Day 5 prompt:

Why is normal even a “thing”? Does “normal” really exist? In what context have you used it in your life?

My answer:

Normal is how we describe life as it is agreed upon. Normal life is sleeping at night, working during the day, having a job, weekday, weekends, grocery shopping, cleaning, going to school… These are the things that we all take for granted as what “normal” looks like in our daily lives. Normal creates acceptance of a norm which creates common-ground.

Normal is a learned response that starts in childhood. If as a child you started everyday with breakfast at the table with the family that is YOUR normal while mine was a bowl of cereal alone before I walked to the bus stop. Both are “normal”, different as they are there is common ground in breakfast being that norm regardless of the routine that surrounds it. My normal did not include church on Sunday’s however it was normal for many of my friends and so I was exposed to their normal when I would spend a weekend with a friend and attend church. It felt “out of the norm” while I enjoyed it and longed for it as my own norm. It is in those experiences that I was given option to make new a new “normal” for myself.

To answer the prompt directly –

• Normal is a “thing” because we are creatures of habit and normal is typically a series of habits we practice daily.
• Normal does exist for each and every one of us and then collectively there are routines and ideas of normal that we agree on as a species, world, family or individually.
• The context in which I have used “normal” in my life is to create the “normal” that serves to create a life that I want to live and not necessarily that I have lived. It is an acceptance of routines and habits that take time to adapt but when they come naturally normal has been realized.

What is your take on “normal” do you use it to define your life or to call out those that don’t follow the norms?

My normal life as I live it according to my own norms – L.