10 Things I’m Letting Go (2026 Edition) — Practical choices a creator made to simplify work, home, and habits

# What this piece covers Shay, a lifestyle blogger, cookbook author, travel business owner, wife, and mother, shares a personal list of things she is intentionally letting go in 2026. The choices are practical adjustments meant to free mental space, protect family time, and reduce low-value habits that accumulated over years.

# The approach The list is anecdotal and grounded in daily life rather than theory. Shay frames each change as a simple experiment: try a different practice, see if it reduces stress or makes routines easier, and keep what helps.

# Concrete changes she made

• To-do list → three projects. For at least 15 years she kept a corner-notepad of long daily to-dos. After reading Slow Productivity, she moved to a system of listing only three "projects" to focus on each day, plus a task list of items that could become projects later. She reports this increased efficiency and stopped the habit of doing low-value items simply because they were on a list.

• Noise control in the car. When driving alone she prefers quiet or soft audio: a sports radio station at low volume, an audiobook, or a mellow music channel. The goal is decompression, not constant chatter.

• No weekend work. As a business owner she often felt drawn to work on Saturdays and Sundays. She's trying to stop waking early on weekend mornings to work and instead allow days off so her brain can rest.

• No appointments on Mondays. Inspired by Slow Productivity, she avoids scheduling personal or work appointments on Mondays to create one uninterrupted workday that sets the week up for success.

• Cutting habitual snacking. She focuses on larger, more satisfying meals (especially lunch) so she isn't reaching for snacks out of habit. The aim is to remove small, unnecessary eating moments and rely on fuller meals instead.

• Accepting audiobooks. She stopped discounting audiobooks as "not counting." While she still values reading on paper, she now uses audiobooks to add stories while doing chores, driving, or exercising, which fits better into her daily rhythms.

# How she frames the experiment Shay presents these changes as ongoing practices, not strict rules. She calls herself a work in progress and invites readers to consider which small shifts could reduce their own friction.

# Why a reader might care These adjustments are actionable, low-cost shifts you can try immediately. They focus on attention management, household boundary-setting, and changing small habits that cumulatively reclaim time and mental space.

# Quick checklist to try one week

• Pick three projects for the week and ignore the rest.
• Mute one group text that interrupts you frequently.
• Skip scheduling anything for Monday.
• Replace one snack with a slightly larger meal at lunch.