LIFE RESET? WHERE TO START

Does a life reset sound pretty good right about now?

Has your fear of missing out taken over?

Before you go all in on a reset, consider this:

Are you who you think you are?

Do a life reset without that important bit of knowledge you will end up with one wish:

“I wish I could do a life reset.”

Again?

Here’s what I know so far: You don’t have to get weird about a reset.

It’s not about losing weight. Again.

Not about making more money, changing your hair color, bleaching your teeth, or showing up to ‘be seen.’

My favorite reset guy is Ben Affleck.

He dumped his wife and kids to reset back to a life he once had a chance for.

He used to have pictures taken of he and his kids and the ‘other’ Jennifer.

Now he goes out for a cup of coffee with the new/old Jennifer and it’s an event with a full report on their public displays of affection.

The guy can’t get a cup of coffee off the celebrity clock?

Some reset. Sounds more like a publicity tour.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Take My Life Reset, Please

To me, and maybe I’m wrong, a life reset as a real goal is bullshit.

And here’s why:

A reset carries as many pitfalls as your current life if you don’t change anything ahead of time.

“Take me back to a simpler time and place?”

Check the clock first. Was it simpler?

People love looking back at the 50’s as the place. Why?

Because that’s when aging baby boomers see nostalgic pictures of a passed era they have a vague recollections of.

Imagine social media if it had been around then?

We’d have had a President McCarthy instead of President Eisenhower, followed by a President Nixon in 1960.

Reset to that cluster-f#ck and what would 2022 look like?

2

To crib a line from Cool Hand Luke, “what we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.”

This is your time, your era, your leading edge.

A life reset is a bad dream, a movie you don’t want to see, a book edited by a cat.

Your life is your dream, your movie, your book.

But you’re too hazed, too challenged, and too lazy to work it out.

Or maybe it’s just me?

I’m not an expert on this, but experience tells a different story.

Move It On Over Little Dog

My first reset was sports.

Being on losing teams with guys who had all of the excuses rankled me.

Was I a loser for playing on losing teams?

That’s how it felt, and I couldn’t stand it. I’d rather quit than keep an association with futility.

So, I made one last attempt and walked into the wrestling room of an old gym that has since been torn down.

I walked out of my last wrestling room five years later a better man for the experience.

Bitter and disillusioned at my results, but that’s sports. You win some, you lose some.

2

Added to the change up, I dropped out of college wrestling and joined the Army to compete with manly men.

Was it a mistake? My old team won a national championship a couple of years later. I would have been a senior.

Instead, I got wrung out and tossed to the side of the road with the Army team.

That was my big sports shot.

3

The next shot came when I dropped out of college to move three thousand miles away for a girl.

A very nice girl from a nice family, she decided we were it.

Then she decided we weren’t it.

Instead of leaving the east coast with my tail between my legs, I doubled down and moved to the Big Apple for a bite.

That’s when the notion of location, location, location took hold.

Has this ever happened to you:

I woke up one day thinking I’d be happier in familiar surroundings instead of having my surrounding explained to me every day like I was an idiot.

This is why big city people come off as rude: They’ve seen their share of rubes asking the same questions over and over and over.

With little to no baggage, I packed it in and moved to Portland, Oregon, the biggest city in the state, and not even half the size of a NYC borough.

I felt like I made it in New York, so according to the song, I could make it anywhere.

I had a cheap apartment, a low paying job, and a few friends to keep me company.

I moved when things took a turn for more permanence.

Did I want to become a New Yorker? A fraud New Yorker seemed like my ceiling since I wasn’t from there.

What I aimed for was more authenticity.

Planning Your Next Move?

Don’t do it. Just don’t.

Do this instead:

Recommit to the people and place where you are.

Find a new way to fit in.

Work it out and your community will see a New You.

Your loved ones may think you’re up to something nefarious, but what’s new about that?

Let them think what they want.

I got a text once from someone with a screw loose.

They asserted their authority, claimed their rightful place in the universe, and demanded I comply with their views.

It sounded like they were on the brink, on the edge, like their next plan was to eat their piece.

So I backed off, went neutral, and didn’t add their conflagration.

Tip to act: Unless you’ve got a pedigree that includes mental health therapist, be careful how you interact with people who seem to be on shaky ground.

You don’t want your voice to be the one that sends them over the edge.

No one wants a special mention in a suicide note.

Be cautious, be kind, and be a good listener.

Most of all, listen to your heart.

Any other is a big mystery.