Adjusting to the “New Normal”

by Lisha

Two years have passed since the pandemic started. This period went by extremely fast than I have ever experienced.

I remember that I had returned to my home country from my gap year to graduate from university. After, I am not sure what exactly I had achieved, how I was, or what was my personal growth until I moved to a new country. During that time, I was just working myself so hard to build up my new career path and to save up money. However, I was still feeling something was missing.

Last weekend, I made myself go running for the first time in 3 months. Halfway through my run, I found a small lake in the huge park. It was a Sunday morning and there was no one around. Only me and the water. It was in this moment I felt some form of deep peace. It was the moment finally I could breathe; I could connect with nature. 

When I moved to a different country, I thought it would be a new chapter of my life and my anxiety would simply be gone. But my anxiety stuck with me for a while. The amount of paperwork I had to deal with, the winter depression, and adjusting to a new culture. What could have I possibly expected of perfection? 

This winter, the pandemic entered a new phase. We are all exhausted to hear the news about the appearance of a new variant,  the requirement for another vaccine, updated new rules every month, another lockdown, etc. Yet at the same time, climate emergencies are telling us how urgent this change is occurring. People call this the “new normal.” However, my question is, what does normality mean to you? In society, this has become the unspoken topic in the air throughout the entirety of this pandemic. My other question is if we can normalize wearing masks, sanitizing/washing your hands, and getting vaccinated then why can we not normalize recycling, composting, and reducing the daily plastic consumption, etc.? Even though the life-threatening levels are supposed to be the same with the pandemic and these climate emergencies. 

Facing the new reality where I started my life in a different country and immersing myself in a brand new culture and society, I began to question: what can I do next? What if I am not doing enough? It was almost the same as culture shock, but it also led me to get rid of the notion that my small steps matter although I should find a better way to do more.

I welcomed the year 2022 with a completely new mindset. Before the new year, I felt a lot of regret. How am I so powerless and what could I have done to do better?. Still, this put more pressure on my shoulders than I could possibly take at once. I decided that this year I would appreciate the ‘little’ things and be grateful for my life every day. I want to feel how precious it is to live the life I have and all the people I deeply love. This new mindset has helped turn my personal growth into a more positive and energetic journey.

Leave your regrets in the past because we all spent and thrived the same amount of time and we all did our best at that moment. Thoughts of regret only come to mind when you set too high of expectations for yourself. Accept what you have and what you can do to make a better place to live. Most importantly, accept your past and all the different versions of yourself because gratefulness and positivity is the key to living and being your best self!

Article cover image courtesy of Studio Ineffable One.