Today marks 66 days that I’ve been social distancing. Science says it takes 66 days for something to become a habit, which is strange as I was just telling my therapist on Monday how much this now feels like my idea of normal.
Emotionally, this experience hasn’t gotten any easier. I still feel a roller coaster of emotions throughout a given week. But, the experience itself feels very normal. Connecting with others virtually instead of in-person, getting groceries delivered instead of shopping, wearing masks in public, and limited time outside have all become very normal experiences. It’s crazy how this mindset shift seemingly happened overnight, and it’s somewhat scary to see the shift happen.
We as humans adapt to our surroundings. We find ways to ensure survival as fight or flight kicks in. We are hesitant to change but still have the ability to change. All of this has been known to me, but experiencing it over these last 66 days has been a wake up call of sorts. Our idea of normal is only what’s around us. What we build. What we say. What we do. We can build this new version of normal for ourselves. That’s an exciting - and terrifying - thing.
