I've been mulling all of this over since Angie's announcement, trying to decide how I feel about it all, where I want to possibly "land," and how I want to move forward in general with scrapping from here. Long post, get some coffee...
Transparency... ha ha, I know the site is going down in a couple of weeks, so this post will disappear! I've been on the Welcoming Committee for a few years now, which I've really enjoyed and I'm very grateful that I had the chance to do something like that (thank you April, Angie, and Anne-Marie for choosing me and/or giving me the opportunity). I have to say though, my post-military life has not turned out exactly as I'd hoped or envisioned. I have less time than I hoped I would (my "part-time" job isn't as part-time as I thought it would be), but even more than that, in the few years since I retired from the military, my Parkinson's symptoms really started to ramp up, and that has very much put a damper on everything for me. For the past several years I've had a very hard time staying motivated to scrap (or do anything else), since I wasn't feeling well. I'm happy to say that I feel much better now that I know what's wrong with me and I know how to minimize the symptoms, but motivation and pushing through being tired is still a daily struggle.
I have to work - DH is stay at home, so I'm the sole breadwinner of our family, and my kids are heading toward college. I've been thinking for the past year that I probably need to reign my life in, make things simpler for a while, to ensure that I'm able to do the things that I really NEED to do, like make sure my teens are healthy and happy (the pandemic fall-out has not made that easy), keep my house somewhat in control (my gosh, teenagers and pets are a mess), and I absolutely need to re-assess how to manage my health issues. Exercise is important anyway, but it's really mandatory in Parkinson's, as a way to slow down progression of the disease and minimize symptoms. Stress management is also essential, and there have been some issues in my extended family over the past few years that have made that very difficult.
Anyway, to sum this up, for the past year I've been feeling like I need to make some major changes, but I've not really done anything yet. I never would have wanted SG to close, but silver lining for me, I'm thinking this might be the first change in my life that will motivate me to make others. That old saying, unexpected endings mean new beginnings? Something like that.
I still have scrapping goals, and continuing with documenting my family life will factor into my new plans, but I think I probably won't be as active on message boards and/or with posting as I have been at SG in the past. More broadly, how much time I spend on the computer, internet, and/or staring at screens like my iPad and phone just wasting time - that has to change. I have to make an effort to be up and moving more, and that will mean reducing my screen/computer time, which also in turn means reducing the number of sites I'm on and/or online forums/groups I'm interacting with.
As many others have said, I don't particularly like Facebook anymore - I am quite opinionated myself regarding things like politics, and Facebook drastically ramps up the stress I feel when I read things that make me angry or sad. I have to force myself to not engage with the online crazy-makers, and at times that has meant I've had to completely shut down FB for a while. I have kept my FB account mostly for Parkinson's groups, quilting how-to's, and to maintain contact with old friends and some family. I'm sad to say though, I've had to weed out too many old friends and family who have just gone down too many online rabbit holes. I felt I had to, in order to manage my own stress levels.
So, where will I be in the future... if the SG private FB group is established, I will be part of it, but might not be very active only because I need to draw down my online presence in general. I've been a member at Ginger Scraps for quite a while, and I have a very small gallery of layouts there (Sprite is my GS name), but I haven't posted on GS for years. I'll probably participate in challenges there once in a while. I also do like Digital Scrapper, I've had an account there for several years too, and I might end up being a little more active there, maybe do some classes or tutorials. But I think that may be it, for now.