A Curated 2018
curate [verb: kyoo-reyt] verb (used with object), curated, curating.
1. to take charge of (a museum) or organize (an art exhibit): to curate a photography show.
2. to pull together, sift through, and select for presentation, as music or website content.
2017 was all about the "cozy" for me, which couldn't have been any more perfect. We bought a house and I spent most of the year making it a cozy home for us. It's still a work in progress, but definitely the perfect word to mark that time in our lives.
Now, I'm ready for this year to be something a little bit more important: Curation.
Curating what, you ask. Why not absolutely everything?
I just want all the things I read, focus on, buy, see, spend time on, wear and deal with on a daily basis to truly add some value to my life and not feel so wasteful or overwhelming.
Not that having an inspiring word-of-the-year can ever get rid of "the bad stuff" that life can throw at us sometimes...But, I think by continually focusing on curating what's important in my life, I can manage the everyday chaos a little bit better.
SOCIAL MEDIA
It is absolutely TEW MUCH y'all. I've overwhelmed by rants. I'm overwhelmed by "funny" videos. I'm overwhelmed by recipes I will never attempt. I'm overwhelmed by beautiful photographs. I'm overwhelmed by seemingly positive things. That sounds silly and futile, but I'm realizing it's too true.
Logging into my social media profiles and feel like I'm drowning is awful and I don't want it to be like that anymore. I have a few ways that I'm going to be controlling social media for myself.
HIDE + MUTE
I'm no longer going to feel bad about "Hiding All" posts or "Muting Story" from someone on any social media. I truly, truly felt bad about doing this before. e.g.: I'm the kind of person that hits my shin on a chair and apologizes to the chair. However, if the profile isn't adding some productivity or inspiration to my life, I just can't anymore.
LISTS
For Facebook, I have created a few lists of people that get to see certain things on my timeline. Due to algorithm changes and the influx of videos, no one in my family was really seeing anything I posted about my life. To mend that a bit, I've created lists of family/friends who get permission to see my posts. Acquaintances from ten years ago don't always get to see photos of our day-to-day life, and that's okay. It's not like they want to anyway!
On Twitter, I create private lists for myself, instead of scrolling through the endless general feed. Sometimes that area is a little heavy (to say the least), with all the news outlets I follow. My lists are things like - favorite celebrities, most-loved bloggers, brands I believe in, etc. Scrolling through those feeds daily is much more positive, uplifting and inspiring.
UNFOLLOW
Again, I don't like to use this button for fear it would hurt any feelings, but I'm getting better at it. I've unfollowed about a hundred "likes" on Facebook. Most of the pages were really old things that my college self may have liked, but didn't grow along with me.
On Instagram, I'm purging all the unnecessary accounts I've liked in the past (probably to win a giveaway) by using an app called "Cleaner for IG." It's free for the first 50 actions, but I paid the few extra bucks to get the unlimited version. You can see all the accounts that don't follow you back and mass unfollow any that you no longer want in your feed.
BLOGGING
For so much of this year, I've wanted to be consistent on this online space, but it just hasn't happened you guys. If I was, I was just throwing up whatever seemed a little relevant at the moment. I wasn't thinking about planning or true consistency. It was mainly just "Oh man, I haven't blogged in a while, I'll put together a list of things others can buy." That's not who I want to be and that's not what I want this place to be.
I want this space to truly reflect me and I'll figure out the consistency somewhere along the way this year.
SHOPPING
Not going to lie, I LOVE me some things. I love the way it feels to hunt for a great deal (HELLO clearance aisle), slide in that chip card and come home with new items. This could be for my house, my closet, my craft room, etc.
However, what usually happens like clockwork: At the end of every month, I'm wondering where my entire paycheck went. *shoulder shrugs* Then, my sister and I have a huge garage sale every summer and swear we'll never buy a bunch of junk again.
I don't want to have the junk for a garage sale anymore!
I'm truly such a sucker for a good deal. I'll buy two of something I didn't really want as opposed to saving up for the one thing I did want! It's so backwards...even for a girl who studied marketing and knows better, I still flock to a clearance sticker.
Of course, there will be things here and there that I buy and won't need after a while, but the magnitude of these purchases has really just been out of control as of late. My shopping trips will now consist of me getting what I want/need, then go to a corner of the store by myself and re-analyze the items. "DO YOU REALLY NEED THESE, SAVANNAH? Or, will you just be selling it in two months on Facebook?"
The hard-hitting questions, y'all. I didn't go to journalism school for nothing!
So, have I turned into a crazy reclusive minimalist? No. (But, while we're thinking about it, I sure do love listening to The Minimalists podcast on my commute to work). Anyway, I'm just someone trying to cut out some of the daily clutter so I can enjoy what's most important each and every day. Join me!
