Is it just me, or is everyone getting blammed with “reset your workouts! reset your nutrition! reset your home decor! reset your nervous system!” messaging this month?
You may now be thinking, “I get the multiple fall resets, along with the deluge of pumpkin spice-filled potables and edibles messaging”. But reset your nervous system? What does that even mean? How am I supposed to do that? Also, is a cold reboot of my brain or body even a good idea?
Well, some folks think so and are enthusiastically offering us tips on restarting our environments, habits and even neural circuitry in time for fall. Here is an example of what I’m seeing/hearing.
Dan Harris, founder of my favorite meditation app Happier (nee 10% Happier), is doing a whole September reset month of podcast episodes on rewiring your nervous system to reduce stress, heal from trauma, and avoid self-sabotage. Here are some of the topics:
- From self-abandonment to self-compassion: Elizabeth Gilbert’s path to inner refuge
- Rewiring your inner critic: Beginning Anew for self-compassion and connection
- Reclaim your calm: Resetting your nervous system for resilience
I have some thoughts about this.
First, I’m not super handy around the house, so when and if there’s rewiring needed, I outsource it to the professionals. Honestly, this is the kind of thing I don’t ever want to take on as a DIY project:
Similarly, for really big me-problems that require, as it were, major rewiring, I make sure to get some help. And I do, on a regular basis. I’m a long-term fan and participant in therapy, and also an intermittent and enthusiastic physical therapy client.
Second, I agree that it’s important to be the stewards of our own well-being; I mean, if not us, then who? And we all know this. I have my daily and weekly schedules of things-to-do and things-to-do-for-me, which are always in flux, but which I work on and adjust as life unfolds. And one of the things I like about these schedules and routines is that they can be tweaked when unexpected things happen, or when I just need a little change-up. Engaging in a major directional change is not easy– it’s super-disruptive in itself, so I try not to throw out my usual plans unless there’s a really compelling set of reasons.
Of course, sometimes there are compelling reasons. These podcast speakers talk in detail about those life extremes and offer an account of how they navigated through them to calmer times, along with some suggestions for us.
Third– as I said, deciding to embark on a completely new daily life plan is a very big deal. The fact that fall is here is not (for me) a good enough reason to throw myself into resetting my brain to fix all my life-long quirks and vulnerabilities.
September is an important transition time, even for those of you whose lives aren’t governed by the school calendar. I’m all for new beginnings, embracing the change, and welcoming in another season with its new foods, fabrics, and fun times. I’d prefer to meet these shifts without taking on extensive neurophysiology renovations at the same time.
So, dear readers, I encourage us all to take it a bit easier on ourselves from the neck up this month. Except for pumpkin spice– feel free to do you and swan-dive into sights and sounds and smells and tastes as you see fit.
Good advice! There are far too many people/organizations out there that seem to think it’s a good idea to look at the dark side, or at least the complicated side, & figure out how to deal with it. They seem to think that’s where we should be focusing. Of course there is an important place for that, but the way I see it, all that energy poured into recognizing and struggling with problems leaves inadequate time for seeing and strengthening the positive side. I have heard various versions of the idea that a coin that shows a problem on one side flips over to an opportunity on the other. I like to focus on the opportunity!