Have you ever taken a social media break? Instead of chocolate, this year I’m giving up social media for Lent. I think it will be good for my mental health

Welcome to the 103^rd edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a simple living challenge for the week. In addition to giving up social media, read on to learn about National Optimism Month, how seaweed could save the planet, and simplifying life by going paperless.

On my mind this week: Giving up social media for Lent

Lent starts on Wednesday. As I pondered what to give up this year, I decided to do something different. Instead of giving up chocolate as I did for the last couple of years, or shopping when I did a Buy Nothing Challenge in 2021, this year I’m giving up social media. I’ll be signing out of all my personal social media accounts starting Wednesday and won’t return until Easter Sunday.

As I continue my focus on intentionality in 2025, I’m working hard to eliminate the distractions of technology. In February, I successfully kicked mindless online games to the curb. Now it’s time to tackle the biggest distraction of all—the platforms that are supposed to help us stay connected but seem to just divide us these days.

Following my recent social media audit, I deleted my X and Threads accounts. I kept Instagram and Facebook mainly because I love how they help me stay connected with faraway friends and family. Sadly, the discourse is becoming increasingly toxic and political and it’s starting to affect my mental health. I’ve toyed with the idea of taking a social media break for a while. Lent felt like a good time to do it.

I’ll continue to share my writing on my blog Facebook and Instagram pages. I’ll also stay active on LinkedIn because I use it for professional reasons, and it is the one platform that truly adds value—with no drama.

What will I do with the time I save? I’ll spend more time on prayer, meditation, writing and reading.

Who knows! Maybe giving up social media will be so freeing I’ll make it a permanent thing. Stay tuned!

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Three highlights of the week

It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• The weather warmed up a bit this week, so I was able to get outside for a walk every day. And the snowbanks in front of our house have shrunk by half. They’re only three feet high now.
• We bought a new umbrella for our deck. It was on sale at RONA for $100 off. Now we just need the rest of the snow to melt so we can use it.
• Our daughter Colleen arrived home safely from PEI on Friday night. It will be nice to have her home for a few days.  

Things I learned this week

I’m trying hard to shut out the noise and focus on the positive. Going forward, I plan to be mindful about post only good things I learn. Here we go…

Reducing emissions from flatulent cows

Cattle are the largest agricultural source of greenhouse gas emissions, but there’s some good news. Researchers have found that feeding dairy cows a small amount of a seaweed supplement can reduce their methane emissions by 80%. And adding seaweed pellets to beef cattle diets can reduce methane emissions by 40%.

(Source: Katharine Hayhoe’s Talking Climate newsletter on Substack)

Converting seaweed into renewable energy

Speaking of seaweed, a researcher at the University of the West Indies in Barbados has found an interesting use for the up to 800 dump-truckloads of smelly seaweed that wash up on Barbadian beaches every day. They’re creating renewable natural gas to fuel cars by combining the seaweed with wastewater from the island’s rum distillery (another environmental problem).

(Source: MIT Technology Review)

March is National Optimism Month

March is National Optimism Month in the United States. How’s that for timing? National Optimism Month started in March 2016 to promote the importance of positive thinking and help people develop an optimistic mindset.

The Action for Happiness site is an excellent resource to promote positive thinking and optimism.

Today, I’m feeling optimistic that the snow is melting and spring is on the way. Drop me a comment below to let me know what you feel optimistic about.  

(Source: daysoftheyear.com)

This week’s simple living challenge – Go paperless

Simplifying life is a big part of living more intentionally. With that in mind, I kicked off the year with 52 ways to simplify your life this year, including a downloadable checklist of weekly tasks.

This week’s challenge is to go paperless for your account statements and bills. Not only will you save paper, but you’ll still get your statements in the event of a postal disruption.

I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.