THE NEW NORMAL ...AGAIN

Imperfect Shadows 6.2025 Pt 3

Photo by Mila Tovar on Unsplash

Part Three - Joy and Adaptation

You are probably thinking, what does joy have to do with any of this. It took me a while to realize it is integral to the New Normal.

To cope, I found I could not live in the hardness of everything forever. When light started to return to me, I would try to do an activity that I enjoyed. I needed to adapt to losing my crafting people, my old car (it had a nervous breakdown) and being on a very limited budget.

The ability to read substantive books returned months after I finished chemo. This gave me pleasure and joy. That I could read and understand the concepts presented. Also, I could devour a good murder mystery.

However, my spatial abilities have not yet returned. I hope they will. I need those for 3D design and the geometry for quilting. Who knew geometry would actually help?

I started cooking from scratch. I can make a mean Ratatouille. This dovetailed with my food restrictions during treatment. Good thing.

I have tried to get back into other forms of art but not as much luck in there. I can get stumped on what to try. I ache for more joy and a semblance of more creativity.

But here again the New Normal gets you. Just because you could do an art form before the illness, does not mean that skill will absolutely return. It may return in a more limited fashion.

I started to gather Joy as a shield to the chaos of all the New Normals. My reading, my cat, my writing, my finding a wonderful community here at Substack and seeing great diversity in what is available.

I started meditating again to find a center core that would be more stable. Also to contemplate what all this means.

I wish I had these skills when I was much younger to adapt to the inevitability of change. To be able to relax more into this constant change. To be more open to it – even if it is hard.

We need to be conscious of our joy. I don’t mean hoard it for it should be shared. But to tally it so that you can look and find joy, happiness, or contentment in your day. It does not matter if it is sunrise, a quiet cup of tea, a good book or just a nap. These things must be woven into your New Normal or it will never feel normal.

So here I sit, old, ill, and try to adapt. This is the fastest I have had to adapt and it is unsettling.

No matter how many times I get to a New Normal, it does not last.

We can’t “Leave it to Beaver” because it is a different time and different demands for all of us to not only cope but to be able to find a New Normal. Then we should help others.

I guess I have resigned to the fact that I will always need to find the New Normal. I can hope it includes some of the things I love to do from the past, or it will present me with new options I have not considered.

Don’t hold reality too tight to your “normal” because it will change.

Don’t stop learning to expand your understanding of some of these changes in society, science, and theology.

I often feel like I am dancing on the deck of a ship in a storm. You do the best you can with what you have.

You adapt.

And you survive.