I'm Leaving Social Media

POST FROM SEPTEMBER 2022…a final goodbye to social media.

Happy Fall, and also, goodbye friends! 🍁 Ready for all the Fall changes, which leads me to share this big news…

Maybe it’s that my 40th is fast approaching and things that used to be important just aren’t anymore, maybe it’s that my kids are growing fast, or that this has been a season with lots of transition.

Maybe it’s that the last few years have put a lot of things - including what’s shared online - into perspective.

It’s also that I feel the intensity of the spiritual battle around us, and I want to lean in and be more present with Jesus than ever…

or maybe it’s that my heart just isn’t totally in it anymore.

…but I am signing off and saying goodbye to social media. 💕

Yep, Ive been known to take a break every now and then. And I know people get made fun of for announcing said breaks.

But for the sweet part of this community I have built here for the last decade…I wanted y’all to know.

Because this is goodbye from here. 😘

When I started blogging years ago, it was so different.

Being online was different, the community was different, my desire to share so openly was different, my family and time to spend online was different!

So it’s come time.

I’m making this big change (along with my hair color apparently 💆🏼‍♀️💆🏻‍♀️)…and putting these things away, for I don’t know how long. Possibly and most likely for good. 💕

A few things:

I still have my oils business and may continue to share @simpleoilylife and also @oklahomaessentialoils . 🌿 (and will still use my FB groups for my team)

I will blog every now and then, you can give your email here to stay connected! 💕

I will also share tips and sales and such, on my business website: www.simpleoilylife.com

💕

Y’all are special and I’m grateful for what this space has meant to me over the years, and for the connection God has provided here!! Ill miss you. 🥹

Peace…and big, big blessings over each of you!!! 🙏🏻

















POST FROM JANUARY 2021, TAKING A THREE MONTH BREAK:



I have made a big decision for me, that feels like a big change, but one I feel so peaceful about! After many years of being on social media (insta and FB), I am signing off!

IMG_1014_jpg.JPG

Several reasons why I am leaving my personal social media:

First, There has been a shift in me that I don’t totally have explanation for yet. A shift in being comfortable about how much of my life I share. 

Of course privacy/big tech overreach is part of that. But even more so is the privacy of my heart, home and family that I am feeling more protective over lately. 

Obviously I’ve never shied away from sharing vulnerable or hard things. I’ve always shared what I felt called to share. 

I’ve never regretted anything. 

But something in my heart is changing. Possibly having to do with the next reason...


Second, I feel more and more that the close circle of friends I have and do life with - whether in person or online/phone if they aren’t local - is where I need to be more intentional. 

I’ve always loved CONNECTION. It’s something I love to do. Connect with others, and connect people to other people. Heck, even my business group for oils is called “Connect”! It’s something I  have always valued online. I made some of my besties through blogging and Twitter! 

Blame it on getting older or feeling like my circle of people is pretty amazing and fulfilling or whatever - but those closer circles is where I really want to pour more of myself into vs a few hundred or thousand people who don’t really know me that well. 


If freeing up mind or emotional energy (or physical energy of my phone!) can give me more space for more intimate connections...then I want that. 

Being more intentional in relationship is a big part of this decision. 

And while yes, I loooove catching up on random people’s lives and knowing how many kids they have now and how their motherhood is going etc, 

I am sensing a pull toward my closer “village” to be where I pour into! 

Third, is something God has been asking of me for a while now: to be MINDFUL.

Mindful of everything. I walk through a looooot of life being mindless aka going through the motions and doing what I need to do because I feel overwhelmed and just want to get it done almost like a run on sentence that should have stops and rests and resets but there’s just “so much to do” that not taking the time to think very hard is what happens. And let me tell you this from experience: mindlessness and thoughtlessness does not bear good fruit. 


How does this apply to social media? For me - and maybe for others - I cannot be totally mindful of everything I actually NEED to do if I am either a. Thinking about the next thing I could post, or b. Taking pictures of what I’m doing rather than being mindful of the actual DOING. Does that even make sense? Lol. If not that’s ok. 

God has had me going through a stripping away of things that clutter my mind. There are lots of those things. Things that consume my brain and emotions that hinder my purpose. 

And lately, I have seen that social media is one of those things. A hindrance. 


It hasn’t always been. And if I come back it may not be later. But for now - it needs to be taken away so my mind can be free to function better at more important things! 

Fourth and most important - my full attention and presence are needed in more pressing places. My presence cannot be fully there with my kids if I am grabbing my phone constantly to take a picture or post a story. 

This may sound harsh, but we can tell ourselves all we want to that we are fully present with our kids ... but I’d challenge that by saying if you have a phone in your hands the majority of the time you are with you kids...you are not fully present. 


My most important connection, mindfulness, time, and presence-needed role in life is to my family. And my home. And my own heart. 


So if getting off of social media allows space for that? I’m ready. No amount of likes or views or comments can measure up to the fruit of being fully present with the souls I have been given to raise. 


I had a brief fear that this would affect my life somehow. Affect my business. Affect my worth. 

But then I really looked in my heart and battled those fears with truth. And I won. 

Because if I truly am giving this up - for a time or for good - for the reasons I feel led to .... 


Then I will away from this with MORE purpose, more business growth, deeper connection, more mindfulness, more presence, and a better view of my worth apart from it. 


