June 23: #31 Speak/say as little as possible

Phil: Another day I’m spending time with someone for most of the day, and I’m being told to speak less. Saturday is one of the only days I really get in some time with Laura, so I did a whole lot of talking and annoying her and rapping “Fuck Shit Stack” by Reggie Watts to her in public. She hated all of it, I think. Anyway, I did speak less at work that night, though. I gave this challenge a whirl. It actually helped me be less of a ball of stress at work because I did less complaining. So consider this no complaining day, take two.

Bruce: Oh wow did I fail this challenge. I definitely came up with it because I know full-well that I’m way too verbose and gregarious. I started a day at a friend’s place and even though I warned them about my day I still felt my chatty tendencies itching to come to the surface. The limits of the challenge made me more aware of my feelings and motivations around talking. I often feel a need to fill space of silence, an impulse to entertain and make sure my presence is constantly proving its value by making engaging conversation or humorous experiences for people. This produces almost a weird guilt in me when I opt not to speak, as though people expect me to interact at a breakneck pace with them perpetually and if I don’t they’ll be offended. I tried to ignore social media and texts a lot but even my presumed responsibility to respond to people override our taciturn goal. It was also my best friend’s 30th birthday and once I got to the party I went into full gregarious mode and there was no turning back. If anything the educational lesson her are being more wary of my motives to vocalize and communicate.

Tomorrow's challenge: #3 Make more eye contact