Focus, girl. Focus.

Sometimes I feel like I have ADD. My addiction to the internet, my phone, and social media have simultaneously ruined my life and made it a million times better.

How is that possible?

Here’s how it’s been ruined:

1. I constantly check my email, social media accounts, and text messages. I’m not even popular; I’m just completely and totally addicted.
2. I carry my computer everywhere I go and feel completely naked without it. In addition to taking a toll on my mental well-being, it’s taking a toll on my right shoulder and lower back.
3. I constantly hear/feel phantom rings and vibrations from my phone. Thankfully I’m not the only one this happens to, but I still feel really ridiculous when it happens.
4. I feel completely out of touch when I don’t have cell phone reception. No explanation needed. This is just sad.

And improved:

1. I’ve made a lot of new friends in a short period of time. The D.C. social media community is a strong, vibrant and close-knit community. It’s great to take these online relationships offline (and move it to IRL) with other geeky people in a city known mostly for it’s uptight-ness and lack of personality. These people have served as friends, educators, and sounding boards in times when I needed someone to talk to.
2. I have a newfound confidence in myself.
3. When I needed help getting my blog started, I instantly had it. I put one call out to people interested in writing for me and, within minutes, I had people responding to me interested in writing about their careers. I’ve reconnected with old friends and gained new friends through this incredible project.

Overall, I think the pros outweigh the cons. However, I still feel like I need to focus my thoughts and attention. That’s definitely going to come into play with this blog in the future. I’ve definitely been struggling with a concept for this for a while – I’ve written about a lot of things over the past year and I need to focus.

From here on out, this blog is going to focus on me. Me living in the city. That’s what the name is (Nicole in D.C.), right? Even though the D.C. blogging community is filled with excellent, thoughtful writers, I feel like I have my own place and viewpoint within that community. Hopefully, I’ll keep up with this unlike my resolutions.