After a 6-week break from Facebook and Instagram during Lent, I was reluctant to return to social media on Easter Sunday morning.

Welcome to the 110^th edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a simple living challenge for the week. Along with my plan to use social media more intentionally, this week’s edition looks at the Arbor Day Foundation’s ambitious tree-planting goal, plans to fully power Vatican City with solar power, and more.

On my mind this week: A thoughtful return to social media

It was Easter Sunday morning. Lent was over. After a 6-week break from my personal social media, I could finally return to Facebook and Instagram to find out how my friends and family were doing.

In past years, when I’d given up treats like chocolate for Lent, I immediately dove in to the once-forbidden fruit on Easter Sunday morning.  

Yet, when I signed on to Facebook to share Sunday’s post on my blog page, I hesitated to jump right back into my personal feed.

Why?

Maybe it was because of all the turmoil in the world that I knew would pop up on my feed.

Or it could have been because Canada is in the middle of an election campaign and I didn’t want to get sucked into the political bickering.

Possibly, it was because time away made me realize what a time waster social media can be, and how it steals our focus from things that really matter.

Or perhaps I was just enjoying the peace and wasn’t quite ready to give it up.

Honestly, it’s a little bit of all of those things. But the last one really gets to the heart of the issue. Peace and social media feel like contradictory ideas.

Maintaining the peace

I do want to keep up with family and friends, especially those who live far away. But how do I return to social media in a way that lets me enjoy the good stuff while maintaining the peace and keeping my blood pressure under control?

After giving it some thought, here’s my plan.

• Sign on to Facebook no more than once or twice a day.
• Set a daily time limit. I’ll start with 15 minutes and see how it goes.
• Add people whose posts I want to see to my favourites.
• Use the snooze feature on people who persist at posting negative or toxic content.
• Get into the habit of hiding posts I don’t want to see. I don’t have much faith that the Meta algorithm will use that data to actually show me content I want to see, but it’s worth a try.
• Keep scrolling and avoid the drama. I’m counting on that daily time limit making me less likely to waste that precious time reading things that will just annoy me.

In the end, I decided to go back to Instagram but, other than a quick glance, not to return to Facebook right away. I will let the dust settle after tomorrow’s election and see how I feel.

Do you have any tricks to share on how to keep social media usage in check? Drop me a comment below and let me know.  

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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 some highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• It was strange not having either of our daughters home for Easter, but we enjoyed a lovely Easter dinner with my Mum and my sister.
• We arrived safely in Kelowna, B.C. on Wednesday. Spring has definitely sprung here! My conference presentation on Thursday went well.
• After a couple of days in Kelowna, we drove up to Kamloops to visit our daughter Laura. Along the way, we stopped at a beautiful spot named Margaret Falls in Herald Provincial Park. I definitely think B.C. is Canada’s most beautiful province in terms of natural scenery.

Things I learned this week

Life is all about learning. Here are three things I learned this week:

On the road to 500 million trees

Friday was Arbor Day in the United States—a day celebrating the importance of trees and planting them.

The Arbor Day Foundation’s nationwide community tree planting program has reached 95% of neighbourhoods in the United States in the past two years. The program has planted trees in over 76,000 neighbourhoods.

With an ambitious goal of planting 500 million trees across the USA by June of 2027, the Foundations programs include community planting events, tree nursery sales, and direct shipments to their million-plus members.

(Source: Happy Eco News)

Powering Vatican City on solar power

Following the death of Pope Francis on Monday, I learned of his project to power Vatican City on solar power. In a letter in June 2024, he announced plans to install solar panels on a Vatican-owned property outside Rome. Then in December, the Vatican unveiled a solar panel roof at the entrance to the Vatican Museum.

RIP Pope Francis. Like your namesake St. Francis, you were a true environmentalist and lover of God’s creation and all His peoples.

The spirit of Ogopogo

Other than stunning landscapes and terrific local wines, one of Kelowna’s claims to fame is Ogopogo—Canada’s answer to the Loch Ness Monster.

The legend of Ogopogo dates back thousands of years. In the language of the syilx/Okanagan people who inhabited this area long before European settlers arrived, nx̌aʔx̌ʔitkʷ means “Spirit of the Lake”. In Indigenous legend, this spirit takes on the form of a serpent, and serves as a reminder to take care of the water, the land, and the environment.

Whatever form Ogogpogo takes, it makes for some interesting stories.

(Source: Tourism Kelowna)

This week’s simple living challenge – Rent or borrow instead of buying

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.

In last week’s edition of The Sunday Spark, I shared a piece about a network of “libraries of things” in Wales that lets people rent everything from power tools to pasta makers. Fittingly, this week’s simple living challenge is to rent or borrow items instead of buying. There’s no better way to reduce clutter, save money, and live more sustainably!

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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.