A Simple Thing ✨ no. 18
rewiring habits to combat the 3 Ss
Welcome to A Simple Thing—a weekly series delivered to your inbox (most)every Monday, offering a small, bite-sized action that can create a meaningful impact.
Over the past year, I’ve been intentionally reshaping my habits around shopping, scrolling, and spiraling in pursuit of more peace. I’ve noticed these three “Ss” tend to surface when my mind feels restless or overstimulated. The last two weeks of January felt especially challenging for me, so in recent weeks, I’ve taken a step back—dialing down the online noise and news—and have felt the benefits almost immediately.
Last week, I sat down with my notebook and listed out simple, low-effort, mostly free, and mostly screen-free alternatives (though I do think there are lovely things to enjoy on a screen when done with intention). Just having this list brings me so much ease—I’ve already done the mental work to generate ideas, so when the urge to shop, scroll, or spiral strikes, I have ready-made alternatives to turn to.
A Simple Thing to Do This Week…
✨ Generate alternatives to the 3 Ss: Shopping, Scrolling, and Spiraling
What pulls us toward these habits? Are they driven by the same underlying needs? The answer may vary from person to person, but in our digitally saturated world, it’s no secret that these behaviors have become a bit of an addiction. More often than not, we fall into them without much thought.
But not today.
No, today we’ve opened up A Simple Thing with a hot mug of coffee (maybe with a little salted maple and a splash of oat milk—just a suggestion) and a slice of toast with jam, and we’re making a promise: to take back our awareness of our shopping, scrolling and spiraling habits and replace them with something more nourishing.
Here’s how I define the 3 Ss:
shopping: Mostly online, but if you’re spending most of your free time roaming the mall in your white Jeep Wrangler à la Cher Horowitz, that counts too. These days, though, most of us do our impulse shopping online.
scrolling: The most self-explanatory of the bunch, including the dreaded doom-scroll.
spiraling: Obsessively reading the news, falling into an anxiety-fueled internet search rabbit hole, or allowing overwhelming thoughts to consume you—sometimes through scrolling.
Today—right now, or sometime soon while the inspiration is fresh—I want you to grab a sheet of paper (any ole sheet will do!) and list as many low-effort, mostly free, mostly accessible, and mostly screen-free activities as possible to turn to instead of shopping, scrolling, or spiraling. Challenge yourself—aim for at least 30 ideas.
And for my paid subscribers, I’ve put together 52 ideas, in the form of February’s printable, that you can hang on your fridge, tuck into your notebook, or use as a digital screensaver—because having physical reminders of these alternatives is a major tool in rewiring our habits.
We’re all in this together, drop a few of your ideas in the comments! Let’s create a long, collective list we can all pull from.
Yay for this printable!!!! I made a menu for my son to help him choose things to do (not for the 3 s’s because he’s 6 but as ideas beyond screen time) and haven’t thought to make one for me! Genius!
Love this mindset. I recently created a thread in GPT and asked it to act as my budget accountability partner. Most nights, I send a message detailing what I purchased that day. It's been a really helpful way to reflect on and curb impulse spending. When I think of buying something, I momentarily think of those checkins, and am reminded that I want to reflect on a GOOD day that evening in line with my goals.