The New Normal, COVID-19

It’s December 31st, 2019 11:59:50pm, 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 Happy New Year!
Fireworks fill the night sky with vibrant colors. People are out dancing and drinking the night away. Others are celebrating the new year from the comforts of home. Some usher it in from places of prayer and worship. Everyone is filled with hope and anticipation. As the dawn of a new year advances, not only would 2020 be a new year, but it would also be the start of a new decade. Obligatory new year’s goals were being made; lose weight, drink less, exercise more, travel and visit new cities and countries.
Fast forward to June 2020, New Year’s Eve 2019 feels like it was a lifetime ago.
We now are living in what they call "the new normal.” Many are wondering, what is this new normal? What happened to change our life as we knew, it so drastically?
Covid-19 happened. It started out like a murmur that grew into a deafening crescendo. News headlines screamed “deadly new virus discovered in Wuhan China”. Soon all we could read or watch on T.V was Corona Virus this and Corona Virus that. Just as we were just beginning to accept there was a deadly new virus, it was classified as a pandemic.  People across the globe started getting sick, fatality rates kept rising.
Next airports were shut down, and travel restrictions put in place. Governments, experts, and people globally scrambled struggling with how to deal with Covid-19. Schools were shut down, lockdowns put in place. Anxiety levels for many people skyrocketed. Others experienced feelings of despair and depression. Wherever you looked it seemed that there was negative news about Covid-19. More deaths, more infections but no vaccine. Some days, it felt like we were “living” in a real life post-apocalyptic movie. In the blink of an eye, the freedoms that we had always taken for granted were taken away.
This, “new normal” has come in many versions. If you are a parent or guardian -the new normal is having to home school your child. More than ever we have learned to appreciate the critical role of teachers in our children’s lives.
For people in lock down, the new normal meant stocking up on groceries and food, not being able to visit friends and loved ones. For others, the new normal meant not even being able to walk outdoors for weeks. Weddings were postponed, even funerals were held virtually.
The “new normal” has made us question what we see and read. There was an onslaught of fake news and conspiracy theories, especially in the early stages of Covid-19.
In business, the new normal has meant video calls are the standard and no longer the exception. The new normal has meant working from home and having to re-learn effective time management skills.o
The future may be uncertain, we are unsure of how long this pandemic will last, or even if  it will ever go away. As global citizens we are all in uncharted territories, and we are all having to accept the fact that Covid-19 is in our midst indefinitely.

If the first 6 months of 2020,  have taught us anything, It  is that we always need to adapt to challenges and change. We will and we must learn to live and thrive in this new normal.