Sometimes a mental reboot solves it all

. 1 min read

If you've seen the 2018 Dwayne Johnson action drama suspense movie Skyscraper, you know two things: 1) Neve Campbell is aging gracefully, and 2) the whole problem with the flaming building is solved by shutting the system down and starting it again. Since I rarely talk about Neve Campbell, I'm quite obviously going to make a big splash about rebooting.

As you may have guessed, I'm not talking about literal rebooting here. I mean mental rebooting. You analyze your situation, realize something needs to be turned off and on again, and do it.

Is there something in your life that isn't working optimally, or is even causing damage to your system? The bug may not be easily spotted but once you find the source of the malfunction, you can shut it down. You can then decide whether to turn on the same application on again, or alter its source code so that it starts to function differently.

Here are the main components of a person's life. See if reading any of them sounds some alarm in your head:

  1. Work
  2. Family and friends
  3. Health
  4. Hobbies
  5. A meaningful task to devote yourself to

Did any of those feel different? Is your life lacking one or more of these? Do you have too much of one or more? Is the ratio between the components in imbalance? If yes, dig deeper into the emotion to find the source. It could be very specific - for example, that your spouse sleeps with their back to you - and very small, yet its effect can compound over other things, making you feel like something's off or missing. Find the bug. Shut it off. Alter the code. Turn it on again.

Sometimes rebooting and starting over is the only way forward.

RK