Most things that happen in the world are forecasted. It could be the weather, currency exchange rates, interest rates, or maybe even how that one friend of yours went to you crying after doing something you explicitly told them not to do. All of those instances had moments in between that gave you the time to prepare.
However, recently, it feels like as each day passes by, we do not know what will hit us. It usually makes me question things like “How did we get here?” or the usual “Did I miss an entire season or what?” Everything seems to be unpredictable.
Whether we like it or not, we just need to improvise, adapt, and overcome. You can even say that those three things are what everyone should see as normal.
Each time, the world undergoes a series of events that eventually births a new normal.
First, everyone gets confused. This is where we discover changes. It is the world’s means of introducing us to something new through a slap on the face. I describe it as a slap on the face since people usually reject things that are out of the norm immediately. Out of ignorance, we hate the things that we cannot understand. But once educated, we usually convert the hate with the desire to adapt or overcome.
Second, everyone compares the present to the past. This is where we look back on things and see how astronomical the changes are. In this stage, people normally tend to wish everything should just go back to what it was once before. But, as we all know, there is no “reset to default” option in this survival, multiplayer game that we call life.
Third, everyone starts to tolerate it. This is where we acknowledge that we can no longer go back to the past. In this stage, however bad it gets, we just continue on living. I guess you can say that this is similar to when a character from a video game gains a certain resistance from something - It still hurts them, but, it hurts less.
Fourth, everyone begins to accept. This is where we attribute this new normal with positive things. This is where we tell ourselves that maybe things are not as bad as we thought or maybe that it is a blessing in disguise. In this stage, people look at things differently. As opposed to remaining in the darkness, we choose to go towards the light. No matter how small this light is, we hold on to it and tell ourselves that it will get brighter.
Lastly, everyone takes pride. This is where everything gets better. In this stage, we celebrate our little victories over the unprecedented change. We tell everyone how even in the worst scenarios, we still fought back, never gave up, and flourished. Even for a moment, until another normal arrives, we get to experience happiness as we continue on living.
With how the world keeps changing from day to day, our “normal” becomes change itself. For everyone, normal is redefined as a journey of discovery, reflection, tolerance, acceptance, and celebration. This journey is a cycle that we will be experiencing over and over again until the end of time. So, instead of being negative and ranting about it, we should just smile, live, and hope for the best. For after every storm comes a beautiful and calming rainbow.
Kommentare