Hey everyone!!
Laura here. You have not received an email from plantbasedjunkies.com (aka moi) for a long minute, however I felt compelled to pop in and let you all know I am still alive and doing well. I have been thinking of you all, and just wanted to stop by and briefly catch up.
I have been doing great, and have been busy:
- Working around the house (will sell and move SOUTH, hopefully next year)
- Spending quality time together (hiking, hiking, and more hiking)
- Loving on our doggies (Nala, Bosley, and Henry)
- Working (aka paying the bills)
- Still eating plant-based
- Frank is still enjoying playing his guitars
- Spending TOO MUCH TIME ON FACEBOOK
I have been spending WAY too much time on facebook. Back in the day, I would have said that “hours a day” was spending too much time on facebook. Now when I say it, I mean minutes. WOWsers…..I can barely stand to be on facebook for more than five minutes. I do not ever recall facebook ever being so “emotional”.
I want nothing but happiness in my life, and I do understand that this is not always possible. I try to surround myself with positivity, and happiness. My idea of happiness consists of smiles, compassion, laughter, love, and hope. Facebook used to be a place I could scroll through and find pictures of friends, classmates, families, relatives, people I have never met who share many of my values, co-workers, etc…..you get the idea. Facebook is not that place for me any longer, and has not been for awhile. When I only spend 5 minutes a day on facebook, and not even one minute fills me with happiness, then I am out. Bye, Felicia!!
I have decided to take a break from facebook-land, an absence of I do not know how long. Maybe a month, a year, maybe forever. The one thing I will miss are those beautiful souls that filled me with positivity and happiness (you know who you all are). If I ever return, I hope it is how I remembered it during the “happy years”.
I will try my best to post here a little more often, so we can keep in touch. PLEASE PLEASE leave a comment on this post, or shoot me an email to say Hi sometime. I LOVE hearing from you. I want to know what YOU have been up to. What are some new plant-based dishes you have tried?
We can also still keep in touch here:
- Twitter @laurayblack
- Instagram @plantbasedjunkies
- Snapchat @pbjunkies
Miss ya! Talk to you soon.
Your plant-based friend,
Laura
I so understand! So much hate & ugliness. Even from family! I try to post as many positive and uplifting things that I can and just look at those from others-but it’s getting harder & harder. I will miss you but will ck in with yo on your blog..
Blessings,
Susan Leshinsky
Susan, I guarantee your friends on facebook appreciate your positive and uplifting posts. I know I did. THANK YOU you for staying in touch here, and on IG. I am looking forward to being inspired, motivated, and uplifted once again.
I don’t blame you at all. It has changed. This election has tainted many things. Yet, I have made many new friends here, in many ways feels like my tribe more than family. Good luck to you two on new adventures. And keep eating plants! Hugs Marsha
Marsha, I will definitely miss staying connected with you on facebook. If I ever return, I will definitely stay in contact with you there. I always appreciate you commenting here, and I promise to keep eating yummy plants! Please feel free to share any amazing recipes you try. You have my email: plantbasedjunkies(at)gmail(dot)com. Sending lots of hugs your way!
Hi Laura. I remember you had to take a break once before. You are one of the people online who was inspirational to me when I first went plant based, I think its four years now. What I’ve been feeling is that there is so much pain and suffering out there with animals then when people started being so hateful because of politics, it was depressing for sure. I believe we change, not what we see….its what we see with. Our perspective changes and its a good thing. So congratulate yourself for changing!
Hi Beth!! Yes, this break will definitely be longer than before. Thank you for your kindness, and I always appreciate you staying connected on here. Congrats by the way, on your 4 + years!! I am so excited to be on this journey with you.
I certainly understand why…hard to keep positive when negative voices crowd out positive in those “feeds”…it’s all about what we consume. I wish you and your family all the best. 😊 catch you on instagram…
Thank for your kindness, Sandy. I look forward to staying connected with you.
Dear Laura,
what a breath of fresh air and I applaud your decision. I have always had a love-hate relationship with social media, which is why I dragged my heels for so long to come on board. I finally decided to jump in long after everyone else because I realized how many more people I could reach with the vegan message. For that reason, I’ve stayed on board and don’t use fb for reasons other than supporting a mindful vegan lifestyle.
So I completely get and support your decision – well will need to stay in touch through other means! I just completed the manuscript for next book – it’s about vegan mindfulness – and know you will want to take a look when she’s ready. Promise you’ll still be occasionally blog posting so we can stay connected!
with all love and best wishes to you,
Lani
Thank you for the kind words and encouragement, Lani! I promise to stay connected, and I am most definitely excited about your new book. I have always enjoyed learning from you, and will continue to be motivated, and inspired by you.
