for the day. I’ve released a lot of that lifestyle because of people act on social media. I used to be one of those people and still find myself engaging when I feel personally victimized.

9 times out of 10 I wake up in a positive mood. There will be some mornings when I have quite the load to deal with for work that might make me a little anxious but in the back of my mind I know I can handle it. It’s just messing with my routine. I’m making strides on that one currently.

I’m attached at the hip with some of my medias Facebook especially it’s paramount for my branding unfortunately and great advertisement for local businesses although my personal one sparks much more engagement online. I manifested this over the years. After Dive crashed and burned I felt the need to put myself out there publicly more to engage and get new faces into concept #3 -LTO.

I began to grow my media into a larger audience and created a “voice” online.

A somewhat engaging but volatile one. I am a very transparent person I speak my mind sometimes faster than my mind can keep up. It keeps my friend’s list high online but my real social life a tad smaller. I was much more of a fraught person when I was a drunk. I carried that over to my social media.

I am what I am but under a much more bloated megaphone online.

I’ve begun to dislike this person. Maybe dislike is the wrong word. I no longer find this persona necessary for me. When I was trying to take over the hospitality world it seemed fitting. I only wanted to be in your face to remind you my restaurants needed support. Sometimes I went over the top. I have that tendency when I get carried away

I have a tendency of getting carried away quite a bit. It makes for a nice carousel.

I used to enjoy it. All the buzzing of the bees online. I’d wake up to over 100 notifications sometimes from running my mouth online. I engaged in all the engagements it used to get my old partners upset. All I was trying to do was make our company relevent. Or maybe just me..

My old partner and I used to have arguments over it. It created a fence between us at times. For some reason while I was out and about Monday I had the vibe to look at some of our last texts together before he passed. All are at least 4 years old. The last of our text although a little strained there was no malice he was only trying to help. That’s all he was trying to do the whole time.

“Stop focusing on all the people.” “Hope you’re enjoying the beautiful mountains in Colorado.”

I haven’t read these texts in over 4 years. I’m sitting in a parking lot on woodruff next to REI with them open on my phone. I thought to myself “why did you just do this?” Maybe because I drove past his old office and Habitap on my way.

Trail markers

I got up this morning and after about 3 minutes on Facebook my brain did that little highlighter I’ve trained it to do and I opened his texts again.

“Stop focusing on all the people”

I was in a good mood this morning until about 30 seconds into scrolling on FB.

I’m not going to write about what I saw it’s unnecessary and redundant. I’m seeing the same thing we are all seeing. Unless you’re blind or your IQ doesn’t quite reach the spectrum to operate heavy machinery. I got immediately tense, defensive and angry.

This is not how I used to enjoy my coffee. It’s ironic because I was introduced to Facebook when I opened my coffee shop back in 2008. Life sure seemed a lot happier worldwide back then. If it wasn’t I was blissfully ignorant. At that time it was a tool for socializing and networking.

Now it’s a tool for negativity and gloom. Filled with political psychosis, one sided agendas and thousands of pages specifically created to feed the horrid hoopla. You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to recognize it. It’s in your face. Over the years I’ve been an advocate for it without even realizing it. A literal tool.

I get on here and start fires, stir the pot and insult people that I perceive as idiots. In my eyes I’m rarely wrong about things on here. I speak for about 150,000,000 others when I say that too.

We are 8 plus billion bees in one hive. Social media is a big stick poking us. It incites us into an angry buzz. We can’t fight the stick so we take it out on each other. We used to share posts with lost cats and dogs to get some harmonic energy as a community to find them. Now we post outrage from places we’ve never been about people we’ve never met. The only thing we know about them is what we’ve been told and shown by 5 different entities that all have their own biases and beliefs. Some of you have family in these areas. I absolutely feel for you.

We no longer have natural anything. If a fire starts it’s an attack, hurricanes are steered and earthquakes are caused by energy machines. Planes are being attacked by ufos under the sea.

20 years ago these things happened we cleaned up and went about our life because it’s always been a part of our lives.

