NO NEW NORMAL

Are you tired of hearing the words, 
        The New Normal?
I am.
I have always disliked that phrase. 
It is a filler that people use in conversations when they don’t know what to say. 
When you get married, divorced, move, have a child, retire, and at funerals, you can expect to hear this comment, 
    “Well, you will need to get used to 
               the new normal.” 
I don’t believe in this concept.

I remember as a kid listening in on our telephone party line. For those of you much younger than me, a party line was when one telephone circuit was shared by multiple telephone service subscribers. In my case several homes. I would pick up the phone to see if anyone was talking before I could make a call. 

Our party line consisted of many families, but my favorite to listen to was a lady who spoke only German. I didn’t know what she was saying, but it was fun to listen until she would hear me giggle and insist that I get off the line. Being caught, I would immediately hang up. A party line was the only phone communication I knew so it seemed normal.

I remember when my family received our very own line and I only had to worry about my brother picking up one of the extensions in our home while I was talking to my girlfriends, or more humiliating for me, talking to a boyfriend. 
Was this the new normal?

The day my Dad came home carrying what looked like a shoe box sized suitcase, my family was instructed to sit on the couch while he demonstrated his newest treasure. A phone that you could carry with you everywhere you went. To our embarrassment he did just that. I don’t actually ever remember it ringing, but it was often taken out of the box and shown off while his friends gasped in amazement. 
Was this the new normal?

It was just 20 short years ago that everyone began carrying the fancy new flip phones. I was not an early adapter. I felt the only reason to have one was to be able to order pizza on my way home from work and synchronize the delivery person with my arrival at home. Soon enough, I was ordering pizza. 
Was this the new normal?

Fast forward to today. I no longer have a flip phone, but a hand sized computer that holds my appointment calendar, address book, digital wallet, music, camera, and years’ worth of photographs, and important messages. It is truly the digital version of my entire life in my pocket. 
Is this the new normal?

I could relate this kind of progression to the television, fashion, or our aging bodies. I don’t look at it as if our “normal” has become new. Instead, I believe this evolution is change and there is nothing more normal than change. Change can occur slowly or hit us with the speed of tragedy. Either way we should expect it.  

Our lives don’t stay the same on any level. Babies are born. Children grow up. Illness occurs. People age and die. Products are invented. Art is created. Trees grow and mountains erode. The world coordinates compromise and begins battles. 
Change happens. 
Is any of it normal? 
Is all of it normal?

Our world has seen a lot of change in the past few months.  We have been asked to accept many new ways of living. What if we stopped saying, this is the New Normal and realized that nothing is stagnant, and change is part of life. 
And yes, change is normal.
                        ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~~
Pennie's Life Lesson:
     “Change can occur slowly or
         hit us with the speed of tragedy. 
         Either way we should expect it. 
                     Change is normal.”
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YOUR TURN... 
​My intent in sharing this with you is to encourage you to think about how change happens.
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
                [email protected]. 
                          Thank you!  
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                 Copyright © 2013-2020 Pennie Hunt
         This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt.
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