Start from square one. Turn over a new leaf. Begin the next chapter. There are a ton of different ways to express the same thought: You want to start over. You’re ready to reinvent yourself and leave your old life in the past.
Maybe you’ve been pouring over Zillow listings in a new city. Maybe you’ve been imagining what it would be like to make the big move to somewhere exciting, like Los Angeles or New York. Or maybe you love your current city, but you just want a fresh start in your personal and professional lives.
Whatever the case is, you woke up and thought, “I want to move away and start over.”
The good news is, a new life is always within reach. And you may not need to move away to find it. Whether you take the leap to move to a new city or start fresh right where you are, we’ve got you covered.
We’re discussing the signs for when to start over and the advantages and drawbacks of starting a new life. We’ve also got some questions you should ask before leaving your old life behind, plus how to start over in your current location.
4 Signs it’s Time to Start Over (In Life and Business)
There are normally some pretty clear-cut signs for when it’s time to start over. Does it feel like you’ve hit a wall with your current growth? Do you feel like you’re running 100 miles per hour each day, but you somehow have little to no progress to show for it? If so, you’re not alone.
It’s common to feel like you’ve lost momentum in life and business. And these feelings grow even stronger when you’re unhappy with your current surroundings or career. If you’ve been thinking about moving away and starting over, chances are, you’ve experienced these signs.
1. You Daydream About Being Anywhere But Here
If you constantly wish you were anywhere but where you are now, that’s a clear sign it’s time to start over. Maybe you work from home as an entrepreneur or a stay-at-home parent, and you’ve been craving a change of scenery that’s not your home office or living room. Or maybe you’ve worked in the same cubicle for the past 10 years, and you daydream of being outside those four walls.
If you’ve lived in the same small town your whole life, it’s definitely no wonder you daydream about relocating. From the local restaurants to the job market, everything begins to feel overplayed and outdated with time. When you find yourself craving to be anywhere but your current location, a fresh start might benefit your personal and professional growth.
2. You Associate Your Old Life with Bad Memories
Home is where the heart is, but it’s not always where the good memories are. When you often pass by your old high school, first awful job or any other location that triggers unpleasant memories, it can be tempting to just pack up and move away. The longer you stay, it can begin to feel like you’re in a rut you just can’t climb out of, no matter how old you get.
If you want to disassociate yourself from your old life with its bad memories, it may be time for you to turn over a new leaf and give yourself a fresh start.
3. You Constantly Hesitate to Make Long-Term Commitments
If you constantly hesitate to make long-term commitments, it’s time to ask yourself what you’re waiting for. Do you turn down new jobs or mentorship opportunities? If you want to start a new chapter, why do you say no? Are you often spending time worrying about what would happen if you put down roots where you are?
If anchoring yourself to your current location is cause for concern, it’s important you figure out why. A new long-term commitment or long-term goal could be exactly what you need to start over. So, be sure to ask yourself what’s stopping you from making that fresh start.
4. You Feel Your Talents Would Shine Elsewhere
Once you find your purpose in life, it can be hard to ignore it. You just want to scream your passions from the rooftops! And, if you’re lucky, you can turn to your close friends and family members to support you as you go for your dreams. Unfortunately, you won’t always live where your talents can truly shine—and that might mean moving away from the support of loved ones.
For instance, if you’re a sales representative and feel like you’d make a great mentor, your skills might shine more in the local classroom than the local boardroom. Or if you’re into tech start-ups, you might feel like you can develop better professional relationships in Silicon Valley. If you feel like your talents would shine in a different location with a different community, trust in your purpose to guide your change.
The Advantages of Making a Fresh Start
If the above signs all sound familiar, moving away or starting over might be one of the best decisions you’ll ever make. At the end of the day, it’s your own life, and you deserve to live it how you choose. If that means starting over to follow your passions, so be it!
Consider these advantages of creating a new life and how a fresh start can positively impact your well-being.
Improve Your Personal Development
If you want to be the best version of yourself, you must break free from your comfort zone. In the words of Dean Graziosi, “Once you know where you want to go, you can start taking action steps towards the best year of your life, which will evolve into the best 10 years of your life and ultimately to the best rest of your life.” Deciding to start over can be your first step to the best rest of your life.
No matter if you relocate to a new city or simply shake up your current surroundings, a fresh start will be one of the greatest personal challenges in your life. You’ll learn to manage time and stress as you set effective goals for the future. If you want to put your personal development skills to the test and come out on the other side stronger, take the leap to a fresh start—you’ll thank yourself down the line.
Expand Your Social Skills
There’s nothing like the comfort and understanding you receive from old friends. They know everything about your old life, from your hopes and dreams to your fears. Because of these reasons, making conversation with your old friends is easy and stress-free. In other words, these old relationships are your social comfort zone.
So, a fresh start is a fantastic opportunity to break out of your social comfort zone and meet people who share your passions. While you don’t need to lose contact with old friends, it’s important to push yourself to make new connections. When you expand your network, you expand your access to like-minded professionals. They can help you create the new life you crave by sharing their knowledge and career advice with you.
Refresh Your Way of Life
If you’ve lived in the same neighborhood or worked at the same office for ages, it can be difficult to find something that sparks your interest. But the rush you get from discovering something new is exactly what you need from time to time, especially if you want to grow. Embarking on a fresh start allows you to experience a sense of “new” all over again, which can refresh your way of life.
