THE FEMININE URGE TO START OVER

Every so often, without warning, many women feel a familiar pull towards change. 

It could start innocently by scrolling Pinterest at 2 a.m, and seeing a photo of the perfect curtain bangs and a perfectly decorated apartment. Suddenly, you’re convinced your happiness depends on a new haircut and an apartment full of new houseplants. 

So much emphasis is placed on this new change, as if it could fix your life and be the one thing to reset all your problems.

Though this cycle is often dismissed as impulsiveness, it reflects something far more meaningful: a pattern of growth.

Because underneath all the haircuts, rebrands, and deleted Instagram pictures is something deeper: the instinct to grow. Women have been taught to adapt to changing expectationsand roles. 

As a result, self-transformation becomes almost a second nature. Starting over isn’t always the result of failing in previous attempts, but it can be more like a way to start fresh. 

It’s a lot easier to see men with the same consistent routine that women. For women, trends go out of fashion so easily with clothes, shoes, and makeup, but men can often stick to the things they already know. It isn’t a bad thing since they don’t necessarily feel the same extent of pressure to conform to ever-evolving fashion trends as women do. But it can also be a restricting thing to never change. 

There is something freeing about putting importance on such minor changes like a new haircut in order to reset your life. 

The six-month reset (whether literal or symbolic) is a way of acknowledging these changes. A new haircut may seem superficial, yet it often marks a moment of emotional clarity. A new hobby may look impulsive from the outside, but internally it represents being adventurous. Even the urge to rearrange your daily schedule reflects a need to realign life with evolving matters.

There is also something inherently hopeful about these transitions. Choosing to begin again requires optimism: the belief that the next version of oneself can be more fulfilled, or more authentic. 

While society sometimes labels this pattern as instability or fickle beauty standards, it can just as easily be seen as resilience. Rather than remaining anchored to an old identity that no longer fits, many women allow themselves to evolve forward. 

This process may involve trial and error. Not every new interest will become a lifelong passion; not every shift in direction will feel like a revelation. Still, each changes shapes your personal identity.

The urge to start over, then, is not chaos but continuity. It is a reminder that identity is not fixed but fluid, and shaped by experience.

So, when the impulse to reset appears (to start baking, to take up running, to redecorate your apartment), it may be worth listening. 

• Female
• rebrand
• trends