Embracing A New Normal

By David Crow
Conversations

David Crow

Strange, stressful days.

That sums up 2020 so far. Strange, stressful days. 2020 took our plans and turned them on their heads. Suddenly all that had been normal wasn’t normal.

2020 has given most of us a little extra free time. Like me, I’m sure you found a lot of ways to occupy yourself during that time. I read books and articles, I watched some TV, I worked out, I cooked with my kids and I spent time reconnecting with friends and family. I know some of you got phone calls you probably didn’t expect.

Since the plans we all had were irrevocably altered by the events of 2020 so far, we all shifted focus and began to plan on how to get back to “normal.”

Then 2020 threw me another curve. I suffered an eye injury in late June that left me peering out of one eye at a world I had only ever seen through two eyes. I’ve had shiners before, but never before did I suffer an eye injury that left me unable to see the way I had seen before the injury.

Nothing focuses you on the present like an injury. You simply can’t focus on the past or the future because you’re dealing with doctors and drugs and treatments in the here and now. You have to be in each moment, and the future is limited to the time between appointments or treatments.

The eye injury removed a lot of distractions from my life. I couldn’t read or watch TV for very long. I couldn’t drive. I couldn’t exercise. I couldn’t do yard work. I couldn’t even lie down or bend over for long. I had to keep the lights down low. I spent a lot of time sitting still in the dark and thinking. That’s when thoughts about the future started to creep back in.

Would my sight return? If it did would my sight be like it was before? What if it didn’t return? Was this my new normal?

In the silence I noticed I was still seeing the world, but in a new way. I stopped relying so completely on my eyes to tell me everything about the world around me. I began paying more attention to the sounds and smells that surrounded me on a daily basis. As I was unable to focus on people’s faces, I began focusing on their words more intently. I got a new appreciation for the words people spoke to me and I began to value those words more. Nothing is as comforting as hearing another voice when you’re in silent darkness.

This isn’t some great revelation. I’m sure everyone has had a similar experience in their life. However, it’s good that once in a while we remind ourselves that the injuries and trials we face as individuals and communities are really invitations to “see” the world in a new way. It is an opportunity to hear other voices in the silent darkness and be reassured that even if this is the new normal, we can find a way forward so long as we are willing to embrace a new perspective.