Day 11~Find a New Normal?

[MartyO]

“Life went back to normal, after that, as it will do if you're not careful.” 

                                                                                                                                    ~Michael Montoure

Urban Dictionary: New normal

The new normal encourages one to deal with current situations rather than lamenting what could have been. 

In reading and studying about the "quit journey", I often find this saying:   Find your New Normal. 

This has been described as "you won't get back to anything/normal - you will go forward to who you want to be including, especially the creative passionate person within.    Remember her??   You'll be amazed at your new insights and ideas. You have the ability to shape this WHO.     Be creative!

Maybe think of that blank canvas as the new life you are creating for yourself (smoking is not required!)?  

This is excellent information and has me pondering..... what is "normal"? Is "normal" different for a smoker/non-smoker?  How so?  Have we ever really felt "normal"?  Esp as smokers?  Do we really want to be anyway/how "normal"?  Is "normalcy" something to strive for?  Worth striving for??  As for me, I've always felt just a little bit "abnormal" or different or even, sometimes, God-forbid, weird.  I imagine a lot of us smokers do, but can only speak for myself.  And this is where I feel most comfortable.  This is where I wish to live.  

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ellen Goodman said,

Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for -- in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.

Do we really want to go through this normal life? Is life about following all the things everyone else is doing? Is this life even worth living?

We have been conditioned to believe that "normal" means going through the traditional education system, working 9-to-5 jobs, getting married in our 20s, having children when we're young and growing old gradually.

Home-schooling, marrying late, not having children and reverse aging are considered abnormal.

Those who choose an abnormal lifestyle have more interesting experiences and memorable moments.

In this case, abnormal life refers to making morally positive choices (e.g. minimalist lifestyle), not negative ones (e.g. drug addiction).

Perhaps that’s why the top 10 percent of the wealthiest people control 90 percent of the money by consciously making abnormal choices.

Normal days are the least impressionable and memorable. Abnormal days are the unforgettable ones that stay in our memory bank for decades.

The time spent talking about dreams, goals, hope, love, passions, travels and living it up are few and far between.

As we progress through life, the frequencies between old friends can grow further, especially when a positive person is surrounded by a stagnant comfort zone.

The ancestors whose legacies are still known today deviated from the previous norms. John Rockefeller’s entrepreneurial spirit made him the wealthiest man in history and the first known billionaire.

William Shakespeare wrote plays that did not conform to the 16th century. Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel created male-inspired styles during a time when women were supposed to look feminine and ladylike.

Society created the cookie-cutter mold for people via the Industrial Age, education and employment system. They put us into a box and then asked us to think outside of the box.

In our generation, Chris Guillebeau traveled 193 countries before turning 35, Tippi Degré spent her childhood in Namibia among wild animals and tribespeople, and Timothy Ferriss has four-hour workweeks and regular mini-retirements. Many average people are now living extraordinary lifestyles.

It was once suggested that abnormal means ab(ove)normal, but this is not referring to superiority of the human race or higher intelligence.

It refers to how we can raise above the normality of stereotypical life towards the self-actualization process via the road less traveled.

It means we are consciously aware of the choices we make and the life we are creating, instead of following the crowd blindly and doing what everyone else is doing.

The first time others described me as "weird" was by kindergarten classmates. I did not understand the meaning and asked my mum what weird meant. Since then, I heard it over a hundred times throughout childhood and adolescence.

From my 20s onward, I have elevated from being numb to the description to loving it as a compliment. In fact, I prefer compliments pertaining to my weirdness to anything that has to do with physical appearance.

Sometimes, I resonate with Tim Burton:

I have a problem when people say something’s real or not real, or normal or abnormal. The meaning of those words for me is very personal and subjective. I’ve always been confused and never had a clear-cut understanding of the meaning of those kinds of words.

We have different standards along the spectrum of normal to abnormal; what is normal to one person may be abnormal to another.

“What do you think it is to be normal?'
Why in the world would you want to be?' she says.
I don't know. I guess that's the problem.'
I don't think normal is that great.'
But so many people choose it,' I reply.
I don't think that's it at all. I think most everyone is normal and some of us, for whatever reason, choose to reject that and wear ruby red slippers or old black hats.'
Well, why do we choose the hard road?”
― Patrick Jones, Nailed

So, maybe it's time to ask yourself, why be boring when you can be fun and interesting?  No one said it would be easy....BUT...

Why find a NEW NORMAL????? 

Strive for something more/better/higher.....

B   AB(OVE)NORMAL!  BOOM!

“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” ― Maya Angelou

Info:  taken from articles/quotes/sites that I've read today.  Much due respect to the authors who carried me along today.

p.s.  Major league munchies today!