What’s Normal?
Like many things ‘normal’ is personal. You have yours. I have mine. The guy over the road has his. And the lady reading the news has hers. We all have our own. We may not have consciously built it but it’s uniquely ours nonetheless. Sometimes our normal empowers us. And sometimes, it keeps us trapped like a miserable bird in an invisible cage. Sometimes it drags us up. And sometimes it drags us down. Sometimes it connects us to others. And sometimes it alienates us. Things like individual habits, behaviours, standards, beliefs and thinking demonstrate that there is no universal normal. Your normal beliefs won’t be mine. My normal language won’t be yours. Your normal thoughts won’t be mine. My normal expectations might scare the crap out of you. Your normal rituals might be my crazy behaviour. My normal yummy breakfast might be your bland, abnormal, tasteless crap. Your normal relaxing yoga class could be my sixty minutes of painful contortion. My normal job might be your professional nightmare. And my normal Saturday night could be your social suicide.
…and so on.
And while comparing normals is interesting stuff, the real issue here is not how our respective normals do or don’t align but rather, whether or not your normal aligns with the life you want to live, your core values and the results you want to create in your world.
Here’s what we know about normal:
1. It’s personal.
2. It’s optional.
3. It’s change-able.
4. It matters.
Do you need to create a new normal this year?
This post first appeared on Craig Harper.