I have contemplated the same thing many times. When I finally broke down and joined Facebook, it was to keep in touch with friends and family. Now I spend way too much time on it and don’t really get enough happiness from it. I wish you nothing but the best and nothing but happy times ahead!! Go live your life.
I wish the same for you, Tara! I have definitely enjoyed many times on facebook, however, I shall enjoy the time away, whether it be forever or not. I am so happy we can still keep in touch.
Love ya girl and totally understand where you are coming from and going to! Please keep soaking up the goodness in life and enjoy it to the fullest! I am wishing all the best for you and Frank in the next year, sell that house and move to a place that fills you with happiness and joy! Just keep swimming!
Love ya back, PBJ sista! You know I will be staying in touch. Love you, and your family. I shall keep swimming, thanks to you!
🙂 Positive is good
hugs and enjoy life
Back at ya, Susan! Sending lots of hugs your way as well, and glad we can share this journey together here.
I can so relate. Besides all of the negativity I feel like my time is being sucked away from me. I know I should do something more productive and then I’ll look up and be amazed at how much time has gone by. Time I will never get back.
So go, have fun, do something that brings you joy. FB will still be there if and when you decide to check in.
Please keep in touch though!
Kathy, I promise to keep in touch. I appreciate the kind words, and I am definitely looking forward to the joy life has in store for me. Glad you are a part of it 🙂
I totally agree about and applaud your decision on taking a hiatus from FB. Now that the politics are over, sports will reign. I get on FB about once a week, so if I give it up I won’t notice. The only good thing about it is that I get to see pics of my grandchildren! Stay in touch, I’ll be looking for you.
Marcia, celebrating 4 full years of veganism!
The grandkids…I completely understand!! Glad we can stay connected here, and congrats on 4 years. Doesn’t it feel GREAT? Thank you for the encouragement.
Been well over a year for me and once I ‘got out of the habit’ it was like a load being lifted! Once in awhile someone will say…”on F’book I saw —–” and I wonder…..for about a second! After the election I hear it’s horrendous and I KNOW I’m better off ‘in the dark’! BEST to you and yours, Karen
Thank you, Karen!! You speak to my heart.
Right on sista from another mista! I signed off 4 days ago for the same reason. Keep blogging, I want to know where you guys move to. I want to come and meet you and Frank one of these days. You ROCK!!
Dave, you KNOW we will definitely keep in touch. We would love to meet you one of these days. You are my hero!!
Laura,
Awesome post! I’m one of the very few “Facebook holdouts” as I’ve been called. While I understand why people are on Facebook (connections, info sharing, business promoting) I don’t feel the need to share my personal life with people I barely know. Those close to me (yup, my friends & family) are kept in contact the old fashioned way. What I do on my day off is for me to know & others to find out…well, maybe. When my dad died I had to tell my siblings not to post on social media until I could tell my children, & in the meantime I was afraid that the Facebook domino effect would happen: my siblings would tell someone, that person would post, etc. What happened to privacy? And at my age (51, female, healthcare professional) I honestly don’t give a hoot about what people think about my eating habits, hobbies, or personal life…well, except for my friends & family, but I know who they are. Plus with what I’ve heard regarding the ugliness being posted post this presidential election justifies my decision. FYI this is my first ever post on any of the blogs I subscribe to (hope you don’t mind my comments!). You go girl!
Lisa
Lisa, you hit the nail right on the head. It is pretty crazy lately.
I am beyond thrilled you took the time to comment. It is funny you mentioned that, because I also do not normally comment on blog posts, but I expect I will more now. I means the world to me to have your encouragement, and PLEASE…keep the comments coming. I miss communicating with my fellow PBJ Family.
Thank you again for sharing your thoughts. Hope to talk with you again soon.
~Laura
Hi Laura, love you and your soul. Thank you for all the love and support. Please keep in touch and be well.
Love BJ
Back at ya!! You are such an inspiration not only to me, but to so many. Please let me know when you get your site up and running, as I definitely want to follow, and be inspired. Love ya back!
I also planning to deactivate my facebook account and enjoy twitter world!
Hi, Don’t blame you at all, though interestingly, I have finally come TO Facebook as a way to reach more readers for my book, How Healthy Is Your Doctor?, that I published on amazon in 2013. Plant-based eating is the Lifestyle Medicine/lifestyle doctors’ “way to go” to achieve better health. Anyway, enjoy your life adventures, and enjoy staying healthier with plants! p.s. I’m never going to be a twitter person, due to the twitter-er-in-chief (since Nov. ’16)being so repulsive and mean.