Personally I don’t think we are meant to absorb things globally. We were sectored out for a reason. Small communities build firm relationships. I’m “friends” with people I’ve never met hundreds and thousands of miles away. Some I’d love to meet in person others I’m good with you staying way over there. Without social media neither one of you would ever cease to exist in my mind and I’d still be Chad. Now I have to contend with saying something you might find offensive or doesn’t sit right with your perspective. I’m getting energy from people I don’t know, I’m engaging with a complete stranger who’s going to “kick my ass” for making an off handed comment over a sports article. 20 years ago this conversation would’ve never happened. Maybe at a bar somewhere but at least it would’ve been resolved immediately.

I lost myself on this app. These apps. A lot of us have. I can’t speak for you but if I was representing you as a lawyer I’ve got some good evidence to support it.

I always see references about how things have gravitated to junk the last four or five years but I think it’s just further down the road. We used to get the news once in the AM and then one more time in the PM when we got off work. If a big thing happened our stories got put on hold while the news man popped up on tv with big news. It seemed to only happen about four times a year. Now it’s daily.

Bad shit has always happened around us. It just reaches us faster now. I used to read it in USA Today. I had time to prepare myself.

I have some friends online literally losing their minds over agendas they can’t control, news they can’t change. I’m currently watching a divorce in the making over politics and people are engaging and laughing.

Perspectives are punched online, opinions are mocked. It really bothers me when I see real friends that I care about shifting into another persona because this great app of negativity has finally sunk its claws into them. Not just them, me, you, us.

Everyday I ask myself can my company survive without it? Because I’m about to jump off of it. It’s not social it’s a giant restroom stall covered in sharpie insults.

Also stop with the “you don’t have to announce when you’re getting on the plane”. It’s so much fun when we take a viral negative statement and reuse it to mock each other. I’m no better than anyone else with this. I get it. But I’m trying to fix that for myself.

This bee hive is about to explode. I’m choosing a much, much smaller one. At least that’s my good intentions. I’ve tried before. Alcohol was easier to quit.

I can’t tell you the last time I got on Facebook and enjoyed myself. On occasion I see a friend’s post that makes me smile. Some of you are the subject of absolute positivity. I enjoy you. Others have gotten caught up fighting the stick that stokes the hive. I’ve let a few of you go.

My opinion no longer needs to be shared constantly. Yes I see the irony in this post before you even say it. I’m trying to maintain neutrality. My outrage doesn’t always have to be seen in the great big media marquee. These are things I’m currently telling myself as I slowly strangle ego into non existence.

Do I want to be blissfully unaware or blissfully ignorant would be the social media argument.

I just want bliss. I don’t need a hundred opinions or arguments about it. 90% of you have no idea what I’m like in person but have no qualms in letting me know how I should live my life. I’m the same way towards you. I do not absolve myself from this behavior I’m on of the worst on here. I’m quite the example.

I wish I never were.

I’m jealous of those of you who pop on here annually to thank people for the birthday wishes. You’ve figured it out.

I’m getting on that boat. Alcohol took me sometime to manifest but it did. It taught me how to manifest. This is my next reckoning.

“I’m getting on the plane” yall. One step at a time.

It’s the reason I run away to the mountains. The only net I have is the WiFi in my truck and it has to be running to work. I check in with my fam and check out. Waking up to a sunrise and coffee makes me smile much more than waking up to someone unfriending another over an egg.

Unfriending wasn’t even a word not so long ago.

I’m not writing this to exclaim I’m more awake than you. I’m pursuing what makes me and mine happy and at ease. I can’t speak for anyone else. I assisted with creating this monstrosity and I don’t like it.

I used to.

My daughter has it and she’s not fond of it and that gives me a little hope.

If you really want to black out something that would really shake the world up this would be it. You’re taking the stick away from them.

I’m not getting on that plane yet but I’ve bought my tickets. Work will still have to go online and I like posting these for the 6 people that read them. I enjoy the feedback it keeps me going. Social media still has some positives At least.

Cheers.