I have been hearing quite a lot about learning to live with a new normal, but what on earth is that? Do you need to have been normal before this to have a new one?! And what is normal? How new does it have to be? Can it be a mix and match of old? Or completely new? Is there a test, a checklist or some guidance? Well, if there is anything almost guaranteed to get an anxious brain whirring, the unknown is possibly it.
Not knowing, for some folks, can be agonising as it allows the brain to develop all kinds of possibilities for what may happen. Usually negative, it is easy to be led down a path of possibilities which can be so frightening and limiting. This time with life locked down is new, unknown, unprecedented and it can feel truly scary.
Should you be crocheting a new blanket, practising for Masterchef and growing your own dinner? Or was that meant to be learning a language, practising for Mastermind and perfecting your yoga moves? I wonder what it would be like to simply allow ourselves to be? To accept our thoughts and feelings, to notice them, be aware of them and let them happen. What if we didn’t fight back our tears when we felt sad? Or didn’t say yes when the voice inside wants to say no? What if we could accept that there are many different ways of living through this time and all are valid?
So what is a new normal? Could the first steps towards it be an acceptance of ourselves and our feelings? An acceptance of the idea that normal does not really exist as we are all rather amazing individuals? Best, Lisa x