A New Normal?

Many bloggers are sharing the rigors of their imposed isolation in response to this latest health threat. I’m afraid I have nothing interesting to report on that front because our lives here on our homestead haven’t changed because of the pandemic frenzy. Being self-reliant means we are relatively self-contained, anyway. We live with livestock, manure, and dirt, so we are already in the habit of washing our hands frequently. We never wear outdoor shoes in the house and we change to indoor clothes after working outside all day.

We keep a stocked pantry, not because we’re afraid of the zombie apocalypse, but because it’s common sense. Plus, growing our own food is necessarily based on annual growing and storage cycles. We know how to tighten our belts, if the need arises, and how to make do with less than we’re accustomed to. I still make my weekly shopping trip, but even with random empty store shelves, we have enough to get by, or we have alternatives as back-up. We home church. The only thing we miss is videos from the library—but not enough to pick up a paid TV service!

No one would admire our financial status, but we are content. We have no debt except our mortgage. We have no investments, and we aren’t trying to increase our wealth. So it doesn’t matter what the stock market and Federal Reserve are doing. On the fortunate side, our fixed income isn’t dependent on Dan going to work, although as a retired truck driver he’d still be working if he wasn’t retired.

The bottom line is that we subscribe to a different social and economic paradigm than the world clings to, and as much as the world will let us, we try to live our lives in accordance with our beliefs. We’ve chosen greater self-dependence rather than seeking to meet all our needs through the consumer system. We’ve chosen interacting with nature instead of pursuing social trends. This has been our life for over a decade. Now, I hear folks talking about a new normal once this covid-19 scare is behind us, but I honestly don’t know what that means.

I don’t want to give the impression that I don’t care how difficult this “lockdown” is for many. I do care, so I’m writing this blog post to find out how you’re feeling about the future. Does a new normal mean personal changes? Social changes? Preparing for the future arrival of covid-20, covid-21, etc? I’d like to think this has been a wake-up call, and that a new normal means people taking back control of their lives:

• Common sense stocking up, i.e. at least whatever supply of groceries and household items you wish you had now.
• Growing even a small portion of their own food. (Can’t put in a garden? Then how about a nursery cart and grow light?)
• Learn how to strengthen the immune system.
• Learn how to be content with fewer distractions and less stuff.
• Realize that to the talking heads, bad news gets higher ratings than good news. Turn off the TV and engage in something constructive.
• Realize that wealth isn’t numbers on a computer screen.

For society, I hope we’re paying close attention to who is now considered essential and non-essential. There are some important observations to be made here, such as, we’ve been overpaying the wrong people. I hope we’re realizing that cities are not safe places when it comes to health security and resource availability. I hope we’re realizing that there are different definitions of “truth.” This has always been the case, but it’s becoming more obvious to anyone paying attention. Lastly, I hope we’re seeing for whom politics and power are more important than people.

Okay, that’s just me. Not everyone will agree with me, so tell me what you’re learning from this experience and what a new normal means to you, both personally and to society as a whole. The floor is yours.