What is “Normal?”

Normal. The natural flow and ebb of days. The routine of life as we know it. Normal is something that humanity craves. For me, normal looked like attending college. Normal was Central’s campus I was lucky enough to call home. It was the structure provided by classes, a part-time job, and meeting up with friends for meals and to spend time together. The importance of normalcy was put on the backburner in March of 2020 with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Schools sent students home and workers were encouraged to stay home. From the hustle and bustle of being on campus to Zoom calls in pajamas and trying to keep pets from eating laptop cords, life has changed a lot for me and for the world.

As an English literature and French double-major, words, and literature in particular, are something that helps me define myself and my existence. Dr. Nathaniel Smith, associate professor of English at Central Michigan University, explains the nature of storytelling in and about crises and how language, metaphors and stories reflect and shape our understanding of them. For me, journaling and poetry, or the telling of my own narrative, helps me shape my experience of this historic event. Other works which discuss pandemic possibilities also help shape my experience and definition of this new normal.

The novel Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is one of these works. It is the story of a fictional pandemic. It describes the simple longing for the familiarity of life from before a historic event occurs. One of the characters remarks that, “Cappuccinos were among his favorite things and it had occurred to him that if everything was as bad as the television news suggested, he might never drink another. The things we fixate on…” Although our pandemic is not quite as drastic as Station Eleven’s, it is little things which are missed the most. Even in our own world, the popularity of homemade drinks like dalgona coffee illustrate the reach for normalcy that people missing their local coffeehouse crave. I have made my own dalgona coffee, and other coffee drinks, in a search for my own brush with some kind of “normalcy.” Humans are creatures whose existence is impacted by their most recent experiences and it can be hard sometimes to imagine a world like the one we lived in before the words “social distancing” became commonplace. What about you? What do you miss?

By longing for normalcy, I am made to consider what can even be considered to be normal. For me, college has been characterized by continual change. Packing up my life yearly is something that has become normal for me. This familiar sense of being unrooted does not make this new transition easier. The idea of normal depends on many things: from your age to your geographical location and culture. According to professor of anthropology Dr. Cathy Willermet, our standards for what is normal are shaped by our cultural values. The United States is notorious for its culture rooted in the foundation of hard work and productivity. We don’t take time off and our schedules are typically packed. This is an abrupt contrast with our new, free-form schedules. For students like me, rigid class blocks have given way to lectures listened to on my own time and in-class discussions to online discussion boards. This has caused an almost permanent brain fog as we try to make our new schedule in the midst of the unfamiliarity. It has made me focus more on the little things I can do on a daily basis to work towards bigger projects because focusing for a long time can be difficult. Our sense of “normal” is being uprooted by the current pandemic. The impact which this will have on our cultural values and culture as a whole is something worth considering. While I don’t think that Americans will lose their drive for productivity, I can only hope we will have a greater appreciation for when we can go out again and take time to actually smell the flowers. What do you think the impact will be?

The new normal is now our life. Making masks for myself and my family, sanitizing every conceivable surface after a trip to the “outside world,” as my family now refers to it, savoring every opportunity to take a car ride, even if it’s to nowhere in particular, and eagerly awaiting letters from my boyfriend are now normal for me. By journaling and writing poetry through this and thinking more about the way I think of this experience, I have been able to have a better grasp of it.

After a month of reflecting, both with my own narrative and those of other pandemics like Station Eleven, THIS has become my normal. I think we have all started to get used to this normal, this period of necessary adaptability for the good of the community. The weirdest part of it all is sometimes it feels okay. Considering the possibilities (if a bit far off) of Station Eleven has made me appreciate where I am. Although I can’t go out and get a coffee, I can make my own at home. I can make the best of the situation and accept myself and my productivity where it is. In working through my experiences through the stories of both myself and others, I have been able to begin to work out my own normal and accept it. As someone who prides herself on her productivity and ability to go go go, this has been a learning experience about necessary adaptability. I can’t always control my situation but I can control how I consider it and react to it.