This won't be that hard, right?

For Lent this year I decided to give up texting.  It shouldn't be that hard right?  I only do it constantly throughout the day.  I constantly am distracted by what to text others, or waiting for a reply.  Why haven't they replied?  I realized that texting was the root of my distractions, and at the root of some of  anxiety in relationships.  Search the  web and you'll find stories of how texting is uprooting our ability to communicate in person and can lead to junk relationships.  I also noticed the ability to text my thoughts and feelings without filtering them. So, I decided to give it up, and live in the now, not on my phone.

Searching other stories for tips, tricks, or success stories I came across some interesting ideas, but most people don't last 72 hours.  One person lasted a week.  She never looked at her text messages so she had no idea who was reaching out or why.  I'm surprised she lasted a week, that would have driven me nuts.  

Without much to go off of other than "texting is bad for you" type articles I had to set my own rules and guidelines. 

Rule 1.  Don't Text.

That's obvious, but harder than you might think.  I decided that I could reply to work texts, and logistical type of responses, "I'm here" or "Metro is stuck." type of deals.  Hopefully though as I go through this experience I won't actually have to succumb.  Only if absolutely necessary.

Rule 2: Don't Cheat.

This is where things get gray.  I decided that facebook messaging is cheating.  Snapchat and Instagram are also kind of cheating.  This has nothing to do with texting itself, but they become easy ways to send quick messages.  I decided to back off of them for now.  When the itch becomes too strong I might go back.