Hitting that refresh button lets you experience a range of emotions and activities for the first time in a long time. From meeting new friends to learning new skills, these changes can reinspire your desire to succeed in life and business. But if all that sounds too good to be true, take a look at some of the drawbacks that come with starting over.
The Drawbacks of Starting Over in Life or Business
Now that you know the advantages that come with a new life, you’re probably in a rush to move away or hit refresh on your old life. But before you book that plane ticket or apply to a new job, consider the risks no one tells you about starting over (especially if this is your first time).
You Will Get Lonely
When you start over, strive to surround yourself with good, positive people. These are people who will support you in your goals and encourage you to be your best self. Though it’s not a requirement to ditch your old friends when you start a new life, chances are, you’re going to want to meet new people that better understand your new goals. And when you leave your old social life behind, you will get lonely.
However, there is still a silver lining to this drawback. Loneliness forces you to dig deep to stay positive and rely on your own wits to accomplish your goals. While a solid support system is crucial for your overall well-being, a little bit of loneliness gives you time to better understand yourself. At a certain point, you need to be comfortable being alone.
You Will Start from the Bottom
When you create a new life, you need to start from the bottom and work your way up. This logic applies to everything: a new job, a new business venture or a new home. Starting over can also be a financial investment if you choose to relocate or build a new business. You’ll have to monitor your cost of living and be smart with how you use your money to stay afloat.
But again, there’s a silver lining to starting from the bottom. You have an underdog advantage! An underdog advantage means you have no expectations to live up to and no competition directly standing in your way. The world is yours for the taking, even if it takes a bit of time.
You Might Chase the ‘Next Best Thing’
In a perfect world, moving away and starting over would solve all of your problems, right? While that sounds great in theory, there’s one major issue with that way of thinking: You run the risk of chasing a constant dream. You may never settle anywhere for too long because you’re always on the lookout for the ‘next best thing.’
With this mindset, you’ll only be happy until you visit a new destination from social media or the news. Then, you’ll feel like you must move. You’re stuck in a cycle of never wanting to miss out, but you ultimately let some of the best moments of your life pass you by. Remember that happiness is a journey, not a destination. Learn to be happy with yourself, no matter where life takes you.
How to Start Over Without Moving to a New City
When you feel like the walls of your home or office are starting to close in on you, it can be tempting to want to book the first plane ticket out of there. But breaking out of your comfort zone doesn’t need to mean buying a new home or even leaving your current zip code.
You don’t have to relocate to start over. All it takes is adjusting your current surroundings. From the people you hang around to your current job, take a look at how to totally start over without moving to a new city.
Create a New Daily Routine
If you want a fresh start, begin by taking a good look at your daily routine. How do you wake up in the morning? Is it a pleasant, easy rising, or is it a last-minute mad dash to get to work? Do you engage in personal development or self-care each day? If your current routine isn’t supporting a positive mindset or encouraging you to accomplish your goals, it’s no wonder you feel like you need a fresh start. You’re not giving your mind or body what it needs to thrive!
Take a word of advice from Dean and implement a ‘win every day’ morning routine. Take time each morning to focus on your goals, what you’d like to accomplish and what your body needs. If you feel lazy, hit the gym! If you feel uninspired, find a course or connect with a mentor! So many aspects of your current life can better serve you if you just make some simple adjustments to your daily routine.
Redefine Your Short- and Long-Term Goals
When you want to start over in life or business, consider your goals. Maybe it’s time to take your short- and long-term goals back to the drawing board. In order to feel fulfilled and excited, your goals should align with your purpose in life. If your goals don’t fill you with joy—or worse, if you don’t even have goals in the first place—it’s time to establish milestones you would like to achieve.
Short-term goals are things you’d like to accomplish in the near future, such as this month or this year. Long-term goals are things you want to accomplish in the distant future, as in 1, 5 or 10 years from now. Together, these goals should form a roadmap to where you’d like to see yourself when you get older. Redefining your short- and long-term goals can provide clarity for the next steps to take.
Refresh Your Current Environment
Last but not least, if you want to create a new life but don’t know where to start, refresh your current environment. Your current environment consists of anything and everything you surround yourself with daily.
Items you can refresh in your current environment include:
- Your career
- Your hobbies
- Your living space
- Your workspace
- Your friends
Maybe it’s rearranging your room, or maybe it’s new office supplies or maybe it’s a new hobby with a new friend. Whatever small changes you decide to make can add up over time. Soon, you won’t run to pack a suitcase and move across the world. Instead, you will make your own oasis right where you’re currently living.
What to Ask Yourself Before Starting a New Life
You’re almost on track for starting a new life! But remember, a fresh start is a big decision. You want to make sure you have positive intentions for starting over, and that you aren’t just chasing the ‘next best thing.’ Before you make any changes to your personal or professional life, take a few moments to go over the following questions.
- How long have you been considering this fresh start?
- What’s drawing you in to make this change?
- What’s pulling you back from making this change?
- How will starting over affect your career? Does that matter to you?
- How will starting over impact your personal relationships?
- Are you prepared to be alone at times?
If you can answer these questions with confidence, you might be ready to take the initiative to start over.
How Will You Start Over?
Whether you take the leap to move to a new city or start fresh right where you’re at, a new life is always within reach. It’s up to you to make choices that will fuel your passions and bring you closer to your goals. Sometimes, just a few simple tweaks are all it takes to create a brand new life for yourself.
How will you start over?
Text #FreshStart to 480-400-9019 to let Dean know you were inspired!
