How & Why To Find The New Normal During The Coronavirus Outbreak

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Find the new normal during the Coronavirus outbreak and stay safe and sane in the face of social isolation, routine change, & under constant stress.

Note [4/2/2020]: The novel coronavirus outbreak is an ongoing public health emergency and, as such, continues to develop daily. The best way to stay safe is to stay up-to-date about and adhere to public health officials’ recommendations, regulations, and restrictions in your area. For more information about the outbreak, handwashing, and other coronavirus prevention tips, see the CDC and WHO’s COVID-19 outbreak information and prevention guidelines.

What The New Normal Looks Like Right Now

If you’re like most people, then the new normal of life during the coronavirus outbreak feels uncertain; the new normal is that there is no normal anymore. That’s because (as of the time of this writing):

About 90% of us are under some kind of stay-at-home or shelter-in-place order. So nearly everyone is literally under a government mandate to find a new normal without going anywhere (which is especially challenging for our readers who were planning to buy or sell a home before the outbreak began).
Every state but one has closed down all schools. So nearly every family is now facing the challenge of creating a new normal for kids suddenly at home.
Experts are already talking about the coronavirus outbreak as a moment in history that will certainly change the world, so every day the prospect of these new normals becoming permanent feels more real.

What Is “Normal” Anyway?

When we talk about “normal” life, we mostly mean our routines; what we do (and need to do) each day, the rough order we accomplish those things in, who we’re responsible for and answer to, and what happens if we don’t follow through. It may be boring (just “the same old thing”) but, psychologically speaking, there’s a lot of security to be found in structure. Any time anyone has to establish a “new normal,” it’s uncomfortable. That’s why the vast majority of us try to avoid big changes!

What Is A New Normal & Why Does It Matter?

A temporary evaporation of routine (with a return to normalcy in sight) may be liberating for a moment (a vacation is exciting; getting fired isn’t). That’s probably why so many people initially responded to short-term business closures related to the coronavirus outbreak like a vacation. But now — so many weeks into the coronavirus outbreak, and with experts projecting so many weeks still ahead — the chances of returning to our old normal are feeling slimmer. And the prospect of having to establish a new normal, for real, is unsettling.

But, as the reality of life during a pandemic sets in, finding a new normal is (and will remain) an important tool to help people stay safe and sane during the coronavirus outbreak. That’s because the process of building a new normal involves:

Understanding, accepting, and finding out what you can control in a situation;
Practicing self-care;
Being mindful;
Being present; and
Being keenly aware of your priorities and passions.

How To Find The New Normal: It Has To Be Intentional

As the above-listed steps for finding the new normal suggest, it’s not really a passive process. That’s why mental health experts, children’s psychologists, isolation experts (like “hermits” and astronauts), and nearly everyone else in an advisory position during the coronavirus outbreak recommends creating some kind of routine.

And they’re all probably right; there’s a mountain of historical and anecdotal evidence that routine is the antidote for feeling unsettled and overwhelmed, a sort of balm for constant stress and the effects of isolation. That’s why nearly every expert on the effects of constant stress and isolation agree that the best things you can do, to start, involve really paying attention to and prioritizing what you care about, then using that information to:

Find elements of the situation you can control and be responsible for (and beholden/accountable for); and
Set up a daily to-do list.

Resources To Help You Stay Safe & Sane During The Coronavirus Outbreak

Below, you’ll find a collection of a few of our favorite online guides and advice columns about how to create a new normal during the coronavirus outbreak. While you’ll certainly notice some common threads between them (as we’ve already pointed out), we highly recommend checking out all the different perspectives provided. They all add something new to our understanding of how the coronavirus outbreak is subjecting us all to constant stress, the effects of isolation on our normally very-social selves, and the importance of continuing to pursue a new normal in a way that is safe and sane.

The New Normal Isn’t That There’s No Normal

The big thing to remember is: it’s possible to feel something that’s true (your new normal is to feel uncertain, with constant stress and isolation) without that thing being real (you aren’t powerless over what you’re experiencing, you can control stress, you aren’t alone). So while it’s valid and understandable that you may feel like every day is (and has to be) disjointed and directionless, there are plenty of things you can do to create a new normal that feels okay. It doesn’t have to be the case that the new normal that’s just a lot of hurry up and wait for whatever’s coming next.

You can create a new normal made up of routine and purpose, gratitude and goal-setting, just like the old normal was! And you can create a new normal that still points toward the same old goals and plans you had before the coronavirus outbreak. Or — and this is the silver lining — you may find that you have new goals, a new vision for what you want in your life, and more clarity about what you want in your future, so you can find a new normal that points in a new (but not necessarily bad) direction!

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