Vesta Cocoon Diaries: The New Normal
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Photo by Sarah Kilian on Unsplash
July 15, 2021
There is a term that is very popular recently, and we often see it on TV or in newspapers and magazines. Yes, I’m sure someone has guessed it! That’s right, it’s “The New Normal”.
To be honest, “New Normal” is not a new term. As early as the financial tsunami in 2007-2008, some people used it to describe the days after the global economic recession. It means that everyone’s life was originally affected by the financial tsunami and became abnormal. Even if the impact slowly subsides and life gradually returns to normal, it can no longer go back to the same life as before, and it has become a new type of “normal life.”
However, when we talked about the “new normal” before, it was obviously due to the global economic impact; now, it is due to the major impact of the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic.
In the past two months, many people like me have been working from home. Because everyone is confined to their homes, many physical activities have been forced to be moved online. Except for very few reasons (such as shopping and medical treatment) that require you to go out, I believe that all of your friends have been staying at home for an extended period of time.
Many people have begun to wear shorts to work from home, and Google Meet or Zoom have become everyone’s daily companions. Not to mention that I couldn’t do something as simple as going to a cafe for a cup of coffee, and I hadn’t seen any friends in almost two months! We are eager to unblock and return to normal life as soon as possible, but if we think about it calmly, is this really a new normal?
Logically speaking, I should be very accustomed to this pace of life. Because as a freelance worker, even before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the past two years, I was already working in coffee shops, convenience stores, or anywhere with Internet access. I also usually communicated with relatives, friends, and clients through various instant messaging software. Shouldn’t social distancing be appropriate for me as an introvert? But why do I still feel uncomfortable now? Feeling like you’re about to get bored?
I took some time this afternoon to test the live streaming software and recorded a video of just a few seconds on Facebook. As a result, several friends left messages saying that I had lost weight! Because of staying at home, not only the mood will be affected, but also everyone’s body shape will also start to change… Your hair has grown longer, your nails have also grown longer. No matter whether you gain weight or lose weight, is there “no going back”?
If you think about it carefully, the ever-changing information technology, faster and faster connection speeds, and social media that have taken over our daily lives do not seem to make everyone’s lives more comfortable, but instead make us further alienated from each other. This also made me think about how to embrace the “new normal” in the future?
Brandon Ambrosino (Brandon Ambrosino) said it well: “So the new normal is that we kind of want to go back to our old lives, but we also kind of don’t. We want life to be the same, but we also want things to change. We want to get back to normal, but we know deep down that our journey is not going to be a complete return or a complete restart.”
Except for a few industries such as e-commerce and shipping that have caught up with rare opportunities and flourished, countries are generally facing a sharp economic recession, and problems such as unemployment and rising prices will intensify. But we have no right to be pessimistic. Thinking from another perspective, we are lucky to survive the raging global epidemic.
“Worry Treatment” (The Worry Dr. Robert Leahy, author of the book Cure, points out that our expectations for life should change with the new status quo. I like Dr. Robert Leahy’s advice to “think of life as a story” (https://healthmatters.nyp.org/how-to-adjust-to-the-new-normal-chinese/). The seemingly disordered and chaotic present can be regarded as a chapter in a book.
“If you look at life as a series of chapters, objectively speaking, this chapter is a difficult one. But we’re not going to be in this chapter forever, and not all chapters have to be great,” he said.
Yes, the “new normal” is inevitable, let us face it bravely and embrace it together! I hope everyone is well and look forward to all the best in your future life journey!
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