Return to Normal

What does normal look like? That is a question we here in business quite a bit, it is all a nonsense as what is normal differs wildly from person to person. It is one thing to be able to define normal quite different however to be at peace with.

I have a friend who has had a rare and virulent form of cancer, thankfully they think they have removed it all but as a precaution they have advised a course of chemotherapy. When I was speaking to my friend the one thing she said to me which I thought was so powerful is that she just wanted normal back, she wanted to feel normal again.

We have been conditioned to believe that normal is somewhat ‘meh’, it is perceived as boring, lacklustre dull. There seems to be a part of us that is always looking to move beyond normal that keeps us in a state of always chasing the next stage of our life.

We have been sold the lie that what we have, what is normal, isn’t good enough for us, that what lies ahead of us will actually bring us the true contentment and happiness we crave so much. The problem is it stays just out of reach, so we often spend a lifetime in pursuit of it to no avail, just like Sisyphus pushing at that rock it becomes a hopeless lifelong pursuit destined to fail.

What if though that the happiness and contentment we have such a longing for is not just tantalisingly beyond our reach but here all along hiding in plain sight in the normal of our everyday lives.

What if is the quest for what comes next, we miss the blessings that we have in our present normal. We fail toappreciate what we already have and sacrifice it in a fruitless pursuit for happiness.

Perhaps the key to this life is to stop focusing on where we are going and appreciate more what we have. To treasure the things we have now, to enjoy the relationships, opportunities, comforts that surround us in the normal. Who knows one day we might also be looking back and wishing we could return to normal once more.