The New Normal.
You likely have heard this term used a lot recently as it relates to the post-COVID world. Will temperature checks be required before going on a plane or into a building? Will masks become part of our everyday fashion? Will our favorite brick-and-mortar stores be closed forever? Will telework be more widely accepted? Will you reach into a community bowl of potato chips ever again?
While there has been a focus on how the world might change, there hasn’t been a lot of talk on how we as individuals might change. If you’re like me, then part of being busy, of being out and about in the world, is trying to not have to sit with your thoughts, because let’s be honest, our minds can be horrific places to visit. But quarantine has forced some deep introspection out of me. How many real friendships do I have that don’t revolve around sports? Why do I feel so lonely? Why is trying to communicate with people online about serious topics so difficult? Am I where I want to be in life? Am I a good father? Is ordering more IHOP pancakes through DoorDash really a good idea?
These are definitely not IHOP pancakes.
And this: am I doing my best?
Here in America, it’s Independence Day, the Fourth of July, when we explode cheap fireworks that cost too much and overcook meat on the grill and, in a pre-COVID world, spend hours in miserable heat watching people we don’t know parade by. Technically, we’re celebrating our independence from our English parents, but I like to think of it as when the thirteen colonies decided, in a distinctly drunken American voice, “We can do better! We must do better!”
And today, Independence Day 2020, I’m saying I must do better, too.
I’ve been writing for over a decade, but other than a half-hearted attempt to get my terrible first novel published, I haven’t really put myself out there. But as I’ve spent day after day with my three-year-old daughter as she tries to be her best self - learning to potty on your own is very difficult, am I right? - I realized one of the things I owe her is for her to see me trying to be my best self, too, and that’s one who keeps reaching for his dreams, even when it feels his arms are too short.
If you’ve visited this site before, you’ll see I revamped it. Hopefully, it looks better. Hopefully, it’s more mobile friendly. But most of all, hopefully you’ll see me committed to this work. I plan on posting a new blog at least once a week. I plan on posting on my Instagram microwriting account (@azelisonpoet) 3-4 times a week. I plan on submitting to literary magazines often and I plan on finishing at least two of the five books I’m writing in the next year.
While the world doesn’t know what the New Normal looks like, as individuals, we can decide what our New Normal is going to be. The same old, same old? Or better?
I hope you’ll join me.