Read for my most recent update to the Busy Boycott 2018 Week 2.

As we drive along this road called life, occasionally a gal will find herself a little lost. And when that happens, I guess she has to let go of the coulda, shoulda, woulda and buckle up and just keep going. – Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City

This September, I’ve been taking part in the Busy Boycott Challenge created by Courtney Carver of Be More With Less. Lately I’ve found that my mile-long to-do lists have taken over my life.

It feels like I’m spending more and more time doing things I feel like I need to do, rather than things that I want to do. I want to simplify my life so that I have time to truly live for the things that bring me the most joy.

To see where I started read my Introduction to the Busy Boycot Challenge. In today’s post, I’ll be recapping Week #1 and Week #2 in the Busy Boycott challenge.

Simplified my Sunday with a sunset nature walk

The 2018 Busy Boycott Week 1 Recap

The first challenge in the Busy Boycott called on me to remove the word “busy” from my lexicon. Instead, I was tasked with finding other things to talk about besides how busy I am.

Overall, Week #1’s challenge proved to be more difficult than I anticipated. In fact, I never realized:

1. how much time I spent talking about my life to others
2. how often I answer the question “how are you?” with a response that pertains to my overloaded schedule or workload.

Instead of asking people about what they’re doing and instead of sharing how busy I am, I found myself asking my family and friends more thoughtful questions about their lives. Also, I found myself listening more and talking less. As an extrovert, this was a welcome change. Sometimes, we need to be active listeners rather than pointless talkers.

The Busy Boycott 2018 Week 2 Kickoff

This week’s challenge takes the Busy Boycott a step further. More specifically, week #2’s challenge encourages participants to completely eliminate one thing from our calendars or to-do lists. In other words, I need to eliminate something from my daily to-do list. Additionally, I need to have the intention to let the task go. The goal is not to simply push the task back a week.

This week’s challenge perplexed me. I felt unsure as to what I should give up. Unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury of truly eliminating something from my work to-do list. Also, I do not really have the ability to turn in an incomplete graduate school application. That left me to question, what can I remove from my to-do list?

I could remove blogging tasks from my to-do list. However, blogging makes me happy. Sitting down to write fills me with joy. I wouldn’t classify blogging as being burdensome to me.

As I write this post, I’ve decided that I will not be meal prepping on Monday night. Additionally, I won’t be grocery shopping on Tuesday. Although I cannot postpone these tasks indefinitely, I am choosing to forego these tasks this week for the sake of my sanity.

The goal of the Busy Boycott is to help simplify my life. However, this week’s challenge may prove to be more work than I am willing to put in.

A stress-relieving challenge should not be adding more pressure.

Let’s connect on social media: Instagram| Twitter | Pinterest | Bloglovin’

Are you looking to simplify your life? Are you looking to get rid of clutter? Check out this post on my experience doing the KonMari Method or this post on the Packing Party Method.

Want to simplify your digital life? Check out this post on my Digital Detox. Is social media making you unhappy? Read this post on Social Media Toxicity.

What would you delete from your to-do list this week? Please share with me in the comments below.

be more with less lifestyle minimalism personal Simple Living The #BusyBoycott thebusyboycott wellness work-life-balance