Reset
Reset
by Aayushi Roy
At the end of December 2023, I had just finished my finals. An era had just ended and a new year was going to start soon. It felt like now was the time to shed off my old skin and build up new habits.
So I sat down in the garden with my new diary, supposedly a journal, and began jotting down all I wanted to do in 2024. As I was making a list, I gradually went to note down all the things that I wanted to change in my life regarding my study routines, behaviour patterns, new hobbies I wanted to take up, and a few that I wanted to let go of—like smiling and being polite even if someone is repeatedly interrupting me.
I went into looking closely at my life last year and how I wanted to reset it, in a direction that aligns with me and will help me feel good. I noted how I was letting myself down in small ways and resolved to change.
So, I made a list, and you can too. Here’s how:
Step one: Decide what you want to change in your life and determine how you want to change that. Since we are creatures to always favour the easy way, we let go of our goals very quickly.
Step two: Write it down in bold. Choose your colours and make them loud. Paste it up on your wall. You can choose a visible area like your window if you are comfortable with people noticing it, or like me, paste it on your closet wall. The location made me look at it and read it first thing in the morning, almost daily. This made my resolve much stronger.
Step three: Write down all the habits that can help you achieve that goal. For example, in my case, I did not want to be polite to people who were fakely being “nice” to me just to get their way. I did not want to accommodate people who were making me feel uncomfortable. So, I wrote down
Say no unapologetically and without explaining the reason to anyone (they don’t get to know).
Don’t smile even if they do (because they only do it when they need a favour. No ifs, ands, or buts).
Step four: Reiterate the second step, but this time, make sure it’s visible. Put your resolutions above your bed, on your phone case, on your wall, or somewhere that will stare down at you. And then, if you’re like me, highlight and decorate the letters of it. Make it pretty, aesthetic, and you.
TA-DA! Now, you have a game plan to build yourself up as much as you want.
But wait, there’s another step left.
The final step, step five: Review how successful you were at implementing your new habits. If you did follow them, how did they make you feel? Did you feel good? Accomplished? Were you able to get where you wanted to be? Or if you were not able to implement them, why? Were the new habits not feasible? How could they revised, changed?
I always remind myself that it’s trial and error. I won’t get things done the right way on the first try, but the important thing for me is to learn from them and keep trying.
So this year, reset your habits, your schedules, and your patterns—but give yourself the grace of getting it wrong and having the courage to get it right. Be kind to yourself.
Reset, to build yourself up.
