I recently read a quote from Dave Hollis- he said; “in the rush to return back to normal, use this time to consider which parts of our normal are worth rushing back to”.
This really resonated with me. Overnight for our family (and yours), our schedules came to a screeching halt.
The first few weeks of quarantine this was extremely unsettling. And then I realized this was because for a long time I had measured my worth as a mother by my “accomplishments”, and things I was checking off a to-do list. And now there was not a do list in the same way as before.
Now several more weeks into social distancing I am anxious to return to our normal scheduled programming. What will it look like? I am fairly certain it will not look as it did before. Not just because some degree of safe social practices will be in place- but because I don’t want to return back to normal.
I want to be BETTER than normal. I want to take all these things we have learned while the world stopped spinning and tuck them in the middle of the life we will most certainly have to return to.
So I’ll ask you this. What parts of normal will you rush back to? And which parts will you leave behind?
I will rush back to church. I miss worshipping with a congregation. I miss being with my Brothers and Sisters at church and serving together.
I will rush back to adventuring. I miss our Saturday outings. And exploring new places.
I will rush back to date nights. I have loved our intentional home date nights but I really miss that whole baby sitter thing.
I will rush back to gather as friends. I miss hugs and talking with women in real life. Oh, how I miss a genuine hug.
I will rush to smile. You can’t see a smile behind a mask.
I will rush to see my family. I will rush to see my two new baby nieces. I will rush to see my far-away family, because after something like this I’ve learned that family really is everything.
I will not rush back to an overcommitted over-planned schedule. I will forever be more intentional with my time. I will be more careful about the things I say Yes to.
I will not rush back to the toxic people in my life. By taking a step from everyone I have learned those who I really need to cut out. There’s no time to be made to feel less than anymore.
And so… as we rush back to normal I hope we can all be rushing back to a normal we want to be a part of.
Xoxo
-Em
