The Mental Reset That Changed Me

I forgot what my own thoughts sounded like.

For months, maybe years, my mind had been nothing but noise—other people's opinions, social media arguments, endless news cycles, work demands, notifications, expectations.

I couldn't remember the last time I'd sat in silence and just... listened to myself.

Then one Sunday morning, I woke up exhausted despite sleeping ten hours, and I realized: my mind was never quiet. Ever.

Something had to change.

The Noise I Didn't Know I Was Drowning In

I was constantly consuming.

Podcasts during my commute. Music while working. TV while eating. Scrolling before bed. Even my showers had become podcast time.

Every waking moment was filled with someone else's voice, someone else's ideas, someone else's version of what I should think, be, or want.

I told myself I was staying informed. Productive. Connected.

But truthfully? I was hiding from myself.

Because when the noise stopped, even for a moment, uncomfortable thoughts crept in. Doubts. Questions. Feelings I didn't want to face.

So I kept the volume up. Kept myself distracted. Kept running from the one conversation I needed most—the one with myself.

The Week That Changed Everything

I made a radical decision: one week of mental silence.

No social media. No news. No podcasts. No mindless TV. Just me, my thoughts, and intentional quiet.

The first day was agony.

My hand reached for my phone constantly. My mind raced with withdrawal. I felt anxious, restless, almost panicked by the silence.

But I stayed with it.

By day three, something shifted.

Thoughts I'd been suppressing for months started surfacing. Not all pleasant—some were hard truths I'd been avoiding. But they were mine. Authentic. Real.

I started journaling. Long, messy streams of consciousness. No editing. No performing. Just honest expression.

And slowly, I began to hear myself again.

What I Discovered in the Quiet

The silence revealed things the noise had been covering:

I'd been saying yes to things I didn't actually want. I'd been pursuing goals that weren't really mine. I'd been living on autopilot, following scripts written by others.

I'd forgotten who I was underneath all the input.

In the quiet, I reconnected with my values. My actual desires. My real dreams—not the ones I thought I should have, but the ones that made my heart beat faster.

I realized I'd been so busy consuming other people's lives that I'd stopped creating my own.

The Reset I Needed

That week of silence became my mental reset button.

It didn't solve all my problems. But it cleared enough space for me to see them clearly—and to hear my own wisdom about how to move forward.

I started making different choices. Small at first.

I stopped following accounts that made me feel inadequate. I said no to commitments that drained me. I created pockets of silence in my daily routine—morning coffee without scrolling, evening walks without podcasts.

I learned that silence isn't empty. It's where clarity lives.

The Practice That Stays With Me

I still do monthly "reset" days now. Twenty-four hours of intentional quiet. No consumption. Just creation, reflection, and listening.

And every single time, I come back to myself a little more.

Because growth doesn't happen in the noise. It happens in the space between.

Your Invitation to Reset

If your mind feels like it's running on ten browser tabs at once—if you can't remember the last time you heard your own thoughts clearly—maybe you need a reset too.

Not forever. Just long enough to remember what your own voice sounds like.

Start small. One morning without your phone. One evening without TV. One walk without headphones.

Give yourself permission to be bored. To be quiet. To be alone with your thoughts, even the uncomfortable ones.

Because the most important conversation you'll ever have is the one with yourself.

And you can't hear it if you never turn down the volume.

Take the reset. Find the quiet.

Your truest self is waiting there, ready to be heard.

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Thank you for reading...

Regards: Fazal Hadi