You know when your fitness app joyfully informs you that you haven’t exercised in 147 days? Or when you uncover a dusty journal with only three entries from January? Welcome to the society of everlasting beginners; we have cookies. (This could potentially explain why we constantly restart our diet regimens.)
The Permission Slip You Didn’t Know You Needed
Here’s something about life that no one tells you in nicely edited Instagram posts: Successful people do not succeed because they never fail; rather, they are excellent restarters. Consider life to be a video game with a limitless number of continues. Did you die on level three? Restart! Did you mess up that boss battle? Reset! Can’t locate the secret door? Time to refocus! 🎮
Remember when your old Windows PC would freeze, and the miraculous answer was to turn it off and back on? This is akin to discovering the secret code of life. Sometimes you have to pull the power, count to ten, and reboot your systems. And, unlike your computer, you will not lose any critical information in the process—only some needless baggage known as “self-doubt.”
The Science of Starting Over (Sort Of)
Did you realize our brains enjoy fresh starts? It’s known as the “fresh start effect,” and it’s why we become so motivated on Mondays, the beginning of the month, or after watching an inspiring YouTube video at 3 a.m. Your brain is effectively saying, “New beginning? It’s time to change completely!” 🧠✨
But here’s where things become interesting—and I mean slightly embarrassing for all of us humans. We tend to believe that each restart must be a huge, ceremonial affair. As Mercury departs retrograde, you may need to wait for a new moon while burning sage, and your horoscope will line up with the foam pattern on your coffee.
Spoiler alert: you don’t.
The Unofficial Guide to Restarting (No Sage Required)
Consider your ambitions to be like an obstinate GPS recalculating after you’ve taken the wrong way. It does not exclaim, “JOURNEY OVER, YOU FAILED!” Instead, it simply says “recalculating” and finds another path. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if GPS systems were more dramatic? “Turn left! LEFT! Oh, humanity! You missed it!” 🚗
The restart-reset-refocus trio has the advantage of being available at all times. Have you had a hectic morning and then indulged in a three-hour TikTok binge by the afternoon? Reset! The day is not over. Have you broken your “no procrastination” streak by viewing all seven seasons of a show in one weekend? Restart on Monday! However, perhaps we should limit our viewing to just six seasons in the future? Progress, not perfection! 😉
The Plot Twist
Here’s the real kicker: those restarts, resets, and refocuses? They are not failures. These are data points. When you restart, you don’t begin anew; instead, you begin with experience. It’s similar to having a cheat sheet for life, except that the answers change and the questions are occasionally in the style of interpretive dance.
Every time you reset, you are basically telling yourself, “I know better now.” Every time you restart, you’re telling yourself, “I’m worth another try.” Every time you refocus, you acknowledge, “Maybe watching cat videos isn’t the best use of my work time” (even if that cat playing piano was quite impressive 🐱🎹).
The Grand Finale (Until the Next Restart)
So, here’s your formal permission slip to restart as many times as necessary. Pin it to your wall, tattoo it on your arm (temporary tattoos are acceptable), or say it to yourself in the mirror like a motivating ghost: “I can begin again, and again, and again.”
Remember that life isn’t about keeping a perfect streak; it’s about having a perfect desire to try again. And if somebody tells you otherwise, they’re definitely attempting to sell you something on Instagram.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to restart my diet. This will happen immediately after I finish the last cookie. Alternatively, you could wait until tomorrow. Actually, you know what? Allow me to refocus and start with half a cookie. That is growth, right? 🍪✨
P.S. If you’ve made it this far and are considering starting over, today is the time. Alternatively, you could wait until you’ve finished reading another blog article. Or after the snooze you’ve been thinking about. You know what? You can continue as many times as you want, so there’s no need to rush.