Normal - I keep seeing articles and posts about it!
Definitions - Conforming to a type, standard or regular pattern: characterized by that which is considered usual, typical or routine.
The usual, average or typical state or condition.
Conventional
I see posts on FB and on blogs and Vlogs - "normal is gone forever". "When will we return to normal/?" "Life as we know it is over forever".
Talk about DRAMA!
I don't know about you - but normal to me is just whatever is happening on any given day. I don't expect anything - I just go with the flow.
My 'normal' if you want to call it that - ended in April of 2019. I know there are many here that can understand that feeling. Taking care of my hubby and our home and just being with him was normal - then boom it all ended in a moment.
So maybe I have a skewed look at normal. Nothing will ever be the same - but life can still be joyful. Life does go on!
Today there is inflation, money woes, shortages, extremes on about everything - but seriously these things aren't new. They have happened before and will happen again.
Each and every one is different. Normal is different for each.
I mean when they say "we will never see normal again" - who's normal are they talking about? Yours, mine, Billy Bob's or Jim's?
Yes, things HAVE changed, WILL change, and will CONTINUE to be. Today is a new day - so this is what it is. Today will never be like yesterday. Tomorrow will never be like today. Each day is new and different and that is normal!!!!!
The phrase s**t happens - is very true. You just never know. All we can do is make the best of each new morning that we wake up! That is the day you are given - why in the heck would you want to spend it fretting?
I don't need dread or fear in my life. I do not need panic and anxiousness in my life. I do not need negativity added to my like.
I NEED calm, positivity and wise words and patterns. I need hope. I need joy. I need peace.
I do not believe in accidents. I do believe stuff happens for a reason.
I just had to approach this subject - as it has been all over the place lately. What is normal? Why do we have to react so panicky? Why do people feel they have to push the negative?
It seems most people who have lived for very many years have totally forgotten that this garbage has all happened before and yet, here we are.
Stocking and preparing for whatever life may bring should just be normal. Things happen all the time. My goodness, I started doing this years ago - being pushed by my husband. He was huge in being prepared for anything. Not just inflation, unrest, or political stuff - but illness, loss of jobs, natural occurrences, etc. I learned from my parents how to do so much and then as my years went on, I learned that we need to prepare for anything. I am so glad we had the frame of mind to save and be prepared on many levels.
I guess normal for me is "plan for the worst and hope for the best". Normal is to love each given day and be present. Normal is to try to find joy in all things. Normal is to be thankful for what I have HAD and what I HAVE now.
Normal for me is to just trust in my protector that all will be OK.
May you all have a wonderful day full of peace and joy.
Ah my joke about normal: Show me a normal family and I'll show you mine :-)
ReplyDeleteYesterday is over people. You can be miserable about it, or happy you woke up today !!!
Yes mam! Can't change what has happened - all we can do is go forward and do the best we can. The future is unexplored!!!!
DeleteMy normal ended with my genetic disease that keeps me in constant pain. I am strong willed and determined to stay off hard core pain meds. Normal has nothing to do with the price of food or gas.
ReplyDeleteBless your heart. HUGS! I know - everyone puts normal to stuff and things. To me it is people and life in general.
DeleteWhy does staying off strong med equal strong will? Embrace the relief if you need it.
DeleteAs the joke goes: Normal is just a setting on my dryer. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThis is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24
Pretty much sums it up for me.
Thank you - that verse is perfect!
DeleteLove the joke - truth!!!!
What a beautiful and appropriate post! I agree, Cheryl! I second all you said, Frances! Everyone's normal is a little different and whether we've noticed or not, our normal has been changing daily all our life. Just sometimes faster than others! And, we always have control of our attitude if we just take the bull by the horns. We can choose to have positive and uplifting attitudes...or as I choose to call it...Stinking Thinking! I try hard for the positive and uplifting.
ReplyDeleteIndeed - we are all different and life is forever changing.
DeleteAttitude, attitude, attitude!
"stinking thinking" good one! I like that! I try my best to stay positive as well.
I really needed to hear this today. I'm a regular reader, seldom-commenter. Thank you for this encouragement today.
ReplyDeleteYou are more than welcome Melanie! God puts these thoughts in my mind and I am guided I feel for a reason. You were obviously the reason today!
DeleteYou got this!
I say this to myself all the time...This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
ReplyDeletePsalm 118:24
YES - thank you! I love that this is what comes to people's minds. He makes no mistakes!!!!!!
DeleteExcellent post! Is "normal" what folks wish their life would be? Rolling with the punches and doing the best we can with what we have is easier than kvetching because things are not the same. Whining and beating your head against a brick wall is tiring! You are so right - prepare, prepare, prepare. Miss Frances's Psalms quote is right on the nose.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that may be true Donna - people wishing. My daddy used to say "you can wish in one hand and crap in the other - see which one gets full first"!!!!!
DeleteNothing wrong with dreams and wishes - just need to live in reality!
"Normal is to love each given day and be present. Normal is to try to find joy in all things. Normal is to be thankful for what I have HAD and what I HAVE now. Normal for me is to just trust in my protector that all will be OK."
