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boredom

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My new website theme

“She refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn’t boring.” ~ Zelda Fitzgerald, The Collected Writings

I don’t like being bored and seek to live a happy, fulfilling, productive, and spiritually fruitful life. This includes my speaking/writing business.

About once or twice a year, I become restless and want to change my website theme. A theme is the way your website looks. Think of it like clothes on a person’s body, the way you are dressed.

woman in bonjour shirt

Some people enjoy dressing up, like you’re going out for a night on the town. Other women, like me, are more comfortable in blue jean jackets and boots (I’m also a flip flop beach kind of girl). Whatever your preference, you have your own taste. So it is with websites.

Me, at Canterybury Hills vineyard with Ray in Jefferson City, MO

Me, in my blue jean jacket at Canterybury Hills vineyard with Ray in Jefferson City, MO

Last night I changed my WordPress website theme. It is called The Lucy Lou by AngieMakes. You can find out more by clicking here: Shop Angie Makes WordPress Themes!

I’ve tried to simplify my website for easier navigation for you. I removed a lot of the widgets from the right sidebar because I felt it looked too cluttered and was distracting.

I also removed some of the child pages from the menu at the top for the same reason. My speaking page, for example, has all the links you need on it to find out more about my speaking at women’s conferences and events.

Beth Jones, International Speaker/Author

Beth Jones, speaking at Aglow in Olathe, KS

Want to get to know me better or to find out more about my online business? You can find out more on my About page. I included a link on that page with my family pictures.

You can read my newest blog posts by either clicking on the heading Blog at the top of the page, or one of the 3 most recent blog post links on the right sidebar. (You can also sign up on the right sidebar, to get my new blog posts by email.)

Each blog post also has buttons to share the content on your favorite social media sites.

Be sure to visit my store here with my latest books or products.

The Cinderella Story: The Power of Shoes Amazon Best Seller http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VN77IXQ/

The Cinderella Story: The Power of Shoes
Amazon Best Seller
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VN77IXQ/

Want to stay connected? You can get my video, You Weren’t Created To Fit In, But To Stand Out, by signing up on my personal mailing list for my bi-monthly ezine.

You’ll get encouraging Scriptures, quotes, videos, and new updates about my upcoming speaking engagements and new books. As a subscriber, you’ll be the first to hear the news! Just sign up at the top of the page on the right-hand side. 

Are you an event planner or know someone who needs a speaker for their women’s conference or event? Or do you want to get in touch with me for any reason? Contact me here.

Dear friend, I’m so thankful that you are here. I appreciate you stopping by my website and my prayer and mission are to encourage you to become all that God created you to be, fulfilling your great purpose and using your gifts for Him.

You can connect with me on Facebook here and follow me on Twitter here.

I’d love to know what you think of the new theme! Just leave your comments below.

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This blog post contains an affiliate link. This means I may make a little money if you click on the link and buy the product or service. I only recommend products or services that I’ve used or highly recommend. You don’t have to use my affiliate link, but I’d appreciate it so much if you would to help me bring in extra income for my family. I also donate 10% of my earnings to missions organizations. You can read my affiliate disclosure here.

Blog, Business, Faith, Homeschooling, Marriage, Parenting, prayer, Speaking, Spiritual Gifts, Travel, Writing

Tired of and bored with Facebook (and other social media sites)?

 Image courtesy of Basketman at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image courtesy of Basketman at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Are you sick and tired of Facebook? Burned out and bored with social media? Today I was talking with speaker/author Dana Arcuri about this. I shared with her that while I’ve met some AMAZING friends and business associates on social media, and am able to keep up with our grown daughters, their children, and family and friends who live in other states on Facebook (for which I’m extremely thankful), I’m tired and bored with social media. And I don’t want to just live a virtual life!

Apparently I’m not alone, because others want to leave Facebook. It’s crowded, it’s becoming more about advertising, and teens don’t want to use it any more because their family and friends are now on it (teens want to be independent!). And worse: it’s getting boring! So often users forget the cardinal rule of relationships: “Thou shalt not bore thy friends.”

Facebook can ruin relationships, according to this post by Elizabeth Bernstein. She writes that people post about what they eat, “uber cute kittens,” say they need to floss their teeth (yuck!), get lovey-dovey with a spouse (why do this?), or say rude things they wouldn’t normally say in a million years in real life (apparently they feel safe enough to act this way, hiding behind their laptop or computer).

