What is normal?
After 9 months with the Covid19 pandemic and 2 weeks after the vaccines started to arrive in Israel, I was asked in a zoom interview when is my estimation for returning to normal life, I said that I estimate it in 6 months meaning in the third quarter of 2021, but then I wondered:
What do you mean by normal life?
Stas which is a curator from Poland replied: you know, doing the same things you did, all your travels, exhibitions and teachings abroad
It took me some days after this talk to ponder about the meaning of ‘normal life’, and, is there something I can label ‘normal life’ in my life.
And what exactly is normal?
Is my normal the same as your normal?
Is the normal in Israel the same normal in Pakistan?
Thinking more deeply about it I think that the pandemic showed me a much more ‘normal way’ of life.
All that happened in the world during the pandemic was so unexpected, so bizarre, with such an enormous effect on my life that it took me some months to digest it, all my plans were delayed, all my flights were canceled, all my lectures, workshops, mentoring sessions needed to be transferred to Zoom or be rescheduled. It took me 4 months to speak with my representatives worldwide and say that 2020 is a lost year economically but it is the best time to plan for 2021 because from every chaos and disorder there is a new chance and opportunity.
My understanding of the new ‘normal’ is that I don t need much to live a happy life. I can do without flights, restaurants, and concerts, I have much more free time where almost all my meetings are online with the same impact and results, more than that, I am almost all the time at home with my family around me and I really feel great about this opportunity, my daughter stayed with us for a week during the lockdown, we have morning walks in nature, prepare our own meals and eat together during the weekdays which is far from my daily routine in my pre-pandemic normal life. So I definitely prefer the new normal, the slower pace, the togetherness, the home-based rituals. but I miss my workshops and travels as well, in the year before the pandemic I had 3 trips to India, exactly a year ago in January 2020 I arrived in Mumbai for a month stay, delivering 11 FLY workshops in Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Auroville, I was supposed to teach a FLY workshop in Umbria this year in March, I miss the direct contact with my audience and students but with all that there is a call to slow down, to listen to the inner calling for peace of mind and tranquillity, I say yes to this calling, I know that my new normal won’t be the same, I will fly, travel and teach abroad but not in the frantic pace I used to do in the old normal days. The subtitle of this short writing should be –
Balance and new proportions in life.
Have magic
Ted Barr