ReplyDeleteYou have NO idea how much I needed to read those words today, Cheryl. Thank you! --Elise
The Lord works in mysterious ways. Yes, He does.
DeleteYou are welcome - breathe and go forward dear. God has you in His hands!!!!
I keep telling you guys normal is a setting on the dryer....
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely!!!! It is the only CONSISTANT normal we have! LOL
DeleteGreat post! I agree that all we can do is whatever we can to prepare and then have faith. My experience has always been that things work out. Maybe not as I want them to, but many times, even better. Blessings to you. Lynn Ewing
ReplyDeleteThat is so true Lynn. It always works out the way it is supposed to - maybe just not how we thought it would. We just need to keep on keeping on!
DeleteAn excellent timely post! And you are so right. My "normal" ended on Mother's Day 2014 and, as a result, I reverted to my upbringing -- making sure I had "enough" to sustain me in times of trouble. And, I've continued doing that, ever since. Canning and baking sustains my soul as well as my household. It kind of wraps a security blanket over me, knowing that I have plenty in my pantry and freezer, that I can get by. Since 2014, I've lived by the saying, "Open the gift you are given every morning, and make the best of every day you're given." Still, there's is so much turmoil today that I find myself evaluating social events in advance and determining what I want to deal with and what I don't. I have very dear friends and we sit on opposite ends of the fence on certain issues. And, sad to say, there are times I just.can't.deal.with.it and turn down their invite for dinner and a bonfire. Some days I think I'm just better company to myself than to someone else. And that's OK, that's my new normal.
ReplyDeleteI certainly hear you on turning down invitations. I'm doing some of the same, for similar reasons.
DeleteLord, in the morning thou shalt hear
My voice ascending high.
To Thee will I direct my prayer,
To Thee lift up mine eyes.
MaryB in NC
Lori, yes those of us who have lost their spouses - know that it becomes a very important thing to take care of self. I like your analogy of a security blanket. It sure is - even though alone - you can sure feel somewhat comforted in knowing that you can do it and that all will be OK.
DeleteI do the same -- I stay alone most of the times. People just try too hard to push their ideals - and I don't take well to that. I really just avoid them.
Keeping your emotional health strong is so very important.
MaryB thank you - beautiful
DeleteThank you, MaryB. A wonderful prayer for the morning. :-)
DeleteFab post!!! You expressed that so well and I couldn't agree more! Go with the flow....embrace the joys! Put a smile on my face. Love how you see life! Complain complain complain is SOOOOO crummy as a way to live and a way to inflict on others. Thanks for the smile
ReplyDeleteThank you! It is easier to love life and find a little joy - and sure does spread! Laughing and smiling is infectious!
DeleteI tend to think those who want things to go back.to normal are simply afraid of the changes and what the future might be. Living in the present is a gift.
ReplyDeleteHeck, we never know the future and that has always been scary. I imagine you are right. Yes, today is a gift!!!!!!
DeleteI think everyone's idea of normal is in their own perspective, much like "fair." I rarely look to the outside world to gage it. I think the media is responsible for much of how people define it. I think they tell America what to think and how to feel. Subtly. And people do absorb that. I think some people really do look to the TV and think that's normal!! I distinctly remember an episode of Friends where it was insinuated that it was normal to have sex on the third date. The next day, my best friend and I were talking about it and our reactions?! "EWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!". But I guarantee you that loads of impressionable people accepted that as normal.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing I am absolutely sure is NOT normal? Eating mushrooms LOLOL!!!!!
It definitely is a personal thing. It is different for everyone. Subtle? I am not sure how subtle the media is - but they do have a big responsibility for how people think. Often they TELL you IF you don't feel this way you aren't normal!!! Grrrr
DeleteOh then I am not normal kiddo - I love mushrooms!
Like you my normal disappeared when our daughter was killed riding her bike. Since then we entered a new normal which will change once again. Normal is what you make it, and while things change we must of course change our expectations of what is normal....
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I am so sorry to hear that. That is horrible. Huge hugs.
DeleteYes, death has a way of changing normal - life - everything. We can never imagine it - but it happens to us all, and somehow, some way we go forward and onward. Each day new and different.
a lovely, thoughtful post
ReplyDeletethank you
~margaret
You are welcome. Have a good day!
DeleteAs I came out of a grocery store in June of 2020, the guy walking beside me was not very talkative. Some aren't. He was an older teen. I said something about the unfolding pandemic. He said so sadly, "I just want things to be normal, like they used to be." I told him things will never be like they used to be. They never are. But, it will be okay." He wailed, "They will never be like they used to be?" We ran out of time to talk, but maybe I made him understand. I know things change all the time, sometimes swiftly and dramatically. We adjust and soon have a new normal.
ReplyDeleteToday is not like yesterday. Tomorrow will not be like today. You would think people would understand - but they don't. I have heard folks say they will be glad when C is gone. It will never be gone - just like the flu - it is here forever, I feel certain. It will become normal!
DeleteOnly thing certain in life is change!