‘New normal’ simply doesn’t work anymore

Phrase is overused – and the future needs to be better than ‘normal’

Can we all agree to never speak the phrase “a new normal” ever again? Never has a phrase annoyed me as quickly as that one has.

Everyone has a crutch word or phrase, a go-to filler that one defaults to, often without realizing it, and sometimes, it happens on a global level. Don’t know how to describe the future? How about “a new normal!”

It is the phrase of the day. As in, “We don’t know what the new normal will look like …” Or, “The new normal will be completely different than life previously …”

I was listening to several national news programs this week, and those anchors tossed that phrase out repeatedly.

Ugh.

“Normal” is a perpetually shifting concept anyway – what’s normal to me may not be normal to my neighbor. So it goes.

Now, the future will look different. I don’t know how it couldn’t.

Life shifts and moves, and going forward, it will continue to do so, but there’s nothing new in this concept. Twenty years ago, would you have thought that we would all be surgically attached to our cell phones, or having appliances in our homes using WiFi and mini computers? No. But here we are, evolving and adapting.

Granted, we are living through intense, pivotal landmark moments. And given all that’s going on right now – here at home, in America and around the world – change isn’t a bad thing. Instead, it’s desperately needed. We have an opportunity to grow on so many levels, to grow our hearts, our minds, our souls and our humanity. We have a chance to change our communities every single day, with every interaction we have.

I don’t want a return to normal. I want to grow personally, and to change for the better – and every day is an opportunity to do just that.

All that being said, “new normal?” No thanks. Let’s leave that cliché behind us, and embrace the moments ahead as opportunities to be and to do better. “Normal” – new or otherwise, just isn’t enough.