How often can you reset your life?

While growing up, we’re all told to live a certain way. We were told that life had a linear path. Follow the rules. Do what everyone else has been doing for years – study hard, get a job, marry (the opposite sex), have kids, retire and die. Repeat.

But then, something shifts.

Some of us start feeling out of place. We realise we don’t fit into the mould. The job feels wrong. The relationship feels forced. The gender assigned, the identity expected – they don’t feel at home.

So, we reset.

We chose a different career. We fall in love differently. We come out. We transition. We walk away from what doesn’t feel true anymore.

And just when we think we’ve figured it out, life nudges us again. We start questioning ourselves.
Did I choose right?
Am I still happy?
Can I start over – again?

For some, starting over is liberating. For others, it’s terrifying. And then there are people who feel so stuck, they believe the only way to restart – is to end everything.

Yes, there are many ways to reset a life. Like in Japan, there’s a phenomenon called Jouhatsu – it means “evaporation.” People who disappear from their lives completely. They leave their families, jobs, names behind – not out of shame, but because continuing felt heavier than vanishing. They reset by becoming untraceable.

And that brings me back to the question I keep asking myself –
How often can we really reset our lives?
Once? Twice? Every few years?
Or is it that society only allows a handful of resets before it starts calling us unstable, selfish, or irresponsible?

What if resetting isn’t a failure, but a sign of growth?
What if it means we are listening to ourselves – deeply, honestly?
Maybe some of us were never meant to follow the same path.
Maybe we were meant to unlearn, undo, un-be and start again.
Again. And again.
Until we find peace.

So, really – how often can you reset your life?
Maybe the better question is –
How long will you wait before you do?