I am not an early adopter on most anything technological. But I was for Facebook. I joined almost ten years ago – which was just three years after the social media platform began. It appealed to me in a way that other things up to that time had not, like Linked In (which I use but not in the same way) or other failed platforms. It was easy for me to use and fun.

As I traveled the world for work and more and more friends were added, I became amazed at just how connected and interwoven my world – and the world – is. I have Facebook friends all over the world, some I have met in person, some I grew up with, some I have never met and likely won’t and friends I have now met in person because of Facebook. It keeps me in touch with people I would long ago have fallen out of touch with if I didn’t see them on my newsfeed. It puts me in touch with people I never expected to meet.

I bump into people all the time who comment on how much I post (a bit embarrassing) and how inspiring my posts are (very rewarding). I do post a lot. I try to keep it positive. However, I’ve become caught up in watching politics, which may or may not have happened anyway. So not all my posts have been as positive lately as I struggle with my own internal dynamic tension of how much do I want or need to take in and put out there and how much do I need or want to ignore the plethora of stories streaming into my awareness that are depressing, disturbing and anxiety inducing.

I am now seeking the balance between being informed and aware and protecting my own state of well being. I’m not leaving Facebook as people dramatically announce from time to time. But I am practicing turning it off instead of leaving it open all the time and having it as a go to response in the middle of writing or as a distraction from something else. I am monitoring how much I post and trying to monitor how much I read. In this post over at Worldview Intelligence, I talked about when I stopped reading the paper and watching the news. These were easier to stop because they didn’t also contain a social network that still feels important to me.

Noticing my moods and my reactions. Paying attention to what makes me feel anxious and what makes me feel good. Becoming more present. Holding my loved ones close.

What are you doing to maintain your own well being in these turbulent times?