You're Not Broken, You’re Just Restarting

Most people spend their lives trying to stop things.

Stop smoking

Stop overthinking.

Stop procrastinating.

Stop feeling inadequate.

They treat their struggle like a heavy chain - something continuous, something built into their character.

But look closely.

There is no chain.

There is only restart.

The Mechanical Truth

You are not a smoker 24 hours a day.

You are not anxious every minute.

You are not insecure in every conversation.

There are gaps.

Hours where you don’t smoke.Moments where you aren’t worrying.Conversations where you aren’t thinking about yourself at all.

In those moments, nothing is missing.

Nothing is broken.

The habit isn’t running.

The anxiety isn’t active.

The “problem” isn’t there.

That’s not something you created.

It’s your baseline.

The Effort Isn’t in Stopping

We talk about how hard it is to stop a habit.

But look carefully.

It takes no effort not to smoke in the gap between cigarettes.

It takes no effort not to overthink when the thought isn’t present.

The effort is in restarting.

Restarting requires movement:

• Picking up the cigarette

• Entering the internal commentary

• Turning a sensation into a problem

• Stepping into the Workshop to fix yourself

A feeling appears.

Before it becomes personal, it’s neutral.

The restart happens when that feeling turns into:

“This means something about me.”

“I need to fix this.”

That’s where the loop begins again.

The Mindline

The Mindline is simple.

A sensation appears - stress, doubt, restlessness.

It becomes personal.

It turns into a perceived problem.

You chase a perceived solution.

Relief comes briefly.

Then the sensation returns.

The restart completes.

Most people try to solve the problem.

Very few question the restart.

The Move

You don’t need another strategy.

You don’t need more willpower.

You don’t need to overcome yourself.

You need to see what’s happening.

1. Notice the gap — the moments where the habit isn’t running.

2. Notice when a feeling becomes personal.

3. Recognise the restart in real time.

When you stop feeding the restart, the loop weakens.

You don’t conquer the habit.

You stop restarting it.

And what remains isn’t a new version of you.

It’s you - without the extra interference.