How many times have you heard the saying – Adjust to the ‘new normal?’
It can be hard to do when the changes we do not want to have happen are thrust on us. I encourage you today to shift your language so you can move forward with hope.
To adjust means to begrudgingly accept what you cannot change. To rejoice means to look for opportunities to grow, to see the good, and to share testimony of hope in the darkest passages of your life. As I look back on the years that my husband was ill with Muscular Dystrophy it seems like we were constantly adjusting to a new level of physical issues in his diagnosis.
In the beginning, I would mourn the loss and take weeks to adjust. Yet, with time, I would adjust and start to feel like it wasn’t so bad after all. I attribute this ability to adjust to my husband’s wonderful attitude that every breath of life is a gift. He lived from a level of grace that I could not understand yet came to incorporate into my own life. My only regret is that we didn’t do more in the relatively good times. The problem is that I foolishly thought it couldn’t get any worse – yet it did. Nevertheless, we laughed and enjoyed great times in the midst of it all.
What is your ‘new normal?’
What good do you see in the changes that are happening over which you have no control?
How can you celebrate and enjoy what you have now?
Karen Sebastian is an author, blogger, corporate training executive and gifted speaker who transparently shares the hope she has found in the darkest times of her life. She is a seasoned entrepreneur who founded HOPEpreneurs, a consulting firm dedicated to helping women succeed personally and professionally. Karen is known as The Hope Lady because she takes every opportunity to inspire hope by sharing her rich life experience with others – engaging them in adventurous discoveries of the beauty of hope in a dark, cloudy world.
HOPEpreneurs - Providing support and success strategies for women entrepreneurs 
I’ve had several “new normals” over the years…it takes a while to adjust and then just when you think “you’ve got it” it changes again!!!
Susan,
You are so right!
Thanks for your comments.
Karen
Ah, those ‘new normals’ :). I’ve had them during each of my caregiving seasons–I think it’s a good thing that we don’t know up front what we’re getting in to, or we might get discouraged and forget that we can do all things through Christ, who gives us strength.
Anita, oh so true, yet the strength is there at each turn and twist of the road.
Karen, my 25 yr. old son has MD and just in the past year he’s had to resort to using the wheelchair pretty much all the time. He still tries to do some walking but it’s hard. It’s an effort for him to do anything. But I like the way you show the difference between adjusting and rejoicing. You’ve inspired me to help him more to look for the joy in the midst of the pain and disappointment. Blessings to you!
Oh, Gayl, I am sad to hear of his struggles. I will be praying for both of you. Blessings to you as well.