Would We Be Getting Back To Normal Faster From The Flip-Side?

So, Just when you thought we were finally getting back to normal…

We’ve been talking new normal, getting back to normal, and what have you for how long now?

And just when COVID is showing signs of weakening and you thought we might be getting back to normal… this time—suddenly the outlook isn’t so good.

I’ve got an idea about how to start getting our own ship headed back to normal. We need to set the stage first…

The Gorilla has blended in.

What gorilla? The one that’s bigger than any gorilla that’s been in any room that people are either ignoring or talking about incessantly—THAT ONE!

What I mean by that is this… it’s still there, but in varying degrees for each of us. People are still dealing with the pandemic in a range between the extremes of still-scared-as-hell and screw-it-I’m-taking-my-chances.

Wherever you are between those points, the gorilla itself isn’t that obvious to us anymore on a day-to-day basis. All those familiar motions we’ve been going through for over two years now are somewhat hardcoded in.

The Gorilla is still there, we’re not seeing her in the same way. We haven’t let go… AND, she’s been around long enough now for other beasties to enter the room.

It’s not only COVID, now we get to worry about the world order.

I was on a call with a good friend yesterday and made reference to the evening news. We were talking about all the insanity that’s going on in the world when he revealed, “I don’t watch the news anymore.”

Me: What?

“I don’t. I haven’t watched in eighteen months or so.”

Me: Okay…

“I realized watching was just upsetting me over things I can’t do anything about. I know we’re supposed to be informed, and if there’s something I really need to know I’m sure I’ll find out or someone else will let me know.”

Did we get a triple sucker punch or what?

I’m not sure, but it feels like it. And that’s the problem more than anything.

I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.“
— Mark Twain

That quote came up in a call with another friend recently. Yep, we were talking about worries and worrying, and how to deal with them.

Just how do gorillas, the evening news, and Mark Twain’s worries tie together?

So, the gorilla that insists on hanging around to cause more stress and anxiety will eventually exit on its own schedule and not before.

And whether it’s the gorilla, inflation, or current world affairs—the evening news always has been able to find shocking and upsetting stories to report… and always will. We know that.

When my friend told me he had stopped watching he wasn’t bragging or looking for praise. He simply recognized the unhealthy cause and effect of watching upsetting news stories and decided it was in his best interest to stop watching.

Maybe you or I won’t follow suit. But what if we cut wayyyyy back on our daily dosage? What might that do for our outlook?

Keep in mind—most things we worry about never happen.

I didn’t share the Mark Twain quote to be dismissive. I shared it because it’s true.

It’s hard to argue that our world feels more than a bit out of balance these days. We’ve got a lot hitting us from all angles and directions.

And finally, here’s my idea for getting back to normal…

I’m going to do an experiment and I’m inviting you to give it a try.

It’s kind of like anchoring a boat in the storm, but you’ve lost track of your anchor because, as I said above, we’ve all been paying too much attention to all those worries and distractions out there.

You know I like metaphors, so that’s what the anchor is in our experiment (you are coming along, right?).

When your boat gets rocked like ours has recently, everything that’s not tied down ends up who knows where. I’m thinking we’ve lost our anchor, at least the old normal one. We’ve got to find something else.

We’re going to start small, then build from there. Remember, we’re not saving the world, we’re finding an anchor. Our anchor. One that ties us to one simple part of normal life from before.

So here goes…

Pick one normal thing from “before COVID” that was enjoyable for you, something part of your routine. Maybe you played tennis on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Or was it going for a hike? Maybe you read trashy beach novels in your man cave. It doesn’t matter as long as you enjoy it.

Because most EVERYTHING was disrupted, we also stopped doing most EVERYTHING!

I’m not dismissing what we’re all hoping for getting back to normal on a global scale. It’s on the personal level where we can start reclaiming small pieces of normal we stopped doing because our lives were completely disrupted.

We can reclaim them one by one… and possibly sneak in a few more (because we weren’t doing enough of the good stuff before).

You’ve got time, remember—you’re cutting back on your news binging. Maybe even putting Netflix on the chopping block?

Be untucked.

p.s. Know someone who might like this post? Maybe forward it or share it on your favorite social media platform. Thanks…