By: Stevie Vance, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach – BalancewithVie.com – IG: @balancewithvie
As a blogger and aspiring influencer on Instagram, I am constantly on my phone using social media for posting, marketing, connecting and partnering with brands. When I first started this journey to blogging and using social media as a prime source for my income, I easily and quickly fell into the trap of comparing my work, my life, and my goals to other people’s because I saw so much of what others were doing. It was like all of my interests were being brought to my eyes, though only by people who ‘seemed’ to be doing it all better than me!
Have you ever noticed that when you search a topic in your browser, your Instagram or Facebook pops up an advertisement related to that exact search? If this has happened to you from time to time, don’t feel bad, social media has itself evolved to read your cookies and link to your recent messages or voice conversations to pull up what it believes you are interested in. Social media, is learning all about you from the posts you like and the people or hashtags you follow. It sounds creepy but have no fear. Reclaiming a healthy relationship with social media is possible, especially if you know how to use social media tracking tools to your advantage. I have created a list of five ways that you can reshape your current relationship with social media and regain the enjoyment you once felt when you started using it in the beginning!
- Define how important social media is to you and what you want to gain from it! This sounds a little like a task your teacher would have given you in grade school, but I assure you it works and helps. Being honest with yourself and creating a list of the good, bad, and the ugly in regard to how you feel with social media will help you determine what you want to use social media for and how to begin reshaping your relationship with it into a healthy one.
- Limit your exposure. Take the power back into your own hands by intentionally limiting your exposure. If you have an iPhone there is a feature called screen time which will give you a weekly total of how much time you spend looking at your phone and what proportion of that time was spent on social media. Set a weekly quota for yourself and do your very best to stick to it. If you have an Android or Google phone there are similar free apps in the app store that allow you to track your screen time as well.
- Be intentional about who and what you are following. As an example, if you are looking for fitness motivation make sure you only like or follow the accounts that truly make you feel good and motivated. If you are looking at a post and saying, “I wish…” but still hitting ‘LIKE’ you could find yourself quickly falling into a comparison trap. Hitting like is telling the social media algorithm to flood your feed with more posts or videos like that, more posts that make you say “I wish…”. It is important to find what makes you feel good and attract more of that into your social media feeds.
- Post content that makes you feel good and that is authentic to who you are, your life and your goals. Social media has made our world much smaller, allowing for people from all over to connect. Whether you are a blogger, influencer, or simply using social media as a personal outlet to connect and stay up to date with those around you, make sure you are always posting what is authentically you. This ensures that you are attracting and connecting with people who truly do have the same interests. This method will undoubtedly leave you with a higher gratification of social media and those who use it.
- Sometimes we just need a complete break from social media! I participate in a weekly detox of social media, yes, I am serious. If that sounds like too much for you, consider doing once a month! When we aren’t focused on what is going on in the world of social media, we are able to fully enjoy and engage in our tangible world. Consider using this day of detox as a personal day or a family day, truly putting 100% of your focus into whatever you choose as long as it doesn’t involve social media. If detox seems like too harsh of a word, consider it a Social Media Free Day, or a Social Media Vacation Day!
With busy lives and even busier social media accounts, we sometimes need to take a moment for ourselves and get our brain into relaxation mode. Food can help us enter this feeling of winding down. For me the mix of salty and sweet seems to snap my senses out of the hustle and bustle and into a calmer state. I have the perfect recipe to get this balance going, and it might even help you use up some of your left-over holiday sides! This recipe calls for cranberry sauce. If you don’t have any left over from the holidays, that’s okay. I’m including my personal favorite recipe below. It is refined sugar free, as well as preservative free! Not a fan of cranberry sauce or have zero interest in adding it to this treat, no problem. You can substitute the cranberry sauce with your favorite nut or seed butter!
Chocolate Covered Pretzel Bites, stuffed with Cranberry Sauce or Favorite Nut/Seed Butter
Cranberry Sauce
INGREDIENTS
1, 12 ounce bag cranberries
1/2 cup water
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup coconut sugar
3/8 cup maple syrup (can increase to total of ½ cup if desired)
1 orange, 1/2 squeezed, 1/2 peeled & diced
INSTRUCTIONS
In a medium sauce pan bring 1 bag of rinsed cranberries, water and cinnamon to a boil. Once cranberries begin to split/pop turn heat down to a simmer, stir occasionally for ~ 15 minutes. Once all water has been absorbed and cranberries have turned into a sauce like texture turn heat off.
Squeeze the juice from 1/2 orange into the cranberry sauce, add coconut sugar and maple syrup. Stir all ingredients together.
When ready to serve, mix in diced pieces of 1/2 an orange. This is optional, but it gives a nice sweetness and added texture to the sauce.
Chocolate Covered Pretzel Bites – This recipe makes 10 individual bites.
INGREDIENTS
5 whole dates, pitted & torn into halves
10 small pretzel sticks, broken into halves
Almond butter or leftover cranberry sauce (or whatever nut butter you like)
INSTRUCTIONS
Pit the dates, then tear or cut into halves.
Fill center of date with two pieces of pretzel, cover the pretzel center with nut butter of preference or cranberry sauce.
Place into fridge.
Chocolate Sauce
INGREDIENTS
2Tbs Cacao butter, I use Nutiva brand
3Tbs Cacao Powder, any brand is fine though I use Nutiva here as well
1 1/2 Tbs maple syrup
INSTRUCTIONS
Melt the cacao butter in a pan on very low heat, once melted mix in the cacao powder.
Once cacao butter and powder are evenly mixed, add the maple syrup, again evenly mixing.
Remove the filled dates from the fridge and cover with chocolate sauce. Place back into fridge on non-bleached parchment paper for 15 minutes or until chocolate is hardened.
About Stevie Vance, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach
I am a Certified Holistic Health Coach. I help people build balanced lives and form sustainable habits. We all know that we need to eat healthy, clean foods, maintain an active lifestyle and somehow have a life in between; that is where I come in. I enjoy working with people who need help navigating the ever-changing field of health. I am an advocate for functional weight training, clean beauty products, clean living, and using a holistic approach to both supporting and maintaining health and wellness. Though I cannot heal you, I can help you navigate your life as whole and find what works for you!
If you are looking to discover what a balanced life can do for you and change your own personal story with health and wellness, please contact me.