What is Normal?

Will things go back to normal?

In a post COVID environment will things go back to normal? This question is very general and does not take into account the nuances of human lives and or the definition of “normal”. But what I colloquially mean is, if you were to ask yourself this question what would you answer?

In the general sense, so many people have lost their jobs, so going back to colleagues, and workplaces that were comfortable is not likely for many, in which case, things won’t be going back to ‘normal’. 

But then there is the sense of how we relate to people, even if you didn’t lose your job. You have worked from home, been around family, or not seen friends or family. You’ve maybe been yourself, with odd video conferencing to colleagues or some other human contact. But did the isolation not effect some change. The next time you meet someone in person, or go back to a workspace, will you not initially be affected? Will you be more cognizant of your personal health and wellbeing or of those around you? Are you more conscious of how dangerous human to human contact could be (during a pandemic) and does it give you trauma thinking about this, and whether you will be able to adjust?

What is normal? 

Is how we conduct business, what we do in business, or for work matter the same way it did prior to a lock down? 

If this type of event happens again, what will that mean? Will be better prepared? Will we do things different? Will this be the new normal, that is, that every few years there is a debilitating pandemic that will just shut stuff down? Will government in ‘free’ countries have a different expectation of how to deal with its citizens, will people be better or worse off next time? What about epidemics, and localized breakouts of deadly disease, will the ‘world’ be forgiving? 

What do we do? What is next? What matters, what doesn’t? Is every answer to those questions predicated on our pre pandemic normal, such that we really don’t have a good answer to ourselves? What if things were different? What if we were different? What if our aspirations were different? What is normal?

So many things will change, yet so many things will be the same. Major events, have a moment when they are all the rage, much like an addict promises their loved one, that this time it’s the last time they will abuse, and things are and will be different…is this so? The world changed after major global events, but did we change? Do we need to change? Is that is required of us as humans? 

What is normal?