30 Days to Simplify: Week Two

30 Days to Simplify: Week Two

Welcome to 30 Days to Simplify: Week Two!

Last week the challenge was to eat real food. How did it go for you? It went pretty well around our house. After weeks of nearly daily headaches, I eliminated sugar altogether, and lo and behold! My headaches disappeared. Darn sugar. I even stayed strong when my whole family went out for ice cream, and was pretty darn proud of myself. 

This week, the challenge is to continue eating real food, but now we’ve got another challenge to tack on:

Ditch Electronics (at least during the day) and the TV at Night

Huh? Wha-? Is that even possible nowadays? Ok, this is why I didn’t say go completely electronics-free. I know some of you work and have to be using electronics during the day. And I know that e-mail and other features of the Internet are not only helpful, but sometimes necessary. I wouldn’t want you to ditch your e-mail for a couple weeks and come back to an inbox packed with 3,000 new messages–that kind of defeats the point of “simplifying.” So, I’m just asking that you restrict your use to necessity. You can check your e-mail, pop in on Facebook and of course my blog (as I will be doing), and whatever else you need to do briefly ONCE during the day (again, unless you have to because of work).

But the main point is this: ONCE. That’s it. Really. Do it first thing in the morning if you want. Or in the afternoon. Or right before bed…whatever your little heart desires. And if you want to be all crazy about it, go ahead and cut it out completely. And TV? Well, that’s just not a necessity. It really is a complete luxury. Believe me–I grew up most of my life without a TV in our house, as I’m sure some of you did. And I’m actually doing OK.

So what are you supposed to do with all your extra time?

Here are some ideas for you:

• Play a board game (THIS is our family favorite!)
• Play hide-and-seek
• Read a story to your kids
• Take turns telling stories (make ’em scary if you want!)
• Go on a nice summer evening walk
• Crank up the radio or Pandora (yes, it’s allowed!) and dance around your living room
• Bake some dessert–just keep it clean (more on this next week!) and then eat it!
• Talk to your spouse. Like, a real conversation.
• Ask your kids what they want to be when they grow up, what their dreams are, who their hero is, or what you could do better as a parent (you might be surprised at the answers!)
• Even better, think back to when you were a kid…what did you do for fun (that was legal and didn’t involve TV or electronics)?

Those are just some ideas to get you kick-started.

Again, the whole point of this week isn’t to make you suffer. Part of living in this day and age is social networking and the Internet. Just try to restrict yourself, if possible, to checking in on those things once a day, instead of constantly looking at your phone or computer to see who e-mailed you or updated their status. Ok?

Are you in? I hope so! Even if you didn’t participate in Week 1, now’s a great time to start!

Ready, set, GO! Get your e-mail checking and Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Google + checking out of the way now so you can enjoy the rest of your day electronics-free!