More and more, I use this Facebook platform less and less. Mostly because it’s like the classified ads and less like the thing we all signed up for 18 years ago. The one thing I do love is the memories – I love seeing what happened year on year in my own life and thinking about where life was at that time, how things change, what stays the same and the growth. We are certainly of the gen’ that has shared it. 18 years is a long time to document “stuff”. It’s still a valuable window to friends, the kids growing up and a means to find connection that in a way feels safe. So I put up with it. As we all do, I think…  but…

More and more, I’m engulfed in the never ending demands of work, on-line, expansive realms of information and isolation and less and less real engagement with people, mentors, creators, conversationalists, dinners, activities and guess what laughing with people, not at some cat video on social. (I mean – get a life Nicola).

More and more I find managing myself in the midst of a fundamentally different and challenging year – crikey it’s off the charts! It’s less and less like anything I certainly have experienced and wholey can relate to. Cue Q4! I mean normally Wimbledon is the flag that the year is turning – well that was awash, the Olympics ran over me like a hurdle, it’s time for my annual hike and Christmas is hankering in year end plans.

More and more there are death notices and day to day news and calls of friends, love ones and people we know with chronic conditions; from every kind of cancer to alarmingly many new diseases. There is less and less shock of it because the news doesn’t stop breaking. A human can only take so much, really.

More and more I have less time to read, less space to think and even less opportunity to write.

More and more I find the less everyone can even pick up the phone.

More and more I see relationships are text based and social platform assumption driven and less and less nuanced and heartwarming. I do it – type a message while in the car, send a message when at the shops. More and more I do it so I don’t “forget” and “save” time, and less and less I am actually remembering… (I don’t even want to think about the ramifications of that!)

And more and more I find I’m spending time tapping out watching Yellowstone to escape and less and less doing something of significance.

So more and more I have made a decision to manage digital devices and channels and put more calls in and effort to engage, spend time stopping. Focus on less and make it mean more.

More slow, less more.