Healing words and ideas can change your world for the better. If facing unwanted changes in your reality, the idea of creating a “new normal for now” can help you …
Draw boundaries around pain. The “new normal” you’re creating is just “for now,” and not necessarily for from now on. Short-term changes and goals feel more manageable.
Regain a sense of control. You are the person creating your “new normal.” You are in control of developing new rules and routines, taking new steps, and reframing problems in life-enhancing ways.
Look forward with hope. Looking back at the way things were (and the way you may wish they still were) prevents you from seeing opportunities available to you today. It keeps you from imagining new opportunities that might arise. Live your life looking forward by creating your best “new normal for now.”
While the rewards of achieving a “new normal” are great, be forewarned:
· Creating requires work. To create a new normal for now requires learning and practicing new ways of thinking about and doing things.
· Letting go of the “old normal” takes courage and fortitude. Even when you’re sure it’s the best path, it’s a loss that can trigger painful grief. Healing grief is temporary, even if the loss is permanent.
Transitions are trying. The idea of a “new normal for now” offers a stepping stone for getting through the transition from the old normal to a new normal where life is the best it can be for now.
“Even in the worst of times, we can strive to make life the best it can be.”
(Epigraph, Healing Hope)
Illustration by Emma Mathes for “Transitions are Trying” in Healing Hope—Through and Beyond Cancer
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