Back to Normal?

Just for the record, “normal” has never been on my list of goals, let alone an aspiration. Although, looking back, it would be easy to guess otherwise. I contorted myself to look the part. After all, what would other people think? Honoring the status quo of others’ expectations was my normal. This much is certain: I wasn’t at home in my own skin. And I don’t want to live that way. A break in our normal routines offers us a profound gift: an opportunity for reassessment, renewal, and replenishment, to embrace change and give space to our best selves. But will I decline the gift and “return” to my addictions of hurry, obsession, distraction, fueling my temptation to get ahead, leaving no empty space? Where there is empty space, it’s illuminating to see what is exposed.

—from the book Stand Still: Finding Balance When the World Turns Upside Down,
by Terry Hershey, page 35