“Grow flowers instead of weeds.”

The phrase “new normal” makes my skin crawl. First of all, nothing going on right now from masks to social distancing to shut downs is remotely normal, nor should it be considered as such. Secondly, when we refer to “new normal” it suggests that the current situation may never end and that this is the way life will be indefinitely, which is even more terrifying. So in the midst of everything going on, how can we refer to this time?

In my family, we refer to this time as the “time for opportunity,” opportunity for more time at home with family, opportunity to learn new hobbies and skills to incorporate into a daily routine, opportunity to spend the day in your pjs and opportunity to slow down. This is a time to create new traditions and rituals. Time for our work days to be interrupted with petting the dog, taking a lunchtime walk around our neighborhood, cuddling our kids on the couch or simply working outside on our back porch. This is a time to do more on weeknights than run errands and drive to practices; instead, we eat outside, have bonfires and watch the stars.

As a family, we now grow blueberries, which are the highlight of my son’s morning every day to pick and eat! We homeschool and get to be a part of watching my son learn new things. We balance work and play, and eat all of our meals together as a family. Of course we grieve the loss of typical toddler opportunities like preschool, trick or treat and festivals, but we also love the opportunity to be creative as we establish new ‘holidays’ like birthdays for his stuffed animals where we buy cake ‘just because.’ We go on nature walks, camp in the backyard and talk about the moon and stars or stare in awe at the sunrise. We spend time with our friends and neighbors and take in small moments of ‘normal.’

Each day, we embrace the “opportunity” to create a new ritual or explore a new hobb;, while we are good at some things, we are really bad at others. We learn to fail and we learn to let go. We work to let go of what we are ‘losing’ and focus on what we are gaining until “normal” is back, then we decide which parts are worth returning to and which “opportunities” we choose to keep instead.

So Embrace this “Time of Opportunity.” Get creative; step outside your comfort zone. “Grow flowers instead of weeds.”