What Even is Normal?

As states begin to reopen and gyms,. restaurants, schools etc are slowly reopening, I’ve been hearing this trend of “returning to normalcy” or “getting back to normal,” and the excitement of routine mixed with the anxiety that coincides with socializing again.

With new cleaning regimes, mask protocols, and social distancing, I’m not sure how much “normal” I’m going to feel when I starting getting out and about. Sure, I might be doing my same “routine,” but does it count as routine if there are new steps added? If every time I go to the office I get my temperature checked, wear a mask and gloves, and have to limit my socializing to certain spaces and distances? If whenever I sneeze or cough at a public place, I’m sent home on the assumption I could be sick?

I’ve never lived through an international pandemic before, so maybe take this with a grain of salt, but I’m here to ask y’all to pump the brakes for a second and focus on another side of this particular coin.

In this rush to return to “normal,” we have a unique opportunity. We can take the time to decide what parts of “normal” are worth accepting. Worth rushing back to. Worth incorporating into your new life.

That’s what it is, right? It’s a new life. You’re not who you were yesterday, or last week, or definitely before the quarantine. So why pretend? Why move backward when we can move forward? We’ve lived through what we’ve lived through and we’re different because of it all, so why get “back” anywhere when moving “backwards” causes so much anxiety (and is also impossible)?

Just because “back” instills a sense of comfortability that “forward” cannot? Forward is NEW. It’s SCARY. It forces us to CHANGE and GROW.

I, for one, am into it.

I’m bringing my PMA (positive mental attitude) to the forefront and girl, is it a game-changer.

Instead of focusing on the negatives or forcing myself back into a routine that didn’t ultimately make me happy anyway, I’m starting fresh. I want to take advantage of the opportunity laid out in front of us, we’ve jumped off the train and have no obligation to run alongside it. How COOL is that?! How THRILLING will it be to rebuild better and stronger than ever?

Join me.

Let’s Live Unbreakable in every sense of the word, ride the wave coming at us, and build the future we want.