I have noticed a trend recently with many people completely changing the way they live their lives in order to follow their joy. Some have decided to join the legions of workers that are 'quiet quitting.' While this may not be as dramatic a lifestyle change as a great reset, it still achieves the same desire - to shift our focus and find more hours in our day to do the things that bring us joy and give our life meaning.
What is a reset and why is it so important?
Reset simply means to set again or differently, but can also be described as returning something to base level. And why is it so important for humans? Pre-covid we had become accustomed to living life at full throttle with work as the number one priority. This in turn often left many of us living in survival mode - which we all know is detrimental to our overall well-being. It also meant we had become disconnected from each other - and our true selves.
COVID has given us many things, but the greatest gift was affording us a pause in which we had no choice but to slow our pace of life and living. Doing so has seemingly caused people to re-evaluate not just their pace of life, but the meaning they gave to everyday things and the way they were living their lives. It has shown us that many work roles can be completed from home - reducing travel time and affording us extra time to spend with or on the things we love - walking the kids to school, making lunches, early morning meditations - it has also given us time to indulge our passions.
Indulging our passions ignites our brain and soul in ways which are difficult to describe - even in scientific terms. Engaging our passion ignites our creative brain and our unconscious mind, in turn encouraging us to focus on possibilities instead of problems, and joy instead of worry. According to neuroscience, following our passion lights up areas in our brain that increase the production of Oxytocin and Dopamine - our love and happiness hormones. These hormones act like drugs - we feel so good when our levels are high that we yearn to do more of the things that make us feel so good. This higher levels also leave us feeling more fulfilled and in turn calmer, reducing our stress levels and stress reactions. This has a flow on effect of creating better connections within our intimate relationships.
This in turn has led many humans to question why they do the things that leave them feeling the opposite - stressed, unhappy, moody, and uptight. This may include our 9-5 roles. Chasing and living a simpler life where we spend our days living our passion isn't just a dream anymore - it is increasingly becoming a way of life. People are selling up, quitting their jobs and moving to live off grid in droves We are also returning to a simpler way of life: growing and cooking our own food, focusing on sustainable energy and living, reducing our consumption, up-cycling, caring more for each other and our planet, and most importantly - ourselves.
This movement is often referred to as a 'Great Reset.' A return to base level - to set again or differently.
It doesn't have to be as dramatic as a complete lifestyle change, it may just involve working within your allocated hours of work, changing the way you work to include more time for passions, or simply prioritising your self-care by completely switching off when the workday is done so you can be more present in your life and do more of the things you are passionate about.
So what will your great reset involve?
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