It literally baffles my mind that so many of us have let little squares and words and pictures dictate how we feel or what we do. But for so many of us it has. But I’m calling BS on myself when I think how important sharing online is. For me, for now , it’s just not anymore. 


Being super honest with myself and my needs and my desires for my life is something I am finally doing at age 38. And I’m super excited about it. 

I’ve rambled enough and hope I made sense, so I’ll close this out. 

Do I know how long I’m getting off the socials? 
The Lord told me at least three months so I’m starting there. 


Am I keeping my business groups?
Yes. That’s actually part of my intentionality reasons. To connect more there vs on my personal pages. 


Am I going to miss it?

Yes and no.
No for the reasons I talked about. 
Yes because of people. Y’all. 

I sincerely love talking to and seeing peoples lives. People I wouldn’t normally see or talk to regularly. It’s the sweet part of social media. I’ll miss that. Miss y’all. 


So, I am off of posting on my personal feeds as of January 1, 2021. 

I’m literally logging out/deleting the apps of my phone until April 1 at least. 
I WILL blog here and there. I 100% still feel led to share my heart on certain things. To share parts of our lives. To share stories of my journey as the Lord leads. But with more intentionality and purpose and thought vs throwing up a post every day just to post. 

Please still connect with me if you want to. 
About anything. 
Life. This. Oils. Whatever. 

You can find me here on my blog. 
I definitely plan to still put my heart into words here in this more intentional/intimate space!

sarahloweblog.com 

You can email me: 

simpleoilylife@gmail.com

You can text me about oils or business: 
405-349-6260 (This is my business line, not personal) 


Thanks for listening. For reading.
Now, and for the last many years or however long you have followed. 


I’m by no means an “influencer”.
But I have for sure built a a sweet little community here that I will miss on the daily. 

Until next time on social media, blessings and goodness and PEACE to you, my friends. 

IMG_0997_jpg.jpg

Family Photo Wall

295293EC-5517-45A7-B386-CE87ABBDE2C6.jpeg

Thanks to our sweet neighborhood photog, Heather McCutchen, for the amazing pictures!! We hadn’t done some in a few years so I have been swooning basically every day over these!!

She is the one who recommended we use Mpix for canvas printing, and I was beyond impressed. We actually ended up getting lots more from there, including a giant family pic canvas, and even our Christmas cards. SUPER impressed with the quality!! They even came packaged really well!

IMG_1036_jpg.jpeg
IMG_1026_jpg.jpeg
IMG_1027_jpg.jpeg

My sweet kiddos faces make my heart so full when I walk in this room now!!!

I highly recommend printing with Mpix!

New mercies every day.

This is us.

Image.jpeg

We dont always get it right, in marriage, in parenting, in leading our family well, in cherishing every moment. There’s a lot of mistakes and a lot of asking forgiveness and seeking grace around our house. This season of still having “littles” feels really hard a lot of times. The days seem like they go so dang slow, but then we look up and it’s trash day again (it’s funny I know, but I always have the sinking feeling that yet another week of life has gone by, when it comes time to wheel our trash bins out. I hate trash days.)

I’m not saying we don’t do anything right or that we don’t have some days are just magical to be a parent - we have those too. But something we really DO do well, on the regular? Starting each day anew. Starting fresh. Letting go of the day before, and basking in the new mercies for EACH of us, and asking Him to shower it on us...teaching (and more importantly: showing) our children that the grace of Jesus is available every single day, and at every single moment.

Not sure who needs to hear this...but there are brand new mercies, y’all. Every. Dang. Day.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness!” Lamentations 3:22-23

My July 10th Story

july10.jpg

OUR THIRD MISCARRIAGE (7 years ago today)

Above is the link to my original sharing of this part of my story. If you want to read it, feel free. If you need to reach out because you are going through heartache with miscarriage, feel free. Id love to connect, and I truly mean that.


(Instagram post from today, July 10 2020)

I woke up forgetting in my brain what today was. But I think my body and heart have been telling me the last few days.

Today is July 10. It’s a day that is a huge part of my story, and a major part of the undealt-with trauma that I am currently seeking help for. (And so so glad I am).

7 years ago (which btw 7 means something to me so I am believing that THIS is the year I finally press in and do the hard work of actually grieving more fully and exploring all that goes with that)...

but 7 years ago today, I went into “labor” with a sweet little one who was just about 11 belly-weeks old. We had seen it’s tiny body and heard it’s precious heartbeat. And were so happy to be pregnant again, just a few months after the loss of my dad and a second miscarriage. (Yeah, 2013 was terrible).

But God had different plans. And while I’m okay with that now because I know I will never understand all His ways, but that He still loves me...I’m realizing now how much trauma my body and mind have clung onto from those losses - especially that very painful and traumatic one.

Trauma can be stored in our body. Did you know that? So it finally hit me this morning that the random physical cramping and the heightened anxiety the last few days have been my body remembering. I truly believe our cells remember. And that can affect so much if left undone.

So this is the year I will pursue healing for my July 10 day. This is the time I will use all that I have - prayer, counseling, oils - to help me process and become free from the heartache. Will it ever go fully away? No I don’t think so. But can I live more healed? 1000% yes.

I share this to say...if you have been through miscarriage or loss, know that you aren’t alone. Know that this IS a process. Know that there is no “right” way or amount of time to grieve. But also know that there is healing from Jesus for your hurting heart. I don’t understand a lot going on in the world right now, but I do understand that. 💕