Have you ever taken a second to think how much you swear in a day? Before this challenge I never realized how much I actually swear. Sorry mom.

I took on the challenge to not swear for an entire week, and let me say, it did not go well. I failed on the first day. I told myself, this is easy, all you have to do is just not cuss. Nope. Not easy.

When I turned into a teenager, I developed habits that I didn’t have before. One of these habits was swearing. I began to say words and phrases that I didn’t used to say and that I had been taught not to say since they were strictly “taboo.”

This past week, when I was trying not to swear, I found that in some instances I was at a loss for words since I wasn’t allowed to say anything profane. I noticed that most of the time, when I swore, the words I said were just filler words. I remember sitting down next to friends, sighing, and just swearing. For no reason and with no context. Another time, I dropped my Nalgene on my foot, and I fought so hard with myself to not swear.

After miserably failing this challenge, I set out to find why it is that teenagers swear so much. What I discovered actually makes sense when I think about it. For adolescents, swearing can be a right of passage, a way to seem older and more mature than we really are. Words that are associated with adults, when used by an adolescent, can make them feel more associated with adults.

Instead of swearing, we can use other words to convey the same thing. Instead of calling a classmate a [insert your favorite swear word here], use other words to explain what you’re trying to say instead of sounding crude and ignorant.

By no means am I saying that I follow these suggestions. I need to work on them too. So take a second before you swear, acknowledge what you are trying to say, and express yourself in a way that isn’t obscene.

I challenge you to not swear for a week and see where it takes you.