I am not the type of person who says “like” after every word, but I will admit I say it more than what is grammatically necessary. That being said, not saying the word “like” for a week was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Not saying a word that you use on a daily basis is way more difficult than it seems. Using the word “like” is just a mental thing, but the second I had to monitor my words, I learned  just how hard it is to break a habit.

I figured I would slip up during my challenge, so I decided to keep a journal of how many times I said the word and what I had to go through while trying to cut the word “like” out of my vocabulary.

Day One-

Today is the first day of my challenge and I am even making sure I don’t  say “like” while I sing along to the radio on the way to school; however, when I started talking to my friends it all went downhill. I said the word “like” four times by 7:20AM. I don’t even realize I’m saying “like” half the time. My goal for today was to say it 15 times at most.  Needless to say I said the word way more than what I intended to.

Total amount of times the word “like” was said: 30

Day Two-

Today was slightly easier, but I’m still doing an awful job. My main issue is that I don’t even realize that I’m saying it. I assigned a couple of my friends to be on “like” patrol. Every time I accidentally say “like” their job is to alert me. Each time I use the word I have to mark a tally. I keep getting annoyed with myself, avoiding saying the word “like” shouldn’t be so difficult. I’m still saying “like” too often, but as long as I keep bringing the number of times I say “like” down, I’ll be satisfied.

Total amount of times the word “like” was said: 15

Day Three-

Today felt the same as yesterday, the only thing different is that I’ve actually started to limit how much I talk, and now I carefully plan out exactly what I’m going to say. There hasn’t been a huge improvement but at least I’m saying it less than the day before.

Total amount of times the word “like” was said: 12

Day Four and Five-

Days four and five were over the weekend, and because I was at softball games the entire time  I was easily able limit my use of “like”. I still slipped up a few times too many, but I drastically reduced the amount of “likes” said.

Total amount of times the word like was said over the weekend: 10

Day Six-

I had to present in World History today. Somehow, I managed to avoid saying “like” throughout my presentation. Not only am I now realizing when I say the word, I am beginning to realize when other people say it. While I was listening to everybody else present I was making mental tally marks every time they said the word “like”.

Total amount of times the word “like” was said: 10

Day Seven- ­­­­

Hallelujah it’s the last day of my challenge. I’m actually proud of how I’ve been doing today. I got to fifth period with a total of five tally marks  I am now convinced that every time I say “like”after today, I will be completely aware and make mental tally mark. I don’t think saying or hearing the word “like” will ever be the same for me.

The amount of times the word “like” was said: 8

The conclusion of this (failed) experiment is that the word “like” will never be removed from my vocabulary. I may not have been able to completely go a week without saying “like”, but this experience was eye-opening to how much the word “like” is overused. Now that I am more aware of the fact that I use the word excessively, I will definitely try to limit my use of the word when it is not grammatically acceptable.