
Reset your life - msvan
http://levels.io/reset-your-life/
======
pearjuice
First and foremost: this was posted on Monday the 22nd of April, 2013.

Secondly, the guy writing this is extremely privileged yet implying he somehow
had a hard time and had to "escape" the system. If anything, his life was
getting monotonous and he did indeed reset it, but not completely. He still
had his massive bank account when he left for Thailand, so in the end it was
just moving without having to transport all the belongings (as he got rid of
everything).

~~~
jere
It's _Eat, Pray, Love_ for the tech crowd.

I've seen a lot of these articles. It reminds me very much of 4HWW. They're
all written like the author is overcoming some major hurdle and achieving some
sort of enlightment, but in fact they're basically just going on vacation
after becoming hugely successful.

~~~
sliverstorm
You've got to cope with the burden of success _somehow_ , right? :)

------
ev9
It sounds like (or at least the title suggests that) the author would advocate
this extreme approach to others? Perhaps I can advocate another approach:

If you're feeling signs of depression or panic attacks, seek out the help of a
mental health professional.

There are real neurological and physical implications to the symptoms the
author describes. Picking up and moving won't be an option to all, and may not
work even for those who do have the option.

~~~
vinceguidry
I know a very good mental health professional, a trained psychologist with a
Ph.D. She says (and I'm paraphrasing) that 99% of people's problems can be
treated by getting away from sources of stress, and exercising. These things
work much better than most forms of therapy, and most of her sessions involve
convincing clients to do these simple, effective things.

So if you're having problems, going to Thailand is excellent medicine, if you
can afford it.

~~~
ev9
Sounds like a safer conclusion for a mental health professional to come to
than a layman, given proper data. That is, I trust your friend's opinion on
this topic more than yours or mine, but in more advanced cases I'm sure she'd
prefer to see the patient than they skip her counsel.

The technical community has a higher than normal prevalence of mental illness.
We need to learn to put more stock in real, educated, professional advice on
these topics than blog and forum-based accounts of self-prescribed solutions.

~~~
DanBC
> The technical community has a higher than normal prevalence of mental
> illness.

What makes you say this?

> We need to learn to put more stock in real, educated, professional advice on
> these topics than blog and forum-based accounts of self-prescribed
> solutions.

Yes. See also any thread about food.

~~~
ev9
>> The technical community has a higher than normal prevalence of mental
illness.

> What makes you say this?

[http://www.tablexi.com/blog/2013/04/developers-and-
depressio...](http://www.tablexi.com/blog/2013/04/developers-and-depression-
end-the-shame/txi-life/)

>> We need to learn to put more stock in real, educated, professional advice
on these topics than blog and forum-based accounts of self-prescribed
solutions.

> Yes. See also any thread about food.

Food? Food sources? Cooking? Farming? What are you talking about?

~~~
DanBC
> _I know of no formal study, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the rates of
> bipolar and depression amongst software developers are double that of the
> general population._

So, you're just guessing about rates of mental illness among the technical
community?

> Food?

Yes, food. The threads are full of weird anecdote and semi-mystical bollocks.

------
gdubs
Shaking things up can be cathartic and sometimes the exactly right thing to
do. More frequently, I've found, changing one's life in smaller degrees can
have a profound effect on mood and well being: exercising more, eating
healthier, getting more sleep, meditating, consuming less media, keeping a
clean living space. It's worth checking the low-hanging fruit -- small things
can make a big difference.

~~~
inovica
I've been thinking about 'big changes' in my life and in that of my families.
I too am privileged to a degree. Reading your comment though has made me think
and I'd like to thank you for that. Its easier to think of doing one big step,
but really you're right - I need to stop thinking that I'm too busy to
meditate or do yoga and I just need to do it. I've already stopped consuming
too much media but every single of your points are valid in terms of what I
need to do. Thank you.

------
fromdoon
I had a panic attack recently. Let me tell you, it is worst feeling in the
world. The urge to reset your life after such a event is almost natural. It's
like, If I don't change right now, I would not be able to live any longer.

I started changing little things. I started sleeping more.

I made it a point to do a 6 Km walk everyday.

I cut down on alcohol.

I stopped seeing people whom I had wanted to avoid for a long time but was not
doing so out of social pressures.

I started seeing my parents more often.

I also signed up for an online meditation course.

I started working less ( Looking back, this maybe was the most effective
thing)

It takes days to overcome a full fledged panic attack. For days you would
dread that you might get another panic attack when you're least expecting it.
Like when you're in office or when you are driving or when you're shopping.

I have changed my lifestyle and I can tell you I am quite happy after I did
so.

I hope OP also experienced something similar.

------
Touche
Not to play armchair psychologist but the whole minimalist thing strikes me as
a way to put unnecessary extra stress on yourself. Having nothing means having
no excuse not to constantly work, and you shouldn't constantly work. You
should fucking relax every now and then, drink a few beers and watch something
mindless on your obscenely large flatscreen.

Having shit is a way to make your life be about more than just what your
early-20s self told you was necessary to consider yourself a success. If you
think life is only worth living if you follow [insert well known person]'s
biography to a T then your bound to have incidents that make you want to do
crazy things like "reset" your privileged life.

