This extended period of time sheltering at home has been described as the ‘new normal’. But what does that mean?

On my last walk In the countryside, before the ‘lockdown’, I took a photo of my gloves because they seemed to sum up how I was feeling. My gloves are a mismatched pair, both left-handed gloves and different colours. Wearing one of the left-handed gloves on my right hand feels strange, uncomfortable and awkward. And that’s how this period of time feels - strange, awkward, unsettling, It doesn’t fit with how we’ve lived our lives before.

However, it’s important to keep things in perspective, this crisis is temporary and not permanent, it’s a temporary ‘new normal’ not a permanent one. But it does make us realise how much we’ve taken for granted before, even when considering our expected freedoms - like being able to leave our houses as and when we want to and for whatever reason. And now we may find we have more empathy with those who are housebound or those people across the world for whom lockdown is their normality.

An elderly nun who lost her sight once said to me: “It’s all a gift.” She was right. Sight, sound, smell, taste, touch etc is all a gift - a precious gift from God. Now might just be the time to start a gratitude journal, thanking God for all the ‘gifts’ in your life.

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