At least four times a day I hear patients say to me,
“I can’t wait to go back to normal life.” What is normal while living through a pandemic that has affected the whole world and each of us personally. Before going back to normal ask yourself these questions, 1. How many birthdays, holidays, anniversaries and rhythms of life did you spend in isolation? and how did you feel about not seeing relatives, friends, co-workers? 2. How well did you sleep knowing that more people were dying than all the World Wars put together? 3. How many people did you personally know who got sick from COVID, or died, or could not attend a funeral? 4. How many people did you know who lost their job, didn’t have money to pay for their food, 5. How did/do you deal with the uncertainty of the future in our society, racial inequalities, social and political unrest? There is a saying from ancient times that in summary says “You can’t walk in the same waters twice.” When was the last time you put your bare feet in the water and walked across a stream, or a river to the other side and felt the flow of water on your ankles? Then, I challenge you,
to turn around and walk through the streaming water back to the side you started from. This is how I think of normal.