* the preceding is not a judgment on the author's decisions, which are his own, but rather a commentary on the "minimalist" movement.

~~~
breischl
OK, but you don't need things in order to relax. In fact, many of the best
ways to relax don't need things (or at least, very many things). I think
that's the point.

Rather than owning an obscenely large flatscreen (and stand to put it on, and
couch to sit on while watching it, and apartment to put it in, and
cable/Roku/DVD/(insert content device)) you could...

Go for a walk

Go for a walk in nature, now it's a hike!

Go to a museum

Play frisbee (borrow if necessary)

Ride a bike (rent if necessary)

Find some music to listen to

~~~
Touche
You can do all of those things while also owning stuff. Owning stuff just
makes it easier to relax. Instead of planning to relax... you just walk into a
room with distractions available.

Having distractions readily available is benefitial to your mental health.
Sometimes you have to not over-analyze your every action. Have an office which
is empty, that's what I have, for when you need complete concentration. Stop
making early-20s dreams your entire existence.

~~~
nileshtrivedi
Right. But what about distractions that you never use but still end up having
to maintain (which involves over-analyzing and mental costs)?

Minimalism is about making that same decision. It's about eliminating those
things from your life that don't bring more fun to you than their maintenance
costs. Stuff that is making it _harder_ , not easier, for you to relax. What
qualifies as minimalist living is an inherently personal decision. For some,
everything can fit in a backpack. For others, even a mansion may be minimal.

Owning "only 100 things" isn't the _definition_ of minimalism. Only an
example. Like "delicious", "minimalism" is a subjective concept.

------
hsitz
Uprooting your life and doing a "reset" as described will make you feel good
for a while.

Unfortunately, "wherever you go there you are." You can't outrun yourself, and
thinking a reset like this is anything more than a temporary band-aid is
misguided.

------
badman_ting
Shaking things up and changing your life drastically is fun and
exciting......... for a while. Then you have to learn to build a life that you
find sustainable, whatever it is, or else you will always be running. This is
sometimes called the "distance cure".

Again, doing this feels great. For a while. I did it myself. But you should
learn to distrust that good feeling, to examine it and find out why it's
happening. A note of warning though, you probably won't like what you find.
It's really easy to fool yourself into thinking that you are effecting change
when really you are doing anything but. We are being lied to, by ourselves.

~~~
im3w1l
As someone considering changing my life drastically, I would appreciate if you
could elaborate on this post.

~~~
joshguthrie
Week one: "Great, my life is changing! It's a fresh new start!"

Week two: "It's nice making new friends every place I go!"

Week six: "I kinda miss hacking, having my place, a stable life and my usual
clique of friends. But not too much. Moving is cool but where am I really
going? And for what?"

Week ten: "Actually, I'm just doing what I was doing before but in another
part of the world. And I realize I'm not even building something that's gonna
last because I know I'm just gonna move out whenever I feel like it."

------
chill1
"Life is like the best video game ever, it has amazing graphics, infinite
amounts of levels, a huge map and this ridiculous great freedom. I just needed
to pick up the controller."

~~~
grumpycord
not sure this would go down as well for someone without a well established
developer's expertise/experience. i can imagine landing at a foreign
destination, after my life-reset and then asking '...now what?'

~~~
chill1
True.. If someone who wasn't already an established freelancer / contractor in
the IT field tried to do what he did, they'd certainly have a hard go of it.
And, if they wanted to mirror the author's "reset", they would certainly have
to think longer term than most people seem to be capable of; 2+ years minimum
of pushing yourself to learn, gain experience in the field, and build a
network of contacts.

~~~
devgutt
Probably hardship is the exact thing that he wants to experience.

------
nickthemagicman
They say that if you make over 35,000 a year you're in the top 1% of the
WORLD.

How we look at the the ultra rich with their 4 mansions and Lamborghini's is
how the average world citizen looks at people like this guy.

------
euphemize
Alright to this guy had an anxiety attack, and decided to reset his life :
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6580196](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6580196)

He went to Thailand and explained the process :
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6540030](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6540030)

Then made a post of about how explaining his process has affected his blogs'
stats :
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6577524](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6577524)

Hopefully another epiphany in Thailand, another reset, another relocation,
another blog post, another HN hit...?

break;

------
jotm
Why Thailand, though? I mean, Europe itself is more diverse than the US, for
example, you could've moved anywhere within the continent and still have a
massive change. Prague, Madrid, London, Berlin, Warsaw, Zagreb (new EU member,
Croatia) all very different - why Bangkok? Could've moved to Australia even
:-D

~~~
yodsanklai
Thailand is cheap and safe. They have good infrastructures (internet,
hospitals, transportation...). It's hot all year long. There are many expats
and tourists so it's easy to find similarly minded people.

Also there are tons of affordable sex workers. Prostitution is not frown upon
there as it is in the West. I don't know if it was a motivation for this guy,
but it certainly something that attracts many men.

~~~
jotm
That could be said for some of the major cities in Europe, as well (including
the prostitution, which is not illegal in Europe, just brothels are)...

~~~
yodsanklai
Of course, Europe has good infrastructures. But Thailand is much cheaper than
Europe (almost an order of magnitude cheaper for food and lodging).

An other thing that makes Thailand appealing is that there are many expats or
long term tourists slacking/working there, so you wouldn't feel out of place
living there with no well-defined purpose. I don't think you could get the
same kind of vibe in Europe.

As far as prostitution goes, Thailand is VERY different from Europe and the
US.

------
Alexx
Last time I saw 'this post' was 643 days ago, and my observations then[1]
still seem to be holding true now :)

[1][https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3470328](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3470328)

Not that it's a bad thing! I'd just love to see a follow up from one of these.

~~~
breischl
So your observation was "Unknown or expired link" ??

:)

~~~
Alexx
Whoops, link fixed to the permalink.

