Can I hit reset? #WordsMatter

hit reset
Photo by luizclas from Pexels

20 years ago, I wanted to be so many things, but now, I’d rather be just me. As a kid, I’d never stopped dreaming. There were so many things that I wanted to be and there were so many things that I wanted to do. If someone asked me what I wanted to be, I always had an answer though a different one. It would go from being a teacher to an astronaut, from a doctor to a writer, from a botanist to pilot – there were so many things that I wanted to be. I always wanted to grow up because there were so many things that I thought I could do. But if you ask me now what I want to be, my answer may sound ironic for I want to be a child again. 

I’ve known the reality that being an adult can be difficult and would have troubles of its own. But I was never prepared for the craziness that life has become these days. I miss those days of childhood where I had no worries or cares. Those were the days were I could smile without fear, laugh without care and cry my heart out when I was sad. Unlike now, when I have to hide my tears, I have a smile plastered on my face and laughter is often restricted to LOL on the keyboard. Life seems to have become so busy that there is no time to just sit down quietly and just enjoy the moment without worrying about the next. Hello adulthood, this is not what I signed up for!

Growing up, I was always this curious who asked a lot of questions, wondered about how things worked and why they were the way they were. I’d often let my imagination roam freely and make up my own stories and create a world of my own. But that curious mind seems to have been lost. Ideas don’t come to my mind as easily as they once would. And trust me, it hurts.  As a child, I thought the many rules that I was supposed to follow were coming in the way of my freedom, but now, as an adult the fact that I can’t spend enough time on things that I love to do, the fact that I can’t let my imagination run freely hurts. I’ve often tried to little things to make things better, but then the whole thing of not finding time happens again. At the beginning of each, I plan to do something new or to do something better. There are so many ideas that I want to bring to life, but then things happen and my life comes in the way. 

Being an electronics engineer, the one thing I’m often supposed to do when the hardware doesn’t work the way it is supposed to it to reset or restart it. This is done to bring back the system to its initial state- one without errors or any issues. There are times when I wish, I could hit reset and start life over again my way. But life doesn’t work that way. It just goes on. There is no way back and we can only move forward. Life seems to have become complicated and we don’t have time anymore to live life. We manage just to stay alive.

I know I cannot start over again as a child, but I often wonder if I could make a fresh start and do things that I really want to do rather than living a life full of complaints and regrets? Now that again is a complicated decision. Have you ever felt this way? If not reset, can I just hit refresh once in a while?

Ending this post with a poem called Leisure by William Henry Davies. I first read this poem in my English Text Book in school. But these words have remained fresh in my memory even now. 

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.


I received this tag from Balaka who blogs at Trina Looks Back. It’s my pleasure to pass on this tag to Pragya who blogs at Yoga with Pragya. There are 29  of us on this Blog Hop and it will be spread over 3 days – 1st, 2nd and 3rd November  2019. Do follow the #WordsMatter Blog Hop and prepare to be surprised! 

18 responses to “Can I hit reset? #WordsMatter”

  1. This is the best post I have read today. Truly wonderful for being straight from the heart. It is the irony of life when we are a child, we want to grow up dreaming to become a thousand things and when we become an adult, we want nothing more than turning into a child together.
    Additionally, in my case, there is a child in the picture who points out to me every passing moment what hay of an adult life I have as compared to his which is nothing but slavery 😀

  2. Balaka Basu says:

    I also wish that life had a ‘restart’ or ‘refresh’ button. It would really be nice to have hit the button and start everything afresh. We all wanted to grow up fast because at that time adult life looked fun and childhood meant only restrictions and discipline but now all of us want to crawl back to our childhood. How I wish I should have appreciated my childhood more. Beautiful post.

  3. Jyothi Nair says:

    This post had me smiling all the way. I know how this feels too well. I am an Electronics Engineer too and I have so often thought of resetting my life. There was a time I wished I had amnesia and I could forget everything and restart. But then I thought, life would be so dull right? I have earned every wrinkle on my face and every grey in my hair, now I dread not being able to remember how deeply I appreciate them!

  4. Life doesn’t have a reset button but there is always hope. Hope you get more time to do things that you love.

  5. Shilpa Garg says:

    Oh, I’d like the Reset or Refresh button, definitely. Since that isnt possible, we have to live with the choices we have made, accept the mistakes, appreciate the bad phases and learn from them. It is these trials, pains, regrets and challenges that make us stronger and make us a better version of ourselves. So go on and live your life to the fullest, howsoever cliched this may sound. 🙂

  6. Unfortunately real life doesn’t come with a reset button. But we can always make changes to improve our lives.

  7. Kaddu says:

    Oh yes! Been there totally!
    Alas, there is no reset button in life. And its a good thing there isn’t. Life’s experiences are meant to give us two things – 1) memories and 2) lessons. We feel overwhelmed/burdened when we haven’t fully taken the lessons we were meant to. Because when we do that, those experiences automatically ‘reset’ and just lose all their ‘weight’, so to speak.
    Hugs! Be strong!

  8. PRANITA says:

    Really , its very true , it is very hard to keep reset button in life.

  9. Obsessivemom says:

    It’s only when we grow up that we can look back at our childhood as the best time of our lives Reema. perhaps it didn’t seem as rosy to you when you were actually a child. On a positive note, while the rest button might not be a possibility, as an adult you do have access to the pause button. So hit pause, take a break, refresh yourself and get back, there’s no escaping adult life.

  10. Wished for a reset button so many many times. But as I grew older, I realised we can learn from our mistakes and now I very consciously chose to do things that give me joy. I can’t stop adulting however much I wish it, but I do take off for never never land once in a while.

  11. Sometimes I also get an urge to go back in time and undo the things that I have already done. But alas this is not possible and we have to learn something from each passing day. Great post!

  12. Its very true, when we were children we had dreams of what it would be to be an adult, all the things we used to see our parents and elder cousins do seem to muse us. I used to dream of being able to travel alone, go shopping alone, freedom of being an adult seemed so large,. But when you grow up all you want is to be rid of all the responsibilities that come up clinging to adulthood. going back to being a child, being taken care of and not having to worry for anything seems more lucarative now…life!

  13. Thank you for sharing from your heart, Reema. Life doesn’t have a reset button, but we can make changes, even radical ones in our present and so alter the course of our future. Hugs.

  14. Pragya Bhatt says:

    Well written. I think with a little bit of introspection we would all realize that all we would rather be is us.

  15. I feel owing up to our decisions in every manner will reduce the friction we intake as we try to do something. It allows us to learn new things and prepare us for what is to come though it doesn’t fix the present. Thanks for sharing these deep thoughts.

  16. Parul Thakur says:

    Reema, this is one of the most honest posts I have read on this edition. Well done and I am glad you shared exactly how you feel. The whole reason why I love blogging is the honesty I see in the words. So thank you!

    Now to your point – I don’t think reset would do us good but refresh would. I think all you need is a commitment to yourself to do what you want to do and be who you want to be. I don’t want to be preachy but we have one life and we need to shape it the way we want. 🙂 So make some changes and if you need any help, ping me 🙂

  17. Shalini says:

    I wish life had a reset button too. But since it isn’t there, let’s just do things to shape our future. Tight hugs to you, Reema <3

  18. CTRL+ALT+DEL

    Not sure I want to do a full factory reset, but maybe refresh the OS? That’d be good. 🙂

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