The New Normal

On December 31st 2019 at midnight we did what we normally do. We sang Auld Lang Syne as we normally do. We wished each other happy new year as we normally do. We lit fireworks as we normally do. We ate black eye peas and rice as we normally do. Life as we knew it, was normal, as it always was.

Fast forward 7 months. We wear masks when we leave the house. We wash our hands several times daily. We don’t lime or party the way we used to or at all any more. A trip to the grocery is an outing now. We hope that our jobs are secure but we are uncertain. This is the normal now. This is the new normal.

How we choose to approach this new normal will dictate how well we handle it

How we choose to approach this new normal will dictate how well we handle it. Each of us has a personal responsibility to consciously decide whether we are going to accept our new normal, learn it, master it, and conquer it, or reject it and remain in denial – agitated, confused, uncertain, believing every conspiracy theory and wild explanation that comes our way. We, the children of slavery, indentureship, and migration, are not survivors, but conquerors. It is in our collective DNA to pick ourselves up when we fall, dust ourselves off, and continue marching forward. thriving with more resolve than ever before.

This is how we must approach the new normal. Rather than waddle in the stress and anxiety it has produced, let us dig deeply and rise up with creative, innovative ways of taking advantage of the new rules we are forced to follow. There are opportunities waiting to be discovered everywhere – more time at home, less time in traffic, more time with loved ones, longer sleeping hours, wider reach to others through technology, more nutritious home cooked meals, lower expenses on purchased food. 

B.A.T. stress away – Build resilience, Adopt the right daily habits, use effective Tools

While we build on making the new normal our normal, let us do what we need to do to keep stress and anxiety under control. B.A.T stress away – Build resilience, Adopt the right daily habits, and use the right Tools to keep us mentally and emotionally fit and healthy. 

Build resilience by accepting what you cannot change, having daily gratitude for the good things in your life, and choosing a positive perspective on things. Adopt helpful, stress reducing habits – create and maintain boundaries between work and home, prioritise self care, talk things out regularly with someone you trust, don’t compromise on sleep, exercise, and proper nutrition, avoid drug and alcohol abuse, limit pandemic and other distressing news on your phone, get only the facts from reliable sources, and draw on coping skills you have used successfully in the past. Use powerful stress busting Tools – try mindfulness and for those who believe, good old fashioned prayer.

It is a new normal, but one that can become our normal if we take the right approach to it. No more whining and complaining! Make it yours starting today.