I entered 2018 with the intention of giving up the word ‘busy’. As I wrote at the end of last year: “‘Busy’ has come to be our answer for everything. “How are you?” “Oh I’m good. Just Busy.” It’s okay to fill your life with things, but I want to fill my life with things that I find fulfilling enough to actually talk about them, rather than lump them in with a ‘busy’ response.”

Since I’m a fan of writing things down, I made this ‘losing busy’ intention one of my three official resolutions for 2018. Now that I’m three weeks into the New Year and feeling pretty darn good about my progress, I thought I’d put together a list to help you find your own un-busy happiness.

give up busy in 3-weeks or less:

I: Put things on the calendar. Be excited about them. 

The first weekend in January, JT and I ventured to the great white north of Bellingham to hang with friends and make turns. The second we decided we were going, I was giddy with joy – a joy that barely flinched in light of terrible ski conditions. We went, we skied, we were nearly blown over by the wind. It was cool.

The next weekend was a long-one spent in Cabo with my girlfriend Erin, where we did nothing but lay on the beach and read books and work on restoring the Vitamin D deficiencies that plague all who call the Pacific Northwest home. It was glorious and relaxing.

I get that things like skiing and trips to Cabo are luxuries. I am very lucky to have the privilege that allows me to be in these situations, and my regular weekends do not often look like these. For example: this weekend I am working and painting and writing. The point is simply this: find something you are excited about and make it happen. In the words of Derek Silver, if it’s not a “Hell Yeah!”, then it’s a “no”.

II: Talk about these things when someone asks you how you are doing.

“Hey KC? How are you? What have you been up to?” I’m great! Thanks! Last weekend JT took me to a Moth StorySlam event where I unexpectedly found myself telling a story on stage to a few hundred strangers. This was my first time at a Moth event, and I was excited to see what it was all about after listening to the podcast for years. The theme of the night was ‘guests’. I think it says a lot about me as a person that my first thought was, “Damn, I don’t have any stories like that. It’d be cool to tell a story.”

Then JT reminded me that we run an Airbnb, and I do in fact have one very memorable story involving an old woman and a plunger. We put my name in the hat and I got picked! With only 60-seconds from the name-calling to the stage-taking, I was glad to have this plunger story – having told it time after time the summer it happened – in my back pocket.

Telling someone about these new, fun, non-busy things you’re doing will help you feel more productive and bring vividness to the doldrums of everyday life. Post these things on social media. Practice your stories in the mirror, on the drive to work, or on your cat/dog/hamster/teacup-pig if no one else will listen to you. At the very least, you’ll amuse yourself while perfecting a fantastic story to tell at your next dinner party.

III: Cut ‘busy’ from your vocabulary.

You have to quit ‘busy’. You need to completely wipe this word from your vocabulary or it will be an insidious creeper and it’ll find it’s way back in. You’ll have to do it cold turkey and it will be hard.

Last week I had to call my cousin with some sad family news, and we took the opportunity to catch up. No fewer than 5 times I had to fight the urge to say how work was busy. Or how home life was busy. Or how busy my summer was going to be. Busy busy BUSY! But I fought the good fight, and I won!

The end result? I actually told her about a trip to San Diego the other side of the family is planning to celebrate my Grandmother’s 85th birthday. As it turns out, my cousin is going to be in San Diego the week before and will overlap for the weekend, so now she gets to come see us too. Serendipity!

Magic is out there. Go make it happen!