A New Normal: The Beginning
This is an opportunity to remake a new gentle life. A better one, because the world is done healing.
Life changes dramatically during COVID-19. We pushed to be a better person with a healthier lifestyle. In the blink of an eye — almost as if we’ve experienced a worldwide pandemic. We are all lamenting the loss of ‘normal,’ helplessly waiting to get back to the way things were.
They are fighting valiantly for a sense of normalcy — hustling to move courses online, maintaining their job from their kitchen table, help others online for raising awareness, the concert held via live streaming from their places, and helped our children do their homework.
People are hoping to buckle down for a short stint until things get back to normal. I wish anyone who pursues that path the very best of luck and health. The answer to the question everyone is asking — “When will this be over?” — is simple and obvious, yet hard to accept. The answer is never.
In the hope that people will help others to adapt to hardship conditions. Take what you need, and leave the rest. Let’s put on our critical lenses, dear reader, and analyze this label. The new normal is an oxymoron. We can appreciate the poetic value it adds and simultaneously wonders if it is helpful to throw in more ambiguity into our already enigmatic scenario. One can also be curious about the time frame this term is intended to define. Is it the liminal space between now and back to old normal? Or does it imply that these circumstances are here to stay? Also, will new ever lose its commercial appeal?
The idea of normality emerged, according to philosopher Anita Silvers, during the 19th century as a result of progress in the medical statistical field. Normality was defined as the most typical traits, which were assumed to be stronger traits from an evolutionary perspective. By demarcating the traditional, simultaneously we are creating its opposite: the pathological.
Are we ready for all of those “normality”?
The COVID-19 pandemic has recalibrated everything: work, life, and play. From head to toe, home to office, and all of the restrictions keeping our sanity more adaptable to the new normality. Now our mobility has been limited to domestic postage-stamp size, play is even more salient. How can we playfully reimagine our “home”?
I don’t intend to go into the details of what the experts spelled out, but I imagine that few people believe all aspects of civic life will return to the way they were within the post-coronavirus world and its “new normal.” Whether people love it or not, new lifestyles will little question emerge. What kind of a world will it be?
Now the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the situation. Company employees across the country are suddenly being urged to work from home, using online conferences and other digital tools. People living alone must have been reminded of the importance of friends and relatives as they communicated with each other over video chat or social media when they could not meet face to face due to the stay-home requests.
Once the pandemic is over, our nighttime in bars or shopping center will temporarily regain their luster — and maybe even see a surge in business. Many people I know are saying they can’t wait to return to the bars, movie theater, and recreational places. However, it is hard to believe that people who have come to understand the importance of friends and family.
In the near future, my favorite restaurants will be at most half full, and customers will be spaced at least 6 feet or two tables apart. The waiters will wear gloves and masks, as will the kitchen staff. It is hoped that the gloves will be changed often.
When at offices, dividers may separate workers, and conference tables will have to be bigger so employees can spread out. Cubicles may be larger and more isolating. Of course, hand sanitizer will be readily available, and everyone will be cautious regarding elevator buttons, door handles, staircase rails, and other commonly touched surfaces. Yet there is cautious optimism that we can resume our “normal” lives.
The new normal will be or should be, a life where good hygiene, distancing, masks, and screening play a more intricate role. Until a vaccine is available, the new normal will require that we remain cautious while living more safely.
Take care, everyone, welcome to the New Normal!
