Leaving Mastodon and all social media for good

Howdy y’all. I thought about sharing this on just my Mastodon account, but I realized I need more space for more words.

Those that have followed me for some time know I haven’t been doing well mentally. Things aren’t changing, so I’m trying to make some big changes to my life. First up is simplifying things and getting back to basics. On Friday I’m going to be turning off my GoToSocial instance and leaving Fedi for good. I’ve met some wonderful people there, a few I call good personal friends. But, I need to make big changes to my life. So, I’m starting over and getting rid of as much noise as I can.

My goal is to get as close as I can to zero and then build back up. No more sunk costs. I want a clean slate and then only be in places and do things that can make me happy. I haven’t been happy for a long, long time. I need to do some drastic changes or I’m going to do something drastic I can’t take back.

I orginally started using social media before Facebook. About 2008 I realized I could leverage social media to promote myself and get into a new career path. It worked. When I got there, I hated it with every fiber of my being. I changed my career path again about 5 years ago to start my landscape contracting business. I am fortunate that I don’t have to play the social media game any longer. I focus on doing great work and treating my customers right. Doing so gets me more work through word of mouth. Honestly, more work than our little business can handle. I don’t need to pontificate on a social network to get noticed. I don’t need to compete for attention to create a brand for myself. Nothing against folk who need to do that, I get it. Finding ways to to grow your career in office work, particularly in tech, requires having a public persona. I’m lucky I was able to transition to a career path that doesn’t need it. The fact is I never found social media fun. It is/was a necessary evil.

Long story short, since I escaped personal branding social media I tried to use it for fun. Its not working. I need to hit a hard reset on everything I do and I’ve been thinking deeply about everywhere I spend my time. Getting off of social media is one step of many I will take in the next few months and years. Hopefully this will help me get back into blogging, which I do enjoy.

I just want to be happy.

- - - - -

Did you like this post? Give it an upvote by clicking on the arrows below! Sending me an upvote is like you and I giving each other a high five.

🙏 😎

If you enjoy the random stuff I write here, post to Mastodon, or watch on YouTube, and are feeling generous, I am open to tips of Ko-fi.