Fasting in Life

About a month ago, I picked up the Allure magazine with my goooorl, Lauren Conrad on the front page (remember me boasting about it here?!). Of course when I purchased the magazine, I was supporting my bestie.. but then I got to reading the content, and it turned out being a superb issue!

I read an article in there that totally lit up a light bulb in my lil' head... all about FASTING!

Have you ever fasted?... Fast from food? Fast from swearing? Juice fasting? Mirror fasting? Makeup fasting?

The article was actually about mirror fasting... avoiding the mirror completely. Putting on makeup with simply a touch... trusting that the outfit looks good... and then staying away from reflective surfaces to avoid checking themselves out. Mirror fasting is intended to boost self-esteem... avoiding mirrors prevents women to focus on their flaws.

I thought about this a lot... not just mirror fasting, but fasting in general... and how it impacts my own life. What consumed a lot of my time that I can definitely do without... or at least with less of? What can I fast from that would yield more time on my side?

I know that I spend a substantial amount of time on my social networking sites... Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The fact that I have easy access to all of those sites on my iPhone doesn't help my obsession either. And how many of you pick up your phone during commercials while you're watching TV (or is it just me...)?

BUTTTTT....there are some great advantages to social networking...

• It's helped me keep in touch with family and friends who I don't see or talk to all the time
• It's helped me network with my colleagues from school even after I graduated
• It's helped me share some fun times in my life with you all
• It's even helped me out during my dissertation and now in a professional aspect
• It's helped me promote my blog!!!

Still... I know that my time checking statuses, messages, and uploading photos can be lowered substantially. And that's just what I've been focusing on lately! For the past few weeks, I've spent less time on checking these sites as frequently as I was. In fact, being on the social networking sites less made reading much more pleasurable! I wasn't reading the same tweet in different words... I wasn't getting annoyed with all the game requests on Facebook... I've been going on these sites a few times a day, and having a great time catching up with America reading things for the FIRST time!

With this said... I urge you all to reflect after a typical day in your vida loca, and think about what you can do without... or less of... think about how that extra time and energy can be focused on something far more productive (like DIY's or reading a book or a magazine or studying!). Whaddya' say??? You want time on your side?

Source: leelloor.deviantart.com via Nicolas Raymond on Pinterest