“The New Normal”

While life in some parts of the world is slowly beginning to come alive and starting to open, we are beginning to think about what life is going to look like from now on. What will the post-pandemic “normal” be?

Lockdown has forced us to put our regular routines on hold.

As the world is slowly recuperating, we are left to think about how to go back. The question is - are we going back? One can see the headlines “The world will never be normal again”, “Things will never be the same again”.

What is the normal that we go back to?

For our community of international schools, only the physical aspect of schools is on hold. The learning did not stop. Teachers did not stop teaching, they adapted and continued teaching. The kids did not stop learning, they adapted. Meetings didn’t stop, they adapted.

We all had to make changes. Life has changed deeply and profoundly. Let’s take the best out of it, and not think about “normal” as a standard that we want to go back to. Think of it as an opportunity to make changes. We have to learn to be more flexible, adaptable to change. We know it is not always easy, but if it were, where would the fun be?

As we go forward don’t think about it as “going back ''. Think of it as moving forward and putting a positive and exciting connotation to the uncertainties of the future.

Change is something you can count on. It is quite calming when you look at it that way*.

*I stole this line from Clint Eastwood in Bridges of Madison County. Just couldn’t resist.