Pressing the Reset Button: The Greatest Invention This Side of the Universe

After 45 consecutive blog posts in 2013, even I was beginning to wonder if I had it in me to continue my Monday Unleaded series. I’ve received countless emails since my hiatus in late November, and those closest to me have requested time and again that I start back up. This support—perhaps meager to a celebrated blogger—has been nothing short of overwhelming to this modest fellow.

Let today’s post not only serve as my response to their requests, but as a timely one (I published my very first Monday Unleaded post entitled Inauguration on January 21, 2013, which was this time last year). So what have I been up these last couple of months? Like most folks, I’ve been on vacation. I’ve been spending time with family, planning, and searching for the reset button.

Pressing the Reset Button…

…is what most folks do at the turn of a year. Amidst the fellowship and gatherings, we get highly introspective. Some of us even begin searching our souls: Analyzing what seemed to work for us in the passing year, and of course, what didn’t. Such reckoning often leads to a reset button. Ideally, this powerful apparatus is pressed before we celebrate the New Year and begin wishing everyone good tidings.

While combing the wheat fields of my own mind, I discovered weeds. Thorns, potholes, and other bewilderment that somehow plagued my prized garden. My greatest tragedy was unforgiveness, stemming from encounters, disagreements, and bad business dealings that were supposedly long behind me. Sure, I had moved on, and had done quite well for myself, all things considered. But the bitterness of those tragedies remained, and was silently affecting me both mentally and physically.

I eagerly pressed the reset button.

Folks I hadn’t thought about in months—years even—were released from that dark room in my mind. It felt great! So much, in fact, that I followed up by sending emails and text messages to them. I wished everyone a happy and healthy New Year, and withheld that blessing from no one. They must have figured I had finally gone over the edge! Most responded favorably to my message, and others didn’t respond at all.

The moral of today’s Monday Unleaded isn’t a mystery. If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to find and press your own reset button. It really is the greatest invention this side of the universe, even if it appears to not work right away. Unfortunately, it’s a lot like an elevator button: Pressing it over and over again has no bearing on how fast it operates.

The good news is that 2014 is still in its infancy. There’s still plenty of time to nurture and train this year in the way it should go. Let today be the day you press your own reset button!

This is your Monday Unleaded for the week of January 19, 2014. Have a productive week, and a fantastic New Year!

Surviving the Times – Nas