# After a long absence, I reset (to level 7), and I'm glad I did **URL:** \ **Category:** Tips & Tricks\ **Created:** [July 10, 2021, 6:09pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/after-a-long-absence-i-reset-to-level-7-and-im-glad-i-did/52432 "2021-07-10T18:09:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wct](https://cdck-file-uploads-global.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wanikanicommunity/original/3X/f/d/fd4c154120954695f788402f3bcf4e616499bc2d.png) [@wct](https://community.wanikani.com/u/wct)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 6:09pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/after-a-long-absence-i-reset-to-level-7-and-im-glad-i-did/52432/1 "2021-07-10T18:09:35Z")
This is just a quick little post to report my experience of deciding whether to reset my level on WK or not, and how it feels now that I actually did it. Hopefully this will give others some useful anecdotal information to help them decide whether they want to try resetting too, or to not reset, as the case may be. [Honestly I don’t know much of what I could or should say. I just decided to post this on a bit of a whim, since I’m feeling pretty good about WK after resetting to level 7 about a week ago. I may add more to this post later, if I can think of some more information to add to it. (Any feedback or your own stories are of course very welcome! 😊) For now, here’s the short version that I wanted to post: …] Basically, around the time Covid started to become a pandemic, but honestly probably even a bit before that, my anxieties around doing WaniKani (and just learning Japanese in general via various websites, including BunPro and others) started to build up to the point that I was getting stressed out trying to keep up with reviews. (I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), so my anxieties are probably more exaggerated than a typical person’s would be. I wasn’t really ‘overdoing it’ compared to a typical person, but for me personally, I was treading a thin line of ‘overdoing it’.) I had reached level 28 on WK, which I still feel pretty proud of, as it marks a significant long-term commitment that I **was** able to achieve, even though technically now it has been ‘reset’. The **experience** of having achieved that was **not** lost by resetting! (No reason why it _would_ be, of course, but remember the whole GAD thing; I have anxieties over seemingly trivial things like that all the time 🤷‍♂️. In any case, the point remains: The feeling/experience of achieving my ‘high score’ was not lost by resetting! That’s a good thing! 😅) Anyway, the point is that due to GAD/Covid I ended up taking an extended break from WK for a bit over a year. (Thankfully, I had foreseen something like this might happen, which is why I saved up and got the lifetime membership Christmas deal, way back when, so taking breaks from WK wouldn’t make me feel guilty for not using a year-long membership ‘efficiently’ (again, a generalized anxiety maybe other people don’t worry about).) The real kicker that ended up flipping my mental switch to reset was that coming back to WK after such a long break, I had forgotten so many of the reviews that it became ‘painful’ to try to chip away at the review stack (which I had successfully done once before, but not _this_ many! Over ~~9000~~ 2000!). Before, I had always been able to _enjoy_ time spent on WK, and that was really important to me, to help me keep my motivation up. So, I did a quick search of the forums for topics like ‘should I reset’ or whatever, and found a few posts that had great ideas in them (both pro and con). I think it was eventually one of @Leebo’s comments (that resetting ‘felt good’; and he should know, since he’s reset at least 3 times IIRC(!)) that finally tipped the scales towards resetting. And so, after figuring out roughly what level I should reset down to (a full reset would have been too boring in the beginning, I think; I’m pretty solid with the first few levels), I ventured into the **Danger Zone**! (No, really, that’s what it’s called, in the User menu under Settings! 😅) So, wrapping up for now: After about a week of redoing level 7, and even resurrecting some level 6 burned items I couldn’t remember, it **does** feel good! The ‘pressure’ is off, and I can review items that I probably rushed too much in the first place. Getting to a ‘high’ level was originally a nice challenge I set myself, and I certainly feel like I achieved that with level 28, but my **real** , _ **main** _ goal is to actually be able to read and understand some Japanese! If my forgotten-yet-somehow-burned items and big stack of reviews represented my inability to remember/read/understand those kanji/vocab, then _of course_ it makes sense (now that I have 20/20 hindsight) to reset to a more appropriate level and return back to those ‘old friends’ I’ve lost acquaintance with. So, there ya go! I hope this little story (longer than I expected, actually! 😅) maybe helps someone out there figure out if resetting might be worth the risk, or if they can probably just chug away at their stack until it’s back under control (it’s certainly doable, and a good option for many people!), or whatever. Best of luck to anyone who is faced with such a decision. And, cheers! Just do your best: 頑張ってください! ---
