Lately I have been hearing of lots of people learning to live a “new normal”. So many, in fact, that it has become something of a phenomenon in my circle of friends/friends of friends/friends of friends of friends. The reasons for our lives’ shifts vary greatly, but all are devastating and non-refundable. There is no going back but our Ghosts of Normal Past pull us constantly, reminding us of all that has come before . . . and is now gone.
The Ghost of Normal Future is, ironically, present as well. We dare to allow it to show us glimpses of our life ahead but the Ghost of Normal Past is so much stronger and holds our hearts.
And then there is the Ghost of Normal Present. It, too, is an apparition but the most real of them all. It is honest, at times brutal, but deep inside, beyond the pain and the fear, we know the Ghost of Normal Present is friend, not foe. But believing this means letting go. And how do you blindly, in my case figuratively and literally, relinquish what we know and love? Of what we are convinced makes us us?
And yet we must.
Progress forward will be slow, with lots of backsliding and days we cannot move at all. But in the end, we will survive and we will adapt. Our Ghost of Normal Past, over time, won’t hurt so much. It will come in peace.
I, myself, am not always there. Not full-time, at least. But my Ghost of Normal Past makes me smile more than cry now. And I have made friends with my Ghost of Normal Present, it is the co-author of today’s post. And I check in with my Ghost of Normal Future everyday.
I have learned three things:
- Normal will come and go.
- I am always me: past, present and future.
- I ain’t afraid of no ghosts. And you shouldn’t be either.
