I don't want to be a surfer

I don't want to be a surfer. Not a surfer in the traditional sense, as in one who wears a swim suit, catches gnarly waves and has as awesome tan. No, I'm talking about "surfer" in the sense of one who surfs technology: FB, Instagram, Hulu, Netfllix, news sites, pinterest. You name it, this kind of surfer surfs it. I don't want to be that kind of surfer. Well, let's say I don't want to be that kind of surfer anymore, because confession--I've been one. But, I've discovered that there is a deep level of passivity that accompanies this type of surfing, as well as a general lack of intentionality. One who surfs in this way doesn't truly have a destination, but rather floats along the endless waves of social media feeds not ever being carried anywhere, but more and more nowhere. In doing this one loses minutes, hours and eventually precious days of ones life. Truly tragic when you think about it. Yet, how many of us have done it (do it...)?

I think it begs the quesiton, where are we going? Intentionality. Who are we and what are we about? Are we going to be passive people who have no destination in life and are simply content to allow the waves of social media, movies, and news to rule our lives and become our norm, or are we going to wake up out of our stupor, stop surfing, and start truly living. This might mean striving to use our former "surfing" platforms more intentionally, like getting on pinterest only when you have a specific project or recipe you need to retrive, or getting on FB to send a specific person a message and then getting off, or reading the news for certain information about an event and stopping when you're finished, and possibly only getting on Hulu if you know exactly what you want to watch. It also might mean abandoning these social media outlets altogether *gasp*. Maybe you need to get off FB or Instagram and cancel Hulu or Netflix for the month. STOP SURFING.

All of these things are ultimately a distraction from real life, in my opinion, and surfing just happens to be the worst systemic reality of this truth. We're all miserably distracted and continue to seek more and more ways to fracture our attention into a million little news feed waves and surf our days away. But, I'm tired of it; I'm tired of surfing. I don't want to be distracted anymore. I'm tired of living in stupor of what's happening in everyone eles's life and world, but not fully being grateful for paying attention to what's in mine. I want to live my life. And I want to live it intentionally, every moment. I want to go after life with such a vigor that I have no regrets. I don't want to be a surfer.