The Art Of Starting Over: 10 Wild Choices That Completely Rewrite Your Life
When life needs a dramatic reset, sometimes a chaotic choice is necessary.
Pressmaster | Shutterstock I’ve always said that making drastic changes when you’re frustrated is rarely a good idea. (See: the post-breakup haircut.) When you’re spinning out, the answer isn’t to blow everything up, but to keep things status quo. Now’s the time to sleep better and walk more because small, unglamorous steps compound into real change while dramatic pivots born from panic usually leave you worse off than before.
But ... sometimes, lack of consistency isn’t the problem. Sometimes you’ve been consistent for years, and the pattern itself has calcified into a cage. Sometimes your nervous system needs a shock to remember what aliveness feels like. Sometimes, breaking things or going completely hog wild is the only way to burn something down to build something new.
Here are ten wild choices that completely rewrite your life:
1. Sell everything you own and live out of two bags for a year
You’ll learn what you actually need versus what you’ve been hoarding out of fear. Most of what you own is just stuff you’re clinging to out of fear, which you barely use anyway.
People who live a low-consumption lifestyle are happier and have higher levels of life satisfaction, with research showing that minimalism promotes healthy, positive emotions while reducing despair at the same time. When researchers interviewed people living minimalist lifestyles, all participants reported various well-being benefits, including greater autonomy and mental clarity.
2. Move to a country where you don’t speak the language
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I’ve been doing this every few years for over a decade. Nothing strips away your identity faster than being surrounded by people who don’t speak your language. You become humbled — like a child again, which is precisely what your concrete ego needs. Rebuild your social life from scratch and discover who you are without your existing identity props. Every friendship you’ve maintained out of obligation will finally die.
When nobody around you has preconceived notions about who you are, you get to stop performing the version of yourself that everyone expects. Researchers have found that pairing big life changes with major moves helps people mentally wipe the slate clean, and honestly, few things reset your life quite like showing up somewhere nobody knows your history — good or bad.
3. Delete all social media for six months without announcing it
Disappear completely and see who notices. The silence will tell you everything about the quality of your connections. But, more than anything, this creates massive amounts of more time and space in your world, so your life quality expands.
4. Live in a van or caravan with no fixed address for a year
Mobility destroys the illusion that you need roots to be stable. You’ll realize home was never a place to begin with.
Research on digital nomads backs this up, too. People who choose an untethered lifestyle consistently say they're drawn to it for the freedom and chance to figure out who they actually are on their own terms. And what's interesting is that even though the lifestyle means spending a lot of time alone, most of them report being genuinely content with their own company.
Turns out solitude doesn't automatically equal loneliness. For a lot of people, it becomes a source of deep satisfaction and builds a kind of inner resilience you can't develop when you're constantly surrounded by people you know.
5. Commit to waking at 4:30 am for two months straight
The early hours are when your real thoughts live, before the world gets loud. You’ll either love the silence or realise you’ve been running from it.
There's something almost sacred about being awake while everyone else is still asleep. Researchers studying solitude have actually found that some people set their alarms early on purpose, not because they have to be somewhere, but because they're craving those few quiet minutes before the rest of the house wakes up and the chaos of life begins.
6. Start a business doing the exact opposite of what you’re known for
If you’re a writer, become a carpenter. If you’re corporate, sell art on the street. Competence in one thing can breed arrogance. However, initial incompetence can breed humility and growth, which may be just what the doctor ordered.
7. Live with monks, on a farm, or in a commune for a season
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Submit to someone else’s structure completely and let go of control. You’ll learn whether your independence is real or just rebellious posturing.
Studies consistently find that teens who let themselves depend on their parents for guidance are doing better across the board. They're happier, less swayed by peer pressure, and less likely to engage in risky behavior than kids who keep their distance. A season of intentional surrender shows you which kind you've actually been.
8. Take a solo trip to a place you consider a little dangerous
No need to be reckless here, but choose somewhere uncomfortable enough that your survival instincts wake up. Comfort makes you soft; controlled danger makes you sharp. This might be the trip that changes your entire life.
9. Train for something physically brutal
This could be a long hike, a triathlon, or learning to fight. Pushing your body beyond its limits rewrites what your brain thinks is possible. Training for an extreme physical challenge has a way of rewiring what you think you're capable of.
Research on marathon runners shows that people don't just experience the race as physical effort; they tend to see it as a meaningful life journey. The emotional (and even existential) rewards of crossing that finish line spill over into everything else, expanding their sense of what they're actually capable of.
10. Go completely off the grid for a weekend
Haul it to an off-grid forest cabin, lighthouse, or tent. That means no internet, no phone signal, and absolutely no news. Find out what your mind does when it can’t scroll away from itself.
Environmental psychologist Stephen Kaplan's Attention Restoration Theory explains why this works: nature gives our brains a break from the constant mental effort of focusing, filtering, and deciding. When you're surrounded by trees instead of tasks, your mind is finally allowed to drift and wander — and consider what that could creatively nurture?
Alex Mathers is a writer and coach who helps you build a money-making personal brand with your knowledge and skills while staying mentally resilient. He's the author of the Mastery Den newsletter, which helps people triple their productivity.
