I unsubscribed to over 50 email lists recently and it was glorious.

We are programmed to believe that we have to tune into everything all the time or we will miss out on something huge. It's the power of marketing and fomo.

But what I don't think a lot of us realize is that we have to protect our energy at all costs. We become what we consume- what we subscribe to.

I'm talking about email lists, social media accounts, the people we spend time with, the places we go, the music we listen to, the shows we watch and even the foods we eat. Everything that we consume either adds to or takes away from our life and it shapes us into who we are.

As I was deleting emails in my inbox it hit me that I was allowing way too many people into my head that didn't need to be there. It's hard for me to admit that and to actually hit the “unsubscribe” button because I am a huge cheerleader for other people and I love to support them and email lists are a great way of doing that. But every time I was approaching my inbox I wasn't actually taking any of that content in, I was simply getting overwhelmed and clicking “select all” followed by a quick “delete”. How is that helping me or the person whose email list I was subscribed to? It wasn't.

That led me to thinking about who I'm following on social media and who I'm allowing to occupy my time and take my precious energy and attention. I didn't like what I was finding and I realized that I am probably feeling really burnt out in a lot of areas of my life because I'm sub-consciously spending a lot of time and giving a lot of my energy to those who I follow and subscribe to. Not only that, but their messages aren't always uplifting and a lot of the content I'm consuming isn't truly bettering my life, in fact it's making it worse.

I find myself stressed out.

Addicted to scrolling and getting through all of the content.

I find myself feeling guilty for not supporting everyone I can.

I find myself comparing to others because of how they're portraying their lives and it's just really toxic.

So today I'm doing something that's really hard for me to do.

I'm clicking unsubscribe.

I'm clicking unfollow.

I'm deleting the apps that I really don't need.

I'm decluttering.

This is a good thing and I know that, but I feel bad for “taking support away” from those who probably deserve it. But just because they deserve it doesn't mean it HAS to come from me. I can't be everything for everyone and if I need to make space to better my mental health, I have to do that.

I encourage you to do the same. We need to value our time, our space and our energy. We only have so much to give.

How am I deciding who to unfollow?

Your subscriber content begins here.

In order to make the tough choices I'm asking myself a series of questions...

1. Do they bring me joy?

2. Are they giving me more energy than they're taking?

3. Are they naturally causing bad habits? (i.e., am I comparing myself a lot after consuming their content or am I tempted to shop when I don't have the money.)

4. Does their content even apply to me any more?

5. Do I support them morally? (i.e., policies, business practices, sustainability measures, human rights practices.)

If I can answer “yes” to all of those questions except for number three, they stay. If I answer any of the other questions with a “no” or number three with a “yes”, they're gone. I need the messages that I allow into my life right now to be aligned with my needs and if they're not, I'm ultimately just harming myself. That's not fair to me and I need to value myself more.

I am more than a consumer, I am a person.

You are too.

xoxo – Ry