Why a Reset Day Matters So Much

It’s not a day off. It’s a day on.

Let me start here. I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2022. At age 50. The diagnoses immediately made perfect sense to me. I will never forget, though, steeling myself to tell my dad.

I expected him to be upset with me. To say there was no way. I was never in trouble as a kid. I was a good student. I’m not particularly physically hyperactive.

Instead, he said, “That makes perfect sense. Of all my kids, you and Patrick have always been just alike.”

Patrick is my little brother. I’m the oldest of nine, he’s the seventh. And he was diagnosed as a kid. And what my dad meant was that my brother and I both have a kind of frenetic mental energy.

Our brains run at 150 percent every waking minute. And overnight, too. I often wake up with a fully-formed idea biting at the bit.

Patrick was diagnosed as a child though. In the 1990s, when tons of boys were diagnosed. He presented in the way that school and medical professionals recognized. He was a boy. He was physically hyperactive.

I was a girl in the 1970s and early 80s, when almost no one was being diagnosed. It wasn’t in the diagnostic manual until 1980 at all and not in the way recognize it today until 1987, according to this timeline. And I presented in the way that girls do — mostly disorganization, lack of follow-through, and a hyperactive mind.

All of that is to say that, diagnosed or not, I’ve had ADHD all my life. Disorganized to the point of being nonfunctional. Severe struggle with sticking with anything long enough to get it done. No real down gear — I’m constantly running, like I said, at 150 percent capacity.

In order to survive and be a functioning adult, I came up with systems. Lots of them. They were and are my self-medication.

One of those systems is a weekly reset. And for the first time in a very long time, I’m making a change.

I feel like I should point out that a reset day is not about relaxing or, I don’t know, recharging my batteries.

It’s about getting myself prepared for the upcoming week. If I need time to rest, relax, or recharge my batteries, I plan for that during my reset day.

Maybe this will be clearer.

I actually am finding myself in need of some time to recharge. So, this Saturday, I’ll plan for my quarterly week off (which is the first week of March.) No work. Something fun with my husband. Probably some sort of a roadtrip, somewhere. An entire day to hurkle-durkle (which is the Scotch term or laying in bed longer than you should — I just learned that.)

I’ve been resetting my week on Sundays — forever. Years and years.

But it has occurred to me the last couple of weeks that it isn’t working anymore. I work on Sunday. And to preserve my current commitment to not teaching on Fridays and Saturdays, I’m working a full day on Sunday instead of just on two-hour workshop in the evenings.

That leaves no time for a reset. Or at least no time for the kind of reset that I want to have. I might be able to get my planner set up, but that’s not the point.

So — this week, I’m shifting my reset day to Saturday.

It’s not ideal, because it’s not the end or the beginning of the week. But it is a full day where I don’t teach. And I’m actually excited about it, because that means that I can use that day to both reset my personal week and reset my work week.

I’m booked to capacity right now.

I work eight to twelve hour days Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. There is very, very little time in the mix on those days for much else. And to keep my sanity, the time I do have on those days, I try to save for non-work things.

Fridays and Saturdays I’ve worked pretty hard to keep as non-work days. In theory. Because I’m opening a shop with my husband, my brother, and my daughter. So, lately, those days are devoted to that. We’re in the process of getting our space ready to open officially next month and it’s a lot of work.

All of this is work I love. Truly, deep down love. I don’t want to do anything else. But I do actually need to find some balance. Because I can’t feel like I’m constantly on all the time. It’s not healthy.

So — I’m going to try on Saturdays as my balance days. My full reset day.

Here’s the plan for this Saturday.

There are some things that I know, for sure, make my entire life easier and happier.

1. Setting up my planner and notebook for the upcoming week.
2. Meal planning and making a grocery list for the upcoming week.
3. Resetting my workspace, so that I feel less chaotic heading into the upcoming week.
4. Making sure that I have everything I need for work for the upcoming week.
5. Doing something that will make me feel like I’ve made progress this week.

If I start with those five things, I have the framework for a pretty decent reset day. I’ll write a reset day post on Saturday, with my plan for the day.

I’m excited to see if this shift makes a difference.

I’m curious — do you ever have a reset day?

Shaunta Grimes is a writer and teacher. She is an out-of-place Nevadan living in Northwestern PA with her husband, three superstar kids, King Louie Baloo the dog, and Ollie Wilbur the cat. She is the author of Viral Nation, Rebel Nation, The Astonishing Maybe, Center of Gravity and Here I Am. She is the original Ninja Writer.

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