What Is Normal Anyway?

I was sitting with Mr. Wildwood yesterday and we were discussing how I am not like anyone in my family. How I am, and always will be, an outsider. I do NOT fit in their box. The way I lived in the past and now in the present are entirely different from anything that the majority of my family would consider to be normal. But what is normal? Is normal what we really want to be? 

Webster's New World College Dictionary (5th Edition) defines normal as: 

nor-mal adj. conforming with or constituting an accepted standard, model or pattern; esp., corresponding to the median or average of a large group in type, appearance, achievement, function, development, etc.; natural; usual; standard; regular; implies conformity with the established norm or standard for its kind 

 Reading this definition and looking around to see what is considered the established norm or standard I cannot say it is something I want to strive to be. I have spent my time in the land of normal while I was in my twenties. I found that I have never fit there; probably never would have, even if I had forced myself to try. Now in my second half of my thirties, I can safely say that I am glad I never forced myself to become the normal of today. 

I think it is safe to say that everyone's outlook on life changed over the past two years no matter your stance on the pandemic. My generation had its first real dose of the weight of the world. In the United States, where I live, things changed drastically for some and not at all for others. My family is one of those that much didn't change. Sure, store hours were different. We didn't really go shopping during those hours they were not open anyway. Sure, you couldn't go in and eat fast food. That didn't change much for us either as we rarely eat out. Usually, if we did eat out, we would get our fast food to go and take the feral ones to the park to run around for a bit after they ate. Have to burn off that junk food somehow! Packages did get harder to get and that still hasn't recovered. That seems to be a worldwide issue and I'm not sure if it will improve. I can only hope that we see the value in the postal services again and can find ways to make their jobs better for them and us. 

I was an "essential worker" at the time and didn't experience much change there. School went to spring break and never returned, which was a tragedy for the feral ones. They love school so much. We did discover our local public library though and now we spend time there about every week. Friends didn't come around. Some were even lost through choice and some new ones were made. No matter what, we experienced something our ancestors knew well- struggles. 

We have had it really easy most of our lives. We have not had to go out and hunt for food, grow a garden, rely on a well for water or a horse for transportation. We didn't know what it was like to only go to town once a month and to live on a shoestring budget. When we do things like line dry our clothing, it's out of choice, not necessity. We didn't learn how to make a meal stretch for three days and still provide nutrition to get everyone through their days. We didn't... well, I could continue, but I am most certain if you've read this far you know all the things we don't have to do by choice. 

Except, we may have to start doing them. Our government says we are not in a recession and that everything is rebounding. A trip to the local grocery store will show you that it isn't true. Prices are the highest in my memory and the supply chain continues to break down. It is not time that we will have to rely on those methods that sustained our ancestors through hard times. It's time to put down the iPhone and pick up the hoe. We have to learn to take action to relearn the knowledge, skills, and preservation methods that our forefathers and foremothers knew as well as we know our way around the internet. 

I am not saying we cannot still have the benefits of the modern normal. I'm not saying that I would even give up electricity or internet myself. I am saying that life is showing us that our ways are not sustainable and that we need to step back and gather the whole picture before we can ever move forward. We have to create communities that support each other. We have to learn to police our own neighborhoods and not rely on government agencies. We need to grow our food and raise our meat. 

The news keeps talking about the "Great Resignation". That so many people viewed life differently during/after the pandemic that they walked away from the jobs that were wearing them thin. They stepped away from the office and saw that they wanted to be able to make the decisions on how they lived their lives. I think this is great. I also think this was a path most of us were not equipped to step into immediately. Far too many of us do not know how to live without all of our conveniences, myself included. We did learn that we were working all day for someone else and not really working for ourselves. We measured our worth in dollar signs and non-essential material items and not in our ability to provide for our families. Luckily for all of us who want to make that different life, it is not too late. We still have time to learn the skills, methods, and ways of our ancestors. 

All of this has brought me to the conclusion that I do NOT want to be normal. At least not by modern standards. I want to find a way to mesh the past and the present. Bring the good from both of them. Lives as freely as possible. My goal is to live so freely that my presence (and lifestyle) is an act of rebellion. I want to document it all, for once. I want to share it with friends- old and new. I want to share what I learn, as I learn it. I would like more friends who felt the same way, especially local to me. What I am searching for is not here in my community yet, but I can be the one who creates it. 

Like the saying goes, "Normal is nothing more than a setting on the washing machine." And frankly, none of us like washing laundry much anyway!