How to start over in life
Resetting your life and starting again is a desire we all had at least once in our life. And doing it is absolutely possible without getting a new identity. Here are my tips on how to start over in life.
DISCLAIMER: This is not talking about a job related reset, since that is way more of a case to case thing. This routine might be able to help you with the decision-making in that area, but since I donβt have any experience in that sector I didnβt want to talk about it here.
*This post contains affiliate links
Journal out all your feelings, then plan out your future goals with action steps
This is always the beginning. You need to cleanse your mind from everything. Write down everything crossing your mind. Emotions, pressures, ideas, random things coming to your mind. Just get it all out, maybe even try to work through things that you want to forgive people for if something like that is bothering you. Once everything is out of your system as best as it can be you should start planning out your future. What are your goals for the next month, quarter, year, two years and five years? And then write action steps for those things and put them into manageable increments to work toward in a time you set for yourself. A five year plan doesnβt always have to be career centered, having it life and wellness centered is actually very helpful too. Mine includes all aspects of my life and just the fact that I have that plan to refer to makes me a little less stressed in the way I do things nowadays.
Delete apps and social media that influence you badly
The first thing I thought about when I asked myself how to start over my life was my digital habits. Delete as many apps as possible that you donβt use from your phone. As long as the have a backup option or are entirely online you can just download them again if you need them. Then go and delete social media apps from your phone. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, all of them. Some of them might influence your mental health without you realizing and doing a little detox of them for a few days can help not only your stress level but also your awareness of which apps are passively ruining your mood.
Declutter your environment
You probably own a lot of things that you didnβt use in the last 2 years and that also donβt count as a keepsake. Throw them out, donate them or gift them to someone that gets better use out of them. There are at least 10-40 pieces in your closet you donβt wear and wonβt wear no matter how many times you tell yourself that while decluttering. Watch a few YouTube videos on decluttering, maybe even minimalism. You donβt need to become a minimalist but stuff that just clutters up your space also clutters up your mind. After youβre done please assign a set place for everything you have so it doesnβt create new clutter and can be easily brought to its place everytime you clean.
Weed out people in your life and contacts
Sometimes we donβt take a step back and take in the social environment that we are in. If you are unhappy in your life, chances are you have either at least one toxic person close to you or are surrounded by too many people that are absolute downers. Donβt get me wrong, having problems in life is natural and so is talking about them, but there are people that vent and then change something instead of constantly revisiting the same problems. Sort out the toxic people, reassess the priority of the people weighing you down regularly with their problems and write down which type of person would be a great friend to add to that circle. You can also write down how to help the people that are stuck but you might come across people that wonβt change until they accept that they have a problem.
Try new hobbies
Try out something new like baking/cooking, playing an instrument, making art, learning a new skill, a sport, or a new language. You can easily get free resources in my eBook about self care called βMIND, BODY & SOULβ that help with finding the best hobby for you that is also soothing and relaxing to you. Nobody wants a hobby that stresses them out. If most sports stress you out maybe consider yoga or dancing. If you like art, start learning how to use watercolor techniques. You are a little nerd that would love to brag with another language you can speak, then learn the basics of a new language. Trying something new doesnβt only give you the sense of a reset but also often comes with new friends doing the same thing and a newfound inspiration based on the new thing youβre doing.
Adventure your area & find new favorite places
How to start over in life? See your surroundings in a completely new light. There are areas in your region that you have never been to or you didnβt visit in a long time. Adventure your area as much as you can and find new places to hang out and meet up with people. Finding a new food place or a calm place in the middle of nature can be very changing for your overall weekly routine. You donβt only need to see new people, you also need to see new places. Your mind needs nice, calm and comforting new input.
Create a new morning routine
Yes, a morning routine. You might think this is just some weird Youtube trend but tons of successful people, millionaires and billionaires actually swear by morning routines. My ideal morning routine starts with a meditation, followed by a little bit of reading and then either a small workout or journaling. That boost in calmness and soulfulness in the morning hours really does something to your concentration and productivity for the rest of the day. I recently made an entire post about things you can include into your morning routine. If youβre just getting into it you might want to check out a book like Miracle Morning for some guidance.
Analyze which habits you should build
There are probably a ton of things you should be doing more regularly. Is it drinking enough or could it be that you neglect your skin care a lot? Work out all the habits you want to improve or start in the first place, like drawing regularly for example. Then prioritize them and start with one or two of the most important ones and download an app holding you accountable with reminders. This helped me study more regularly together with an actual study plan. Habits can fail sometimes but remember to always try to get back on track. That doesnβt only go for working out, friends!
Analyze what you want to change about your mindset and research it
We all have something about our mindset that bothers us because we know itβs irrational. And to some extent those things are normal, but most people have one or two things about them that are a bit too strong. For a lot of women that might be self esteem problems, shyness or low stress resistance. Tons of people also struggle with motivation. All those problems have solutions. There are tons of techniques to improve self esteem, shyness and better your stress resistance. And for motivation there are some really good talks about it not being something you should rely on. Research into a mindset you want to change and start doing exactly that.
Plan everything for next few days
If you want to reset your life, you want to be less stressed with the daily boring things, even if you want to improve on those exact things. Working ahead or in bulk can be a great stress reliever here. Plan your tasks ahead over the entire upcoming week. Make a food plan for the next 1-2 weeks and maybe even cook in advance. Maybe your life reset includes dressing a little different. You should start planning out new outfits to wear in the next week. Make it as easy as possible for yourself to start your new outlook on life.
Maybe make appointments
This is a very mini thing to do that is not only very adult but also best done in a batch. Making phone calls is something nobody really likes, letβs be real here. Resetting your life means making sure youβre healthy and you should make an appointment to get at least a blood check. When were you at a dentist the last time? Also get that done and over with. Any special doctors you need to go and see again? Do you think you might benefit from going to therapy and getting your problems thoroughly worked out and have someone to vent to? I would definitely recommend it to anyone that can go to one.
Start the reset with a slow self care day
Now that all of that is prepared, written down and done, you can finally start your reset with a slow day. Make it a day full of self care activities to get your stress level down as far as possible and start the next week as calm as possible. Maybe read a book about self care while youβre at it. Need one? I wrote an entire eBook about all things self care called βMIND, BODY & SOULβ that you can check out HERE.
Figure out your goals
Staying on track after a reset like this needs some in-depth planning beforehand or when you start resetting. The best way to do that is with prompts and workbooks that help you look inward. There is so much more to staying on track and working on yourself than jst writing down one single goal. If you want a little start you can download my free mini personal development plan by signing up for my newsletter down below, or you can check out my new workbook on how to get your life together.
Did you enjoy this post? Share it on Pinterest:
How to start over in life by Rabea