Epilepsy & A Social Media Cleanse? Why It's Important

Fresh off of a few seizures, I wanted to share with you an experience I’ve been going through. For those who deal with epilepsy on a daily basis, you understand the role social media plays in your life. However, over the past few weeks social media has engulfed all of us. I decided to take a social media “cleanse”. Epilepsy plays a huge part in my life and any stress from outside sources like social media can affect it. I hope you consider doing this on your own!

Why Did I Do It?

If you know me, you know that I have partial seizures that occur almost on a daily basis. We, epilepsy warriors, spend time trying to figure out what may cause or on the other hand help our seizures. In this case, I noticed that stress was beginning to play a bigger role when it came to my epilepsy. Now, as we all know, social media is the one thing that the majority of people spend their time on. While I have been getting support on social media, it has also been very toxic (not epilepsy related). About two weeks ago, I decided to remove all social media apps from my phone. A decision that I didn’t think would even last a day!

The Lessons I’ve Learned

I have to admit that the first few days were rough. However, once I got used to not having Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter on my phone, a little improvement happened. I was no longer tied to everything that was happening online. I was having fun with family and friends. This was slowly relieving me of stress I may have had during the day. Positivity > negativity and the best way to avoid any negativity is to get off of social media as soon as possible. Truthfully, you can feel like a young kid again (if you aren’t one!) if you do this cleanse. Go outside, throw around the football, go for a hike, or grab your fishing poles and catch a few fish. Worry less about what people think on social media and impress your friends playing flag football!

**One thing to note is that I was still in contact with all of my epilepsy friends for support via text!

What Do I Expect From You?

Let me be clear, I’m one out of 2.5 billion people on social media. What I hope you do is consider finding what your main cause for your seizures are and tackle them head on. Social media may not be any cause towards your epilepsy, but remember this. Never ever compare yourself to someone on social media. Your journey is different in so many ways, and the last place you want to measure your success is on platforms like Facebook or Instagram.

You have been put on this earth for a reason. Your story will inspire and help so many people. I found that taking a break from social media could and will help me. I hope this inspires you to turn off those notifications and have some fun outside!