If things are getting back to normal, why do I feel so weird?

We are all being told that things are getting back to normal - cafes, bars and restaurants are open, a lot of us are back in the office and we’re travelling again - yet at the same time it all feels a bit weird (maybe it’s just me!).

Life was busy and stressful before Covid, but it was normal stress and we were in control. Drive to work, get child A to school then netball practice, groceries, book that holiday. But with Covid we lost this control, and for a lot of 2020 and 2021 we handed it over to governments and authorities on the basis it was good us and our society - it was the right thing to do. School from home, work from home, wear a mask, exercise outside for one hour per day only. And giving up this control had an impact. It affected our wellbeing, the popular term was ‘languishing’, a state between depression and flourishing

Now, with high vaccination rates, restrictions are easing. We are back in the driver’s seat, making our own decisions. But life isn’t exactly how it was before the pandemic and I think many of us are struggling to work out what next?

I am swinging between compliance and defiance, I am more easily outraged, ignore what’s best for my wellbeing, and can feel awkward in social situations (I’m out of practice!).

And perhaps the mistake we are making is expecting things to go back to normal, when it’s really a ‘new normal’.

For this reason I think it’s really important to take some time reflect on the last two years. What did we learn? I think many of us now know what we don’t want, how we don’t want to live or work, but what do we want instead?

Most importantly I think it’s really important not to expect normal. Expect life to be differently busy - and hard - and with that comes new experiences and challenges.

L x

Acknowledgement inspiration for this blog Jono Nicholas, The Wellbeing Outfit