Getting Back to Normal or No Going Back?

What is normal and what does that really mean? When life makes us change, we resist. Change can be difficult to accept, especially when its not our idea and forced upon us. In the resistance, its easy to focus on what was, how do I get back there? But really, can we go back and should we?

The Webster definition of normal: "conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected." "If something conforms to a general pattern, standard, or average, we describe it as normal, but of course that standard can change over time. What's normal today may be "abnormal" in the future. The word normal comes from a Latin word normalis, which described something made with a carpenter's square."

So normal is what we expect and conform our daily life around, but the world is ever changing around us in nature, so why is it so hard for us to change? Humans like the same routines, "the good old days" of our comfort zone.

Today I popped into a local establishment and saw old familiar faces. A few of the "old guys" sitting together having coffee and shooting the B.S., just like how t used to be. Commenting on good to see life back to "normal". Realizing, what is normal? Is it really like it used to be? Life as we know it yesterday is gone. It will never be the same. Yes some things are the same, the sun rises in the East and sets in the West, it comes up every day. It does not rise and set the same time 2 days in a row. Once the sun rises, it doesn't go backward but instead follows its path in one direction. It may appear to stand still for a moment in time, or to move more slowly at some point or another, but really it is steadily moving forward on its path. We are the same way, and once we have moved through something we can never really go back. We may be resting or revisiting issues that seem old, and it's natural to feel stuck, but in truth we are always taking the next important step forward on our path. The weather is never exactly the same, the wind speed, air temps. After all, this is not the movie, " Ground hog day". You will not wake at the same time exactly day after day, the same clothes, same song on the radio and people repeat the exact same thing. Life as we knew it yesterday or right now is gone forever. So there really is no "normal". Adapt, learn, grow and keep some routines but evolve with every new day.

Yesterday is gone

Tomorrow is not here yet

Today is all we have, live it! It too will be gone.

Hopefully as we learn, grown and change; we see things how it could be better, learn from mistakes and make it better for tomorrow. Growth goes in a forward direction, there is no going back. There are times we can feel scared or drag our feet and "want it the way it was", but we don't ever really go backwards. Every step on the path is meaningful, and even one that seems to take us backward is a forward step in the sense that it is what we must do to move to the next level.

Maya Angelou "If you can't change it, change your attitude."