Our New Normal

“Today, the sun will rise on all your doubts.”
― Marty Rubin

It was Friday morning, December 13 of 2019 when I took this photo from my hotel room in Shanghai, China. Yes, Friday the 13th and no, I am not a superstitious person. I just thought I'd get that out in front of any comments my readers may have.

This was my last day in China after a week long visit with customers and team members of the company I work for. It was a beautiful morning, the kind that photographs can do no justice to let alone a smartphone camera. But I wanted to capture the moment for it serves me with a great reminder of a successful week. The business connections were productive as were the team meetings inspiring along with also being productive.

Little did I know a mere 500 miles to the west, something was brewing that would change our lives today.

When I returned home to Atlanta, the holiday season was upon us. There would be gifts exchanged, gatherings for family meals and the various holiday parties of revelry and togetherness. The year of 2019 would end with the usual champagne toasts to a year gone by and the good tidings of a new year. That year was to be 2020, a year marked on calendars and written about in predictions, prognostications and prophecy.

January 1 came and went like any other new year day and our lives in the new year began as it always does. The football games, the return to work and the planning that goes into starting a new year fresh with hope and optimism. Myself, I had another business trip to Japan to meet with other team members and more customer visits. This was a great trip to meet old business friends, spending time as we always do dining and talking of those things which matter in our lives. It was a time of reconnecting and strengthening our long distant relationships.

I have been lucky in my line of work to have traveled to most places in this amazing world. All but two continents have been my pleasure to have visited and I am continually amazed. Setting aside governments and religions, people around the world are pretty much the same. All of us are getting up in the morning, having breakfast, getting the kids off to school, fighting traffic to get to work and dealing with the rest of our daily lives.

In all of those similarities, we are all simply living our normal lives but then the virus.

Everyone had seen the news of this thing wrecking havoc upon a very large city in China and we went about our normal lives. This thing then began to spread to other pockets of communities around the globe and we went about our normal lives. Some thought no worse then a new strain of the flu and we stayed in our normal lives. But down deep I think many of us were also starting to believe there was more to it.

In late February, another business trip would take me to London and onto Ireland with a final stop in Germany. I would only make it as far as Ireland. We had all heard of the changes coming. Of people wearing facial masks and taking care to wash your hands to the tune of Happy Birthday. I had been trying to take care while also continuing with my normal life. Then came the call for all employees to effectively end their business travel and return home.

A new normal was taking shape even though we were not fully aware of it just yet.

I grew up on a farm in east central Nebraska. Hog farmers is what we were with the small town life you read about in books and on Sunday TV news feel good pieces. We felt as many I am sure do to this day, safe. Safe from the concerns of the busy world of the big city or even other countries. When I moved away, it was first to the big city and a job that job leading to even larger cities and different countries. My belief is the world is much smaller then you can imagine and yet, it is still amazing.

After returning home from Europe I was concerned with my health and of those I would be around. I did the precautionary things one should do and yes, I had my normal airplane sniffles upon return. Was it the virus, did I have it, was I infecting others? Nothing could be done but to wait it out and the new normal we were reading and hearing about was growing and spreading to even the remotest of places.

And now, here we are in our new normal. Working from home, businesses closed, stay at home orders, no gatherings and social distancing. A new normal that all of us are coming to terms with. Some more reluctantly then others. A new normal that has us teaching our kids at home, conducting Zoom meetings with the dog barking in the background and getting used to wearing a facial mask at the grocery store, still amazed at the empty toilet paper shelves.

Will we return to the old normal we had grown accustomed to?

There will be some level of previous normalcy in our lives eventually. And there will be a new normal to contend with. The global economy will have to find its way back into a healthy state. People who have lost their jobs will have to claw their way back from financial ruin. Your favorite restaurant or department store may no longer be here. More and more delivery trucks will cruise through our neighborhoods. And the new normal will be just that, our new normal.

For me, I always hold onto the goodness this world can give us. The beautiful yellow pollen of a spring day in Georgia or the goodness that really does exist in humanity. Just hold on and know that the sun will set each day but rise in a spectacular fashion whether you are in Shanghai or in your own hometown.

Stay safe, healthy and stay inspired everyone!