What is Your New Normal?
I find it very interesting when the media refers to the “new normal” on the horizon. The first thought that comes to my mind is: what is normal? And the second is, who decides what is normal? I suppose when the media refers to the “new normal” it is referring to what people will and can do when work, schools, restaurants, entertainment venues, travel etc. open up.
Perhaps the “new normal” can mean something else. To me it is an opportunity to recreate our lives so we can live more fully. The entire past year has felt like a long, dark winter in which everything was dormant. No doubt this time of social distancing and isolation has caused many of us to face the dark places within ourselves — the unhealed places that could no longer be silenced by nonstop activity. I know that has been the case for me.
Now is a good time to reflect on what we have learned and what we would like to change in our lives as we enter a new period. The “new normal” can be something we choose as opposed to just going back to our old ways. Within whatever restrictions remain, we still have a multitude of choices we can make to change our lives for the better.
Are you more open and forgiving from witnessing the suffering or has your protective shield become harder due to fear and hardship? Has the isolation caused you to contract so that your world has become smaller or has it motivated you to reach out and try new activities that you never would have tried otherwise? Did you stop doing some of the things you love or did you do more of the things you love — things such as music, exercising, dancing, cooking, quilting, birding — whatever makes your heart sing? Did you make an even greater effort to connect with friends and family or did you use this time as an excuse to stay to yourself, particularly if you are an introvert?
Whatever your answer to these questions, we all have the opportunity to make a new start, make changes in how we live our lives compared to how we lived before the virus. Granted the losses have been enormous but this dark period has also wrought gifts. With winter and darkness comes germination. Germination cannot happen without winter. Webster’s dictionary defines germination as follows: “to cause to sprout or develop, to begin to grow, to come into being.”
Just as the earth has its seasons, so do our lives. May this time of spring be a time of new growth, new life for you. Whatever seeds you planted in the dark, may they come into a glorious full bloom. I will conclude this post with some words my husband and I have on a sign that appears on our back porch. We came by these words in a strange way. My husband was walking to his car in the driveway one day many years ago when he saw a wet crumpled up piece of paper. We don’t know where the small piece of paper came from or who wrote it but it wasn’t in either of our handwritings.
Be Present
Seek the Truth
Look for the Good
And Always Do the Right Thing