When We Cannot Return To Old Normals

by Reuben Chow

The concept of normality is usually a comforting and reassuring one.

When there are major changes or shakeups in our lives, we usually cannot wait to return the way things were – our comfort zones. Things may be out of whack, but it’s only temporary, and hopefully our lives will soon “go back to normal”.

Oftentimes, returning to our “normal” lives is indeed possible. For example, say you caught a bad cold and are practically bedridden for a couple of weeks. During that fortnight, you could not eat the foods you like nor partake in your usual activities. Oh, what a bother. However, once you fully recover from the illness, life goes back to normal.

Or, suppose there was a flood in your neighborhood which adversely affected everyone’s daily lives. For days or weeks, traffic was at a standstill, food supplies were limited, schools were closed, and houses were in a mess. But once the flood clears and everything is cleaned up, normality would most likely resume for everyone.

The truth, though, is that there are many changes that take place in life which are NOT reversible, no matter what.

For example, once someone dear to you passes on, you will never see or touch that person ever again.

On a happier note, once you and your partner have your first child, life undergoes a big shakeup and things are never like the childless days again.

A new job, living in a new country, experiencing drastic changes in one’s financial status, suffering a bad physical injury which cannot be fixed – these are some possible scenarios where life may never “return to normal” again.

Here’s a thought. Instead of wishing that life goes back to normal, that life resumes its status quo, why not retune our line of thinking and instead look towards establishing “new normals”?

Change, after all, is the only constant in life. And, often, new normals can actually turn out much, much better than you ever envisaged.

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