I never liked the phrase “the new normal.” When I was finished with chemotherapy treatment, my doctors told me that I was going to have to get used to my new reality. The life that I was to have after cancer became my “new normal.”
This made me sad. I wanted the life I had before. I didn’t want to have to pick up the pieces of the last 10 months and try to put them together. I wanted to go back to being that that little girl that didn’t worry about her health, how she would cope both mentally and physically with what happened, and the effects it had on her family.
While I wanted to defy this “new normal” that I had to face, I couldn’t. Life would never be the same. Ten years later and cancer-free, I still find that fear is the enemy. Despite it all, it has changed the way I look at life. I know how life can change in an instant. You have to take each day at a time.
It’s good to make plans for the future but you have to know that there may be bumps on the road along the way. These bumps don’t have to be seen as the end of the world. They are the life altering moments that change you for the better. We all go through bumps in our lives. It is the way that we get through them that defines who we are.
My “new normal” today is a beautiful life. A life filled with family, friendship, and love. It is even better then I could’ve imagined. I know that in recent times, we have heard a lot about the “new normal” that we face in life during and after the pandemic. I didn’t like having to hear this phrase again but I am better equipped to deal with it. Times are tough but these too shall pass. It may seem as though the world is on pause and that the future is uncertain but remember: take one day at a time. Create your own “new normal.” While you may not have control over what’s going on, you can control how you feel. You will get through this. There is life on the other side of the pandemic and it is waiting for you.