Notes from the Road December 29th, 2021

It is really interesting to hear people say in different ways “we are back to normal”.? Normal... what an interesting word and concept. Normal Definition: conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.? I think to myself when I hear someone say that “really, normal is that what you think we are in now?”

I may have written about data indicating that it takes about 6-9 months for us to readjust to our inner set point. Whether we are a happy person or a grim person, whatever life hands us (amazing or devastating), it takes about 6-9 months for us to float back to our well-being set point. This may be what people are talking about when they say things are back to normal, but I haven't truly had the opportunity to dig into this meaning just yet.

It is a lovely thing that we can readjust and find our way to our place of well-being, and yet... is where we are in the world, with vaccine cards, our entry into “normal life”, record-breaking weather events, forgetting to wear our masks and being turned back from the grocery, normal? I don’t think so.

We are an incredibly resilient species and I don’t want to undermine that resilience with the idea that our environment is moving one normally or as usual. I think if anything we have to keep reminding each other... this IS NOT NORMAL. Normal leans towards acceptance, and I am not sure we want to accept everything that is coming at us.

Mind you I don’t have an answer to this AT ALL. I am simply asking to keep the door open to the question WHAT is normal, is what we are going through NOW normal, rather than just taking on the current events causing stress and difficulty as a form of "normal"

This may seem a little dark for what I normally write and maybe it is.? I just don’t want us to forget to ask ourselves, is this really normal?