Synthesis Sunday: My Social Media Consumption

Today, I am thinking about making some comments on the social media that I consume - not what I create. A couple of years ago, I realized that my social media picture was consumed by music therapy and only music therapy. All of my Facebook groups were music therapy groups. All of my Instagram follows were music therapy accounts. Music therapy was the only thing that was represented in my social media accounts, and I remembered that I was more than just a music therapist. So, I made a concerted effort to enrich what I was consuming via different and various platforms.

I started with some paper groups. I made a separate Instagram account - one for music therapy and one just about me. I changed who I followed on my personal Instagram account. I still follow and am part of lots of music therapy groups and accounts, but I branch out into things that just plain old interest me.

I try to be aware of how much time I spend in mindless social media use. TikTok is the worst for wasting time. It is all too easy to waste hours watching these little bits of social media fluff. I have an account, but I do not post things there. I just waste time.

I am told that social media is essential for music therapy small businesses, especially my type - I do things for music therapists and have to go where the music therapists are - on social media. I just don't want to spend all my time on social media on the off-chance that someone somewhere might be able to wade through all of the other things clamoring for attention and spend a bit of time on my website. It is not how I want to spend my time. So, I don't.

That's why my "business" is not a business. It's an expensive hobby.

Back to the topic at hand, though. I find that papercrafting sites and groups give me glimpses into the creative process of other people. Most of the groups that I am part of do not do the same sort of papercraft that I do, but I get intrigued when I see things together in ways that I do not ever think of or create.

I enjoy sites from the National Parks, places that I have been to and places that I have never traveled to or experienced. I follow several comic designers, bloggers, bullet journal designers, authors, and papercrafters. I have friends and family on my personal accounts that I do not follow on my music therapy accounts. I try to remember that there is much more to who I am than just being a music therapist. That is difficult at times because I do not do much more than be a music therapist.

I know, though, that I am more than a music therapist. I am a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a friend, a papercrafter, a bullet journaler, an author, a composer, a performer, a woman, a mentor, a teacher and so much more than just what I do. 

In addition to what I already am and do, there is so much more that I want for myself. This month is my birthday month, so I will be spending the time that I usually spend trying really hard to figure out what I want in my life. The first thing I want is an easy thing to identify - I want a house that has less boxes and more places to put things. To get to that point, I have to either work through my current pain, get the pain fixed, or get someone to help me with the task. So, that's the first thing that I want!

Thanks for reading...