I decided a few months ago that I was depending too much on social media to feel some sort of worth. I was not happy with how that was making me feel, but I couldn't stop.

I'd try to cut back and leave my phone alone. I'd try to convince myself that as long as I didn't scroll too much, I was OK to not delete the app.

My willpower decided otherwise.

As good as it sounded in my head, I kept getting sucked in, finding myself aimlessly scrolling and wasting my time and, ultimately, making myself feel worse.

So, as 2017 drew to a close, I decided I would start 2018 on the right foot: by deleting Instagram from my phone.

I deleted it just a few minutes before midnight, and I immediately found myself picking up my phone to check to see what people had posted way more than I would like to admit.

It was just a habit; reach, click and scroll. But nothing was there to scroll through anymore. And as weird as that felt, it also felt oddly refreshing.

I didn't wake up the next day looking to see where everyone partied or how they were ringing in the new year. I didn't look the day after that to see if I was tagged in anything or if my picture got any more likes than it had before.

And, slowly, over the next few weeks, that all stopped mattering.

I took all this new-found free time and spent it deeper in God's Word than I had already been. I reached out to friends I hadn't had time to hang out with before. I saved so much battery power just from not being on it as much!

I don't feel dread every time I pick up my phone.

I can actually breathe when I'm out with friends and focus on them rather than being worried about what everyone else is doing in other places of the world.

To be honest, I feel more panicked now when I think about going back on to Instagram. I know there will come a time where I will eventually log back in to post, but I will not let it take over my life again.

I will not download it back to my phone and keep it there for months at a time. I will not continuously check to see what everyone is posting, liking or saying. My worth and my happiness do not come from an app or a number of likes on a picture.

My happiness comes from the Lord.

I have loved this past month of not having Instagram, and I don't plan on going back to it anytime soon. Social media should not control our lives, and I think for a lot of people, it does a lot more damage to us than we would like to admit.

It's hard to break that: I get it. When I made the decision to delete the app, it was probably one of the hardest things I had to do... to cut that rope that connected me to, what felt like, everyone else.

I can breathe so much deeper, smile so much wider and enjoy life a little more now that I'm not always looking at a screen.