open to change

Is "normal" really all its cracked up to be?

- Mary Boutieller

When I asked my darling husband where to begin to write this article, he said to “begin at the beginning.” So I sit here staring at the blank “paper” on the screen and wonder how to make sense of all that is going on and how the future might look as we continue on this unforeseen journey.

The unrest we feel inside ourselves and the whole world’s unrest aren’t very different from one another. My current and individually inspired unrest is fed in part by the unrest and uncertainty of so many, but it is also self-induced. Whether it has to do with the coronavirus, the racial tensions and traumas we are witnessing and acknowledging, food and housing scarcity, or emotional/physical distancing from loved ones, it affects many of us to some degree.

Keri Mangis, in her article “Normal is Calling Us. We Must Resist,” said: “You hear it too, right? The sweet, sweet sound of normal calling us? Or, if you don’t hear it, can you feel it? The pull to shore up the societal guardrails, hide the mess, and pretend we’re done with the work we needed to do? Brush the dust from our hands and return to our previously scheduled programming? We’re tired, after all, and normal promises us respite.”