This article is dedicated to every single time that we've heard the term, 'the new normal,' being thrown around, and the heavy-hearted sighs that have followed.
I mean, don't misunderstand me, I completely endorse the whole being cautious, maintaining distances, and having precautionary gear on, but are you telling me, that we are meant to be okay with it? A world with no hugs, zero or the rare anxiety-filled outings with friends, the frequent use of a sanitizer spray instead of perfume and veiled, invisible smiles?
A society of anxiety, and persistent suspicion?
The 'new normal' lectures the idea that our present is okay because normal projects regularism. We have begun to take life as an ever-present threat and packaged it as normal, but hey, what's normal about this? Our civilization is currently anything but normal. To be perpetually afraid, to greet a stranger with our elbows and an unseen smile, to have a topsy-turvy daily pattern, and to feel like it is completely routine to have an utterly saturated low a minimum of once a month; accepting that this gloomy reality is now standard i.e. our new normal.
How is this meant to be our 'normal' until a vaccine has established the global state of humanity to function like it did before?
Of course, it's not like any of us have any power over it, and as humans, we are merely just adapting, though, I don't understand why coin a term that determines this as the latest normal?
This term is so remote from normalcy.
How about looking at this pause to normalcy, until a day arrives us with us appreciating the old normal, but, with a shuffled, and maybe restored perspective? Drizzled with a mature gratitude? An appreciation of all that was normal, but never acknowledged?
I, like the rest of the world, can't wait for the day that we come to our new, new normal.
What's the new, new normal, you ask?
Well, it's the normal after the schooling-storm has passed. A world where every face is fully seen (and wholly grasped) along with the changing expressions; a space where celebrations and gatherings aren't frowned upon and are instead embraced with endless hugs and kisses, experiencing the sheer luxury of shaking hands of new colleagues and one where we can go back to touching random surfaces and swing on poles on roads that we walk on, and perhaps even enjoy bar-hopping. A world where we pause, and really enjoy the little things; one where we ask, "how are you," and actually are keen to learn the answer instead of rushing past it as a poor formality. A society where family meals together, are prioritised, as opposed to just being accommodated; a time and age where self-care (in whichever way) isn't dismissed away for once a year over the thirty-day break. An era of reconstructed, revolutionised and genuinely improved quality of living.
A combination of our old normal, and the learnings from our pause. Our new new normal.
Let's call a spade, a spade and frankly come to terms that this isn't our new normal, but just punishment for the human civilization as a whole, to each be confined in our corners/ boxes/homes/cities/counties for long enough until we have fully realized how faulty our old ways of apparent normalcy had been.
Stay in, treasure the moments that are healing you, connecting you with your neglected relationships, attaching you with friendships that you only previously found little windows for, and most importantly, yourself. Remind, and nourish your mind with all the coaching that this pause taught you.
Stay still, and adopt this lesson well, we are being schooled!
Only then, can we look forward to embracing our new new normal, and hopefully returning with us getting the balance right, this time around.
With love and musings,
Stories By Giggles