The drama, the bragging, the boringness, the familiarity, and the constant promotional “Buy this!”are driving people away – especially young people – to other sites like YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, Path, and Snapchat. Teens want more creative self-expression rather than telling all the mundane details of your life. 

Dana shared this article with me today, which was very eye-opening. 

Referring to Facebook as “FaceCrack,” likening it to crack cocaine, the article states that Facebook (and other social media sites like Twitter):

  • create brain changes similar to those hooked on drugs and alcohol;
  • diminish attention span, result in superficial learning, feed narcisstic tendencies (selfies!), and create a disconnect between your real-world personality and online identity; 
  • leaves people feeling lonely, miserable, envious, frustrated, and angry.

God made us for an intimate, fulfilling relationship with Him and others. He never created us to live just virtual lives, but to have real ones.

I’m extremely grateful for the wonderful friends and business contacts I’ve made on Facebook and other social media sites. They have enlarged my territory and given me a wider, even a global, platform for speaking and writing. Yes, absolutely, I will continue using social media to connect with friends and business peers. Social media is not just a fad, and it’s not going away.

But I absolutely refuse to be a social media slave.

I love the options the article How Facebook is Altering Your Mind suggest, and want to share them here, plus add a few of my own:

  • Read good books. Yes, paper ones.  Read my books. “You will notice with a good book you find a comfortable place to sit, the light is better, your breathing relaxes – your body and mind relax.” Books take you places you have never been. They also help you learn many new things, inspire and motivate you, and give you great, valuable content to share with others. My husband Ray and I devour books each week. 
  • Exercise. Get outside the house in the fresh air and sunshine. I’ve been doing this lately, and on the days where it’s too cold to walk at the track (like this past week, when it was only 7 degrees!), I work out to a kickboxing video. Just get moving! Live! Get fit and healthy so you can fulfill your God-given purpose. This is good for your body, soul, and spirit. 
  • Contemplate. Gift yourself the time to observe and reflect. Meditation is excellent mind training. Most major world religions teach this. For Christians, this would be time to meditate on the Bible, memorize Scriptures, and prayer. You can sit in a park, people-watch at the airport or coffee shop, enjoy the quiet of a library, or hike a mountain.
  • Do things in your community. Get involved. Church activities, sports, plays, farmer’s markets. “Get out and DO. You are wasting time on Facebook. If that last sentence rings true, turn it off and get out there. Life is beautiful.”
  • Take a missions trip. My friend Kim Weber and her son Nathaniel are planning a short-term missions trip to Haiti this fall. We have a mission field right here in the U.S. ~ our children and grandchildren, nephews and nieces; inner cities; slums. Make a difference where you are or go to a place where there’s a need and unselfishly help meet it.
  • Spend time with your family and friends. What good is it to have wonderful relationships online with friends, if you are ignoring the people in your own house or those God so carefully placed in your life? Let’s face it, if someone only spends time on a computer, laptop, or smart phone, they get weird. You were created for face to face relationships. Eat supper with your family at night. Go to lunch or coffee with a friend or biz peer. Go on a date with your husband or wife to see a good movie, or to a bookstore. Meet with other Christians for a Bible study, prayer, and/or worship. Have a girls’ night out with a jewelry party, chocolate cheesecake dessert, or fun pedicures. Enjoy and love your family and friends in real life!
  • Use your spiritual gifts, talents, and skills. Do what God has called and anointed you to do. For me, this is speaking and writing books. What are your spiritual gifts? Do you know? If not, find out what they are. You can take online tests. Read Spiritual Gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit by Lester Sumrall and Step Out and Take Your Place by Krista Dunk. Don’t be like the man who hid his talents in Matthew 25:8, but use your talents ~ and God will bless you with more. Live your life in a way to seek to please God.

 Please don’t misunderstand and think I hate Facebook or other social media sites and am telling you to get off them completely (or at all). Social media has been a blessing in my life and enriched my life through meeting new people and enabling me to do things (like speak in Canada, the Bahamas, and Africa) that I may have never been able to do, otherwise.

Social media is a TOOL. Use it as such. Keep things in balance. Just remember to live your REAL life – offline!