The restart button only exists in the world of games, virtual reality, gadgets, and the like.
But when it comes to reality, it’s a concept that seems to elude us. Every season in our life, we start up something extraordinary – a project, a diet routine, a gym routine, a writing routine, and so on. But suddenly, we break the pattern or stop entirely, usually for different reasons. Some are legit, and some are not so much.
We sometimes stop because we didn’t see the results of our hard work soon enough, or sometimes we stop because we were overwhelmed by the feedback we got or couldn’t cope.
It becomes very frustrating when we stop a project or routine that we seemingly did well at. And after a few, the yearning to go back and restart returns. The desire grows and sits in our minds daily, but it isn’t strong enough to help us restart. So, we feel stuck with this desire that seeks to consume us if we don’t take action yet numb each time we try to move into action.
And we keep looking back to the heydays when we kept at it and told ourselves we would restart but never do. The days become weeks, the weeks become months, the months become years, and we eventually give up or forget how to. All that momentum we built is gone with the break, and then we sit by the sidelines and watch other people thrive at the things we probably know how to do better than they do, but just because they stayed consistent, they are winning.
Here I am with this yearning that won’t go away, but there’s no action from me to satisfy the yearning. Am I confused? Am I transfixed? What’s with the endless procrastination? How difficult can it be to restart what I know I can do, what I have done before, and what I know is good for me? I guess that’s life or is something stopping me, like my Village people in some coven mouthing gibberish chants to stop me – how ludicrous.
The restart button is not like the start button; no, not at all. The start button has no memory. It is fresh, new, and devoid of the ghost of failure surrounding the restart button. The start button usually has the company of other starters whose passion and zeal combine to fuel the start, but this is not the case for the restart button. There are no companions; it is a lone ranger devoid of fuel.
The truth is that no matter how long I analyse or try to understand this situation, the answer is that the only way to restart is to restart.
If only there were a restart button we could conveniently push, if only…