What is normal, really?
A reminder that normal is yours to rewrite
2 years ago normal was not taking an uber alone at night, it was not leaving the house without my pepper spray, it was checking that my car door was locked twice, sometimes 3 times when parking it. Normal was also multiple cups of coffee a day, hyper vigilance and a constant hustle.
Normal was: it’s ok to skip a night or two’s sleep.
6 years ago normal was waking up at 3:30am to get my training session in before the day started, normal was sitting on the indoor trainer at 10pm if I needed to get that green block on training peaks, normal was spending my weekends on the tar, cycling or running.
Normal was all stats.
8-9 years ago, normal was a scramble, it was inconsistent, it was everything hard. Work hard, play hard and train hard. Normal was navigating a divorce, starting a new business, running multiple other existing businesses and relocating. It was burnout, street fighting my way through life. Normal felt like a drunk game of Jenga - stack the blocks, just to have them come crumbling down again.
Normal was survival.
14 years ago, normal was navigating the Africa landscape in business. It was living and breathing standard operating procedures, setting up companies and structures across Africa. It was a different country nearly every week. It was learning different languages, navigating passed the chickens in the road, soaking up the sun on the Inhaca islands with a Dois M (2M) beer when there was yet another public holiday. It was realising the truth in the phrase “Africa Time”
Normal was salty hair, a tan and being patiently impatient.
17 years ago normal was wrapping up work as quickly as possible to go and have a tequila or two and dance the night away. Normal was heading home at 4am to be able to have a quick nap, shower and head to work, only to repeat it all again the next night.
Normal was wild.
19-20 years ago normal was caring for the mothership as she fought stage 4 cancer. Normal was waking up in the middle of the night hearing her in pain and normal was studying next to her hospital bed. Normal was trips to chemotherapy, doctors visits and normal was watching God work miracles as they called her time of death. Normal was retelling her story from death to life as she recovered in the ICU.
Normal was a miracle.
33 years ago normal was catching tadpoles, it was swimming at the Botswana salt pans when the rain came down while watching the endless backdrop of flamingos. Normal was being chased by elephants, normal was not being able to leave a tent at night after the fires were put out for the danger of wild animals. Normal was having an athletics day postponed because the elephants had walked across the field the night before.
Normal was Africa at its best.
For the past two years, normal has been navigating the emotions, excitement and practicalities around immigration. Normal has been constantly being humbled as I set up business in a new country, it’s been trying to find balance with my Africa ingrained fight or flight mode. Normal has been multiple rounds of IVF, it’s been unlearning old ways of doing things. Normal has also been experiencing a whirlwind of gratitude for this new life. Normal has been travelling to new places, experiencing new things and vitamin D tablets.
Normal has been an adventure.
Today, I’m working at what I would like my new normal to be, looking at how I would define normal for me, personally for the current and next season of my life.
As that’s just it really - we get to define our own normal and we get to change it as we navigate life through different seasons.
Food for thought, what’s your normal for the last quarter of the year going to be?
