It’s time to reset ‘same old you’

I DON’T want to see your Splashy photos, sorry.

But I do want to hear how you lived. How you embraced the essence of your being, the very fibre of your own construction and met it head-on in a kaleidoscopic field of dreams in the Midlands.

I’m not interested in your small talk. I’m not enamoured by your petty political rhetoric. I don’t find your shallow grasp of current affairs endearing. I’m also not particularly interested in your outfit. It’s you I like.

There’s a tremendous movement afoot: a desire to stand up and be counted. At last, a march and a cause you can get involved in. A chance to Uber in and out of the front line and be heard. These are the things we are discussing at length, over several beers, four tequilas and an inconsequential late-night chat.

But this is the SM Magazine, not the place to be discussing such things. What I am interested in is you.

What I’d like to discuss here is the concept of Ctrl+alt+reset. I reset my laptop last week and nearly lost everything, but for a last-minute click on the “sh*t-i-better-backthis-up” button.

I also reset my phone to factory settings last month. I got a new pair of shoes because the old ones were looking tatty. But there you are: same old you. Same old sh*t.

Everything around us is temporary, renewable, replaceable, upgradeable. Everything but us.

We carry the same old ideologies, the same old understandings, the same old infatuations. And more importantly, the same old you.

When does it become time to Ctrl+alt+reset the very fibre of your being? When do we get the chance to restore our body and mind to the factory settings?

I say to you that, now more than ever, the time to reset yourself is upon you.

Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask instead what you can do for you. Hear me out.

The betterment of humanity and the practice of tolerance does not begin with your tireless bar stool jargon and low-key political interference.

This begins, instead, with what you do in each and every moment until you again perch yourself up against your angstridden beer dispenser for another night of this-country-isgoing-to-the-dogs frivolity.

It begins with how you treat the people around you. And you’re a fool if you think you can make a difference any other way.

Remarkable change was never brought about by great things; it has always been brought about by a collection of small things that mattered, done en masse, by a large number of people who believe in the greater good.

Don’t ask me what I believe, don’t ask me how I think this tumultuous time will turn out for a country on the edge. Ask me instead how I treated the lady at the toll booth. Check if I stood idly by when a fellow human being was belittled and reduced to tears.

Ask me whether I stood by and did nothing when faced with the easy way out.

Don’t show me your festival photos, or tell me stories of the kiff time you had and how the awesomeness that is Veranda Panda had you throwing down on the dance floor.

I’d rather hear how you grew as a human being because, when all your defences were down, when nothing else mattered but the kindness and togetherness you felt, that indeed you noticed that we all are, in fact, one.

The only change that counts is the change each one of us aspires to make, and, more importantly, the change each one of us demonstrates.

The longing for a better political climate, a more loving family unit, a closer relationship with loved ones and tolerance of other’s desires takes place in your own mind.

Your body and your mind has carried with it many years of belief, many years of neglect, many years of intolerance and many years of abuse.

And you have piled this upon yourself. Nobody else is responsible for that. You did it on your own. You are an accumulation of every thought you have ever had. Put that in your proverbial pipe and smoke it. The time to Ctrl+alt+reset is now. Practice compassion with yourself – from within, from without. Pay attention to your aches and pains, both physical and psychological, and let that sh*t go.

If you cannot do that first, there is no way we can expect you to show compassion to others. Be good to yourself. Clear out the clutter. Get some physical, muscular relief for your body. And do the same for your mind.

Only then shall we make it.