Okay, remind me. Where were we again? You know, before all that Pandemic Pandemonium took over our lives?

I’m asking because people keep saying “things are getting back to normal now” and yet, I’m not actually convinced normal can ever be achieved again. I mean, let’s be honest here, weren’t we all somewhere slightly north of whackadoodle to begin with?

I’ll go first, and the answer is yes. Yes, I was! Working constantly but never quite finishing the list has always been my standard, until it wasn’t. That’s right. Three months into 2020 and we all suddenly took a collective deep breath (mon Dieu! We weren’t even wearing masks yet!) while we waited for someone to tell us it was all going to be okay “in just (insert your worst possible scenario time frame)” even though we already had that sneaking suspicion it would not be okay. Ever. And now we know how that waiting period went, right?

Well, even though I’m a bit skeptical about “finding normal again” (maybe searching for Nemo would be easier?), I do think we’ve turned a corner and have collectively decided to move forward. You can call it your bounce back or the end of your own personal pandemic hell, but it does finally seem like the right time to return to the dance.

The timing is right to return to the dance, but do you remember how to cha-cha?

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Now back to this quest for finding your new normal, lemmehelpyouwiththat. Personally, I don’t think we have any hope in hell of a normal return to anything at this point. Work has changed. School has changed. Family life has taken on new dimensions and meaning. Heck, even going to the grocery store, church, or any restaurant is different in so many ways. And I speak with the confidence of someone who has just returned from several out of town trips when I tell you that travel has very definitely changed. In fact someone just asked me what my best travel advice is for those starting to venture out again and all I could offer was “lower your expectations” and “pack your patience.” I’m not saying it’s all gloom and doom, but there is a lot of unseen, unspoken chaos out there and best if you approach every day and every task with eyes wide open moving forward.

At the end of the day, whether you are bouncing back, making a pivot, or twirling yourself into the swivel of a swerving dervish, if we can all just return to that point in which we were functioning fine while being imperfectly perfect, I think we’ll be closer to home base, whatever that means in your world.