**Author:** ![lattepatatte](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/lattepatatte/32/828686_2.png) [@lattepatatte](https://community.wanikani.com/u/lattepatatte)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 7:41pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/after-a-long-absence-i-reset-to-level-7-and-im-glad-i-did/52432/2 "2021-07-10T19:41:47Z")
All the best to you, I hope it’s gonna work out better for you this time! I think especially if you take a long break like you did, that a reset might be the best way to go Btw I saw you liking some posts in the POLL thread - don’t be shy, anybody can talk about anything there. We don’t bite! At least the non-cats ---
**Author:** ![wct](https://cdck-file-uploads-global.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wanikanicommunity/original/3X/f/d/fd4c154120954695f788402f3bcf4e616499bc2d.png) [@wct](https://community.wanikani.com/u/wct)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 7:58pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/after-a-long-absence-i-reset-to-level-7-and-im-glad-i-did/52432/3 "2021-07-10T19:58:41Z")
> [@latepopetato](#): > > Btw I saw you liking some posts in the POLL thread - don’t be shy, anybody can talk about anything there. We don’t bite! No!! No!!! No-no-no-no-no-a-thousand-times-no! 😅 It’s nothing personal, but just the fact that I also have ADHD (in addition to the anxiety and depression (actually the anxiety and depression came along with the (undiagnosed, for over 30 years) ADHD, kinda like a package deal, except the deal sucks and you wish you could return the package)), and things like the POLL threads are like squirrel-bait for my brain: > [@On another topic](https://community.wanikani.com/t/51571/813): > > I’m like Dug the Dog… [![](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/original/4X/0/c/9/0c910e87f9dc942b3102c34b934808a50287e396.jpeg "Up - Dug the Talking Dog - "Squirrel !"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrAIGLkSMls) > [@On another topic](https://community.wanikani.com/t/51571/813): > > …except instead of squirrels (well, tbh, squirrels, too! 🐿❣🥺) I’ll just be doing my thing and then suddenly – [random topic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel) 👀! and my brain shouts, “Link!” I have to avoid such distractions at all costs. The last thing I need is to get hooked on checking the forums over and ov – 👀! “POLL!!” Mainly I was just wondering what this so-called ‘election’ thing was supposed to be. Seems like it was just to decide who would host the new poll thread? Whew! I thought I was shirking on my civic duties there for a bit! 😅 ---
**Author:** ![lattepatatte](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/user_avatar/community.wanikani.com/lattepatatte/32/828686_2.png) [@lattepatatte](https://community.wanikani.com/u/lattepatatte)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 8:30pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/after-a-long-absence-i-reset-to-level-7-and-im-glad-i-did/52432/4 "2021-07-10T20:30:29Z")
Well, if you ever change your mind or just want to take a peek, you’re always welcome! ---
**Author:** ![wct](https://cdck-file-uploads-global.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wanikanicommunity/original/3X/f/d/fd4c154120954695f788402f3bcf4e616499bc2d.png) [@wct](https://community.wanikani.com/u/wct)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 8:41pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/after-a-long-absence-i-reset-to-level-7-and-im-glad-i-did/52432/5 "2021-07-10T20:41:31Z")
Thanks for the invite. It’s much appreciated. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/wanikanicommunity/original/4X/6/2/a/62a8b0f4c59ff2c5b6651ffcf43531480b3e5297.png) [@system](https://community.wanikani.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2022, 8:41pm UTC](https://community.wanikani.com/t/after-a-long-absence-i-reset-to-level-7-and-im-glad-i-did/52432/6 "2022-07-10T20:41:58Z")
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