My New Year’s resolution was to learn to see the things that are holding me back, and to let them go.

I sent the intention out to the universe; I’ve been reciting it to myself several times each day.

I was thinking in terms of finally being able to clean out my underwear drawer, winnow down my library or donate redundant kitchen utensils to Goodwill.

I wasn’t thinking about my intentions on Monday, January 24th, some time after 6 am, when a hacker from Hanoi managed to seize control of my Facebook account, locking up the Sap Bush Hollow Farm page, and the Shannon Hayes (writer) public page, managing to wipe out and obliterate my identity in countless apps and websites that relate to everything in my life from homeschooling to finance.  My week has been a dance of trying to anticipate and out-maneuver a new invisible chess opponent, changing logins and passwords, notifying contacts.

“Ugh.  Where do you even start with that?” My neighbor Eileen asks in sympathy.

Her question forces me to pause and think carefully  before I respond.

“With meditation,” I finally decide.

And in my meditation, I reflect on the idea of being whole — How, in most instances, good/bad dualities are more imaginary than real.  There is little good that has transpired in my life that hasn’t come with it’s share of troubles; there is little bad that hasn’t brought deep lessons, powerful connections and silver linings.

And then I thought about that New Year’s Resolution.

Social Media has long been a thorn in my side.  I do not enjoy any of the platforms, and it stresses out our farm crew as they try to shoulder the burden of posting with me.

I am told that, as a writer and small business owner, I cannot be without it.

But I’ve lamented daily for the past few years at how it impedes my attention and disrupts my creativity.

Well, for now, the Hacker from Hanoi has had their way.  They’ve posted something so egregious on my account that everything has been seized and locked down by Facebook.  If I am able to recover my identity, I’ll have to go before a non-human digital tribunal and attempt to convince them that the offenses were committed by someone other than myself.  Thus, today, I don’t need to think about whether social media is an option.  It has been removed unless/until Hacked.com can wrestle it back for me.

And while that work goes on, I turn my attention back to my writing and my business.  Blogs, digital newsletters and mailers are now regarded as archaic forms of communication, but they’ve generated the most joy for me, my readers, and customers, and the best return for our business.  So for today, I’ll do some writing, take a hike, do some work, go for a ski, then sit beside the fire with a dram of whiskey, and ruminate about whether social media is something I can afford to let go.