Day 2 – Social Media (12 Days of Encouragement for the Chef’s Family)

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It’s the most wonderful . . . and hardest time of the year for our Emulsified Family, as I’m sure it is for many of you.

12 days of encouragement for the chefs familyIf you struggle with loneliness this time of year, today, I’d like to challenge you to think about the time you spend on Social Media this holiday season.

WHAT!!!!

ARE YOU CRAZY????

HOW COULD I LIVE WITHOUT FACEBOOK?

I know that sounds funny coming from a blogger.  I get a lot of website traffic from Facebook.  But honestly, one of the hardest things for me during the Christmas season is seeing what everyone else is doing on Facebook. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy for my friends and family that are able to do things together during this time of year.  But that’s just not reality for the family of a chef during the month of December.  Many chefs work 6-7 days a week the entire month and are only home long enough to sleep.  That just the life of a chef and his/her family this time of year.

Last December was by far the hardest Christmas season for me personally.  I really struggled with depression and contentment.  While I can’t “blame” Facebook for it, it definitely fueled the problem.  Fortunately, I realized that early on in the month and decided to deactivate my account for a while.  That was the best thing I ever did.  I did miss out on a few things because of it, but it made my holiday season much easier emotionally.

Now maybe, you think I’m crazy.

Maybe social media doesn’t affect you like it does me.

My chef/husband does not understand it all and doesn’t understand my love/hate relationship with it.  If that’s you, I’m so happy for you!!

But if not, and you struggle with seeing everyone else out and about with their complete family during the holiday season while you are missing your chef, maybe it’s time to unplug or decrease your time on social media for a few weeks.

Now I’m not suggesting you go to the extreme of deactivating your account like I did last year.  But you know how you sit down to check your Facebook newsfeed for 5 minutes and get up 45 minutes later? What if we limited that time or maybe even set a timer (gasp!) for 10 minutes.  That way we can still know what’s going a bit, but no so much that we can’t get it out of our mind.  Just a thought (mostly for me, but maybe for you too.)

Whatever you’re feeling today as things start to pick up at the restaurant and your chef starts to work longer hours and more days, remember, you are not alone.  Facebook and Twitter might make you feel like you are, but you are not!

Does anyone else struggle with seeing other families out and about doing Christmas things while your chef is busy working each night? Let me know in the comments below.

From one chef’s wife to another,

Jennifer

 

PS:  If you are shopping on Amazon.com this Christmas season, would you use my affiliate link to help me keep this blog online?  Thanks! 🙂

You can view other days in this series here.

 

4 Comments

  1. dhanny

    Had this conversation this week. I asked to do something I saw posted on FB. His reply was “well we can’t. I’m just too tired and we have to be back at the restaurant early in the morning”..
    I was bothered for a while. I know he’s right but I love Christmas and it was something I thought would be fun. So yeah!! all those “fun” postings in FB just reminds me of all the things I WON’T be doing again this year

    Reply
    • Jennifer

      If all the Christmas activities would just stay open until January 15th, then we could do it all together between January 2nd and January 15th, right? Let’s start suggesting that . . .

      Reply
  2. Anne

    What used to be favorite fine KF the year has Indeed turned into the most lonely and depressing time for me. Year after year. My chef who is the exec chef of The Ritz-Carlton in one popular tourist destination island will be almost unreachable from the start of dec all the way till new year. Despite visiting and staying with him in the hotel he work and stay at, I can hardly see him. It’s misery amidst the celebrating and happy hotel guests.

    Reply
    • Jennifer

      My husband has never worked in hotels, but from what I understand, it’s even crazier than a stand alone restaurant. Hugs and hang in there!!!!

      Reply

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