As schools begin to reopen - and shut down once again - and more and more events get cancelled as America - and the world - recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic that shuttered everything for the better part of four months, we are faced with many questions about what the world will look like in the future. What "new" normal do we face in the coming months, years, decades?
The concept of normal is a strange one, because nothing seems normal these days.
If we have learned anything from the Covid-19 outbreak, it is that it only takes something small - or in this case, microscopic - to throw our entire concept of normalcy out the window. The need to socially distance ourselves from one another, which medical experts around the world say is the best method of slowing the spread of the virus, has necessitated a complete overhaul of our day-to-day lives, as hugs and handshakes have disappeared. For many people, home life and work life have merged. For those who had been furloughed because of (hopefully) temporary work closures, that meant filling out unemployment applications for the first time. For thousands of students, that meant spending their final weeks of the school year and, perhaps, the first few weeks of the new one, studying at home. For business owners who could, that meant switching up their business model to serve their customers while keeping their physical locations closed.
Even those stores that did remain open … Walmart, for example … have changed. The retail giant closes just after dark and strictly limits the number of people inside their building. Inside the normally bustling retail giant, there were times when it could feel a bit like a ghost town.
Life has changed for all of us. Normal is not what it was a few months ago. By next month, it will not be the same as it is today.
But, we should not let that discourage any of us. Normal has always been a vague concept at best, a fabrication at worst. Life is a series of changes until it ends. Although the idea of any given moment being “normal” is comforting, it is as tangible as air, as firm as water. You cannot hang your coat on it.
The language of a "new normal" is being deployed almost as a way to quell any uncertainty ushered in by the Coronavirus. With no cure in sight, everyone from politicians and the media to friends and family has perpetuated this rhetoric as they imagine settling into life under this "new normal".
This framing is inviting: it contends that things will never be the same as they were before - so welcome to a new world order. By using this language, we re-imagine where we were previously relative to where we are now, appropriating our present as the standard.
As we weigh our personal and political responses to this pandemic, the language we employ matters. It helps to shape and reinforce our understanding of the world and the ways in which we choose to approach it. The analytic frame embodied by the persistent discussion of the "new normal" helps bring order to our current turbulence, but it should not be the lens through which we examine today’s crisis. Far from describing the status quo, evoking the "new normal" does not allow us to deal with the totality of our present reality. It first impedes personal psychological well-being, then ignores the fact that "normal" is not working for a majority of society.
The "new normal" discourse sanitizes the idea that our present is okay, because normal is regular. Yes, there may be public health challenges, but these are issues that can be managed. We accept life under the omnipresent threat of disease as ordinary. But what exactly is normal about this pandemic? It is not normal for society as a whole to be isolated, but if this is normal, then we are supposed to have control of the situation. Even if we feel loss or despair, we are expected to get used to it - accepting that this morbid reality is now standard.
Allowing ourselves to cope means not normalizing our situation and quickly moving forward, but giving ourselves the time to truly process it. In uncertain times, the "new normal" frame reinforces an understanding that the world and our emotions should, by now, have settled. Surrounded by uncertainty, it is okay to admit that things are not normal. It is okay to allow ourselves to grieve or to be scared. It is okay not to be comfortable with what is going on in the world. In fact, all of us should feel uncomfortable with our present condition, because the "new normal" describes a reality to which many do not have access.
Not only does the "new normal" framing inhibit our ability to heal ourselves, it constrains our ability to think expansively about fundamentally transforming society, because it imagines a world that only functions for the elite. Popular strategies focused on social distancing and personal protective equipment remains the remit of those with the means to fortify and seclude themselves.
As the pandemic rages on it gives us a chance to re-imagine the world by tracing history, not forgetting it.
We should revel in the discomfort of the current moment to generate a "new paradigm", not a "new normal'" Feeling unsettled, destabilized and alone can help us empathize with individuals who have faced systematic exclusions long-ignored by society even before the rise of Covid-19 - thus stimulating urgent action to improve their condition. For these communities, things have never been "normal".
Normal is nothing more than a feeling of control. Of having a plan of action. Of knowing … or at least thinking you know … what happens next. As bad as things may get over the coming weeks - and the nation's medical experts say the worst is yet to come - remember that you have as much control over your lives as you have always had. Instead of worrying what happens next, whenever possible, enjoy the moment as it is. Find comfort in family members however you can … if not in person, then over the phone or via Facebook.
Schedule group-chat Netflix sessions with friends. Go for a walk (as long as you stay at least six feet from other walkers). Learn to cook. Write a novel or, do what I do, and write a blog. Read a novel. Tile your bathroom. Build a birdhouse. Take up a new hobby.
One of the most admirable traits about humankind is its ability to adapt. We may grouse and grumble, kick and cry. But, given time, no matter what situation we find ourselves in, we adjust. We will this time, too.
In the meantime, do whatever you need to do to feel normal in circumstances that are, as always, anything but.
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