Reset and start again

[00:00:00] Well, hello. This is The Daily Five with Aurooba, that's me, where we reflect on creating our best lives a little bit every day. Here we go.

[00:00:15] Every passing moment is an opportunity to start again if you like. But, if that's a little much for you, here's a more palatable unit of time you can use to start again. Every week. Consider every Monday a fresh start. The mistakes and stumbles of the last week belong in the last week. On Monday, we begin again.

[00:00:38] Yes, the consequences of whatever happened last week could still be there, whatever they may be in whatever you're measuring, keeping track of, or trying, but it's a new week. It's a chance to take a moment and act instead of react. Every moment and day builds upon the last. Every action builds upon the last.

[00:01:00] But, also, every moment is a new start, and the ability to do something differently is available to you. Your past moments don't have to dictate your current moment. Or, hmm, at the very least, your past moments don't have to dictate your approach to the current moment.

[00:01:18] So Monday for me is always a fresh start. It doesn't matter how late I get back home on a Sunday, I take the time to reset the first floor of my house with my spouse. Because I work from home, that first floor of my house, which is where my office is, it really affects me mentally and emotionally. I process better in a space that can breathe, in a space that is relatively clean and fairly organized.

[00:01:42] If there are dishes in the sink, they get washed. The counters get a quick but complete wipe down. We straighten the dining table. Water all the plants. Plump up the throw pillows. Wipe down the mirrors. I always grind some coffee so I have it ready in the morning. This is something I do every day because I wake up before my spouse and I don't like to disturb him by grinding coffee in a silent home. So I do it the night before.

[00:02:06] Then I go into my office. I straight up my, straighten up my desk, do a light wipe down, fill my water bottle, plug my trackpad in for charging, and clear off any random things that may have accumulated on my desk this past week. It's often like, receipts and random bits of pieces of paper and stuff like that.

[00:02:26] And after I've done that, I usually breathe easier. My mind feels clear. And I'm ready to go to bed so I can wake up the next day and start afresh.

[00:02:35] A reset may look different for you. We all have to find what works for us. In some ways, a reset is a form of self care. For me, it's making my environment ready. For you, it may mean yoga before bed and writing out a to do list for the coming week. Whatever it may be.

[00:02:52] What I really like about a reset is, you're not actually starting from the start. You're just resetting whatever you need to reset to the last known successful moment. I don't revamp my entire house every Sunday night, for example. I just clean it up and bring it into a good version of its current form. A reset is a chance to assess where you are and figure out where you can go. For example, this Sunday I noticed that one of my plants really needs a solid trim. Since it would take me more than five minutes to do so, it's going on the list for the upcoming week, which is when I will tackle it.

[00:03:29] And remember, as you reset and begin again, things do not have to be optimal in order for them to be beneficial. It's better to eat healthy one day a week, for example, rather than zero days a week. It's better to have meal prepped for one lunch rather than none at all. No one starts with the most ideal version of anything.

[00:03:48] And optimal may not even be what you need right now. Don't compare other people's perfect or something that they have honed over many, many years or a long, long time to your situation when you might just be starting out. You can always improve things once you get started. If you don't start at all, then you're kind of out of luck.

[00:04:11] So it's okay to stumble. It's okay to reset. Just keep going, every restart will be better than the last, and frankly, the restarts are never going to stop. Life is many things and many metaphors, and one of them is that life is all about starting again and again and again. Rather than stumbling and grumbling about it, it's better that we just get comfortable starting again and again.

[00:04:39] We are constantly going to be doing it. It is okay. It is normal. It is literally part of being a human, you know, so just reset and start again. Thanks for listening. Same time tomorrow?