I wonder how many times you might have said or heard someone say, “I just want life to get back to normal” over the past year (plus months)?
Perhaps the truest response was, “It won’t. There will be a new normal that will require adjustments.”
Here we are, on the cusp of the new normal, and some things haven’t changed. People are still disagreeing about wearing masks, socializing, and being vaccinated, as well as the optimal dates for going back to work, back to school, and back to travel.
I agree with those who advise that we be nice to ourselves and compassionate toward others as we begin to adjust and find our new normal. I personally know what a challenge that might be because of the surprises–good and bad–I experienced from January 2020 to now. There is no going back to pre-2020. I have uncertainty about what going forward means.
Whether or not you feel you made good use of time during the past months, or feel like you wasted time, at the very least, now can be an opportunity to reset. If you’ve already broken bad habits or formed new and better ones, keep moving forward or building on those.
You can also see this time as an opportunity to make positive changes in your professional and personal life. Did you discover some toxic influences during the pandemic? Did you come up with ideas to make your home or work life better? Did you endure circumstances or events that you never want to endure again? Maybe now is the time to change what you can or to let go of what isn’t nourishing your better self or your environment.
I learned a lot since January of 2020. Some of it was painful. Some of it was sustaining. I genuinely have no idea how it all will impact the future.
I’m grateful that I can think about the future.
Is that what was going wrong all this time? If I dry my clothes on normal, will life stop being on permanent press?
Worth a try!
When I had my 2nd shot last week, that night of headaches lead to a dream I was on Rupal’s Drag Race and Cher was teaching us ABBA songs.
CDC is hoping we vaccinated can stop wearing masks for most public gatherings, but what’s to keep the masks on those who don’t get vaccinated? A significant fraction of the United States needs to be vaccinated to achieve this thing called herd immunity or we end up in the same place with the flu shots trying to out guess the variants. I wish this whole virus and vaccine thing wasn’t so damn pathetically political and denial.
I hope the ABBA song was “Take a Chance on Me” and not “Waterloo.” =)
People who won’t get vaccinated are already not wearing masks and aren’t likely to begin. When/if they get COVID, they possibly could get one of the variants that the vaccination doesn’t cover, thereby putting even vaccinated people at risk. Because it’s all about them and their diet of paranoia and suspicion that they pretend is freedom covered in whipped cream. Nothing is about anyone else at the table or the nursing home or the grocery store or anywhere else, as they made abundantly clear from the outset of the pandemic.
ETA: I do try to feel compassion when I realize many of them are being misled or misinformed by people they trust. Each of us has to establish our own level of risk-taking. The shame is that they are putting others at risk. Which makes me pity their lack of humanity. Many of them say I am too risk-averse in protecting myself. But they are the ones still willing to put me at risk, so I have to guard my own health.