Don’t underestimate the impact of a new mindset. Like everyone, I’ve been personally impacted by the worldwide pandemic stemming from COVID-19 and the Coronavirus. I do admit I was one of the early skeptics until I started seeing the grim reality. That was the case until, during one of my final commutes to and from work before being in shelter-in-place, I witnessed a different normal.
I will go into detail on that in a moment. First, though, I want to share that this is the first and will be the only post I write about the pandemic. You may have noticed that my posting pretty much ceased at the onset. Frankly, I was internalizing a lot of thoughts, emotions, and conversations with God. In addition to feeling a little demoralized, I essentially realized that the content I would have produced would be disjointed from a singular worldwide conversation. I further determined that I did not need to add one more signal to the already overly noisy conversation.
So I pressed pause on the blog content.
Instead, I pivoted my attention to changing to a new mindset. I can’t tell you how beneficial that decision was and will continue to be. And that’s why I want to encourage you to not seek after what you knew as normal or what may be considered a new normal. Instead, relentlessly seek a continually refreshing mindset.
Don't seek the new #normal. Seek a continually refreshing #mindset. Share on XHere’s what I mean.
A new mindset can be a prerequisite for moving forward. And you may not realize that you’ve probably shifted your state of mind a lot over the last four months. Let’s look ahead to tomorrow with a sense of control and passion.
The New Mindset of Sadness
As I mentioned, in one of my final daily commutes before the stay-at-home orders in my workplace and state took effect, I witnessed a different normal. Normally, while driving, I would be efforting to avoid red lights, not getting stopped by trains, racing myself onto the highway, and doing whatever I can not to get stuck in a road cluster that might hinder my pace. If I am being honest, I hold a tinge of angst toward other drivers on the roadway. I fully know it’s a “me-thing” and not on them. But it doesn’t quell my frustrations.
In that last commute, I found that I was actually LONELY! There were significantly fewer motorists on the road. I casually strolled to my destination without having to pass other cars or wait on slowpokes.
And here I was, actually missing those individuals. The same people who are catalysts for my personal stress and frustration! Could it be that I considered these anonymous folks to be essential peers in the course of my daily grind? Could it be that I was longing for the stress I was now missing?
Similarly, I found myself wearing a mask through stores while shopping for family needs. Viewing other shoppers in masks, having aisle directions dictated, and knowing the number of people allowed inside at any one time, I couldn’t help feeling like I was living in a police state. There are so many freedoms we enjoy, yet we take them for granted.
The mood, in a nutshell, is depressing and oppressing.
Enter the mindset of sadness.
Experiencing the Shift
Well into the stay-at-home orders, my wife and I had developed a new routine. We’d enjoy breakfast, go for a walk (because we now had more time to do so), grab our coffees and I would venture to the office. A thirty-second commute with no jockeying for position, no red lights, no trains, and me being the only slowpoke.
The “new normal” as it’s called, has been established.
In the back of my mind, I am oddly contented, knowing that God’s got this. Also in the back of my mind is the knowledge that what is will not remain. That’s true now and it was clearly true during our pre-pandemic days. Here’s another reality, though: It’s true right now! This current season will not persist. There will be change.
How it will change is largely dependent upon you and the mindset you take into it.
While walking with my wife one morning, it was quite eerie. It was a Friday morning. The time we were walking was a time that was typically one of a frenzied pace. School buses would be racing from stop to stop and kids would shuffle onto the “yellow birds” before finding their seats. The drivers of many cars would have been rolling through the four-way stop with kids in tow or trying not to be late for their gigs. The aroma of spent fuel and aching spirits would normally be overwhelming.
Not that I would be able to experience any of it. No, I would be hurrying my kids along to the bus stop so I could jaunt home, hop in my vehicle, and join in the rat race.
A New Shift Toward Steady Renewal
While walking on that less-than stressful Friday morn, I listened to the birds that were chirping. I observed the sun shining magnificently on christened green grass. A delicate roar of the wind was also audible if you were to focus for even a brief moment. It whispered, “Oh good, you can hear me. It’s been far too long.”
Indeed, it has. None of this wonder of God’s labor would otherwise be acknowledged long enough to even become an afterthought had it not been for the current state of affairs. That state of affairs that had been labeled dismal and sad.
I shared these reflections with my wife as we walked. We were indeed fortunate to be experiencing this bewildering calm. And then it hit me.
This is a mere sliver of how wonderful it must have been in the Garden. (Genesis 2:4-25)
Perhaps what was can really become what is once again. God, after all, is making all things new. And perhaps this is all part of the master plan.
Defining Moments of Generations
I have heard it said “when things get back to normal” and “when we find the new normal” more times than I can recall. I agree with those folks in word, but I don’t honestly think we will ever again truly find a normalcy we can pin down.
This pandemic, isolation, and evolving reality is a generational defining moment on a level few of us have ever experienced. I’ve written and pontificated on defining moments of various generations many times. Events like the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, Live Aid, the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks, all have etched into the memory banks of U.S. citizens.
My children, who are all pretty much in their teenage years, have not ever experienced a moment in their lifetimes when we were NOT at war.
Let that sink in for a moment.
They’ve never experienced life when their country was not, technically speaking, engaged in a wartime effort. It’s been so long it doesn’t even truly hold significance to them. They haven’t suffered or sacrificed for it. The 9/11 Terrorist Attack is less impactful to them given that they were not even alive to personally experience the trauma and horror of the tragedy. All they understand is that some bad people from another country attacked their country and we’ve been at war ever since.
This war has no defining characteristics in their lives.
However, the COVID-19 season we are currently experiencing will define their generation and others that will follow.
Creating a New Every Day Normal
If we sit back and wait for normal to return, or we pine for a new normal to come into view, we’ll be sorely disappointed. Even worse, we’ll have wasted away years, maybe decades, of time that could have been better spent.
Struggle is a characteristic that establishes the fiber of one’s character. It’s where the virtues of resilience, fortitude, creativity, and cooperative spirit are fashioned. This is a time in which many of tomorrow’s greatest minds are just beginning to percolate with ideas that will revolutionize the ways we live and do life. And those folks are NOT waiting for a new normal. Their renewing and reiterating what they conceive as normal every day!
When you realize there are things in life that are beyond your control—as is the case currently—you free your mind to consider and conquer what is actually controllable. Case in point: when, Prince, one of the greatest musical and entertainer minds of my (or any) generation, was told the unfortunate news that Prince’s NFL Superbowl halftime show would likely be interrupted by a rainstorm, his response was quite telling of his mindset:
“Can you make it rain harder?”
His renewed mindset took what probably would have been a “good” performance and altered it into something “spectacular.”
Beloved, I urge you: don’t look for normal and settle for good. REDEFINE normal and launch new ground. Do it not because I said so. Do it because the rest of the world is waiting on you.