Making it through the new normal

Making it through the new normal

“Well done! Continue to get the first rank in all your exams.”

“Congratulations on buying that stylish new car.”

“Wow, I’m so proud you made it into that prestigious institution!”

“You definitely deserve that promotion.”

Phew! Hearing such positive statements from people around us helps us validate our achievements and sometimes adds on more pressure to perform better in the future. Inevitably, we all yearn for a little bit of encouragement and appreciation from our closest folks to keep us motivated through every single phase of our life.

It was only during the pandemic I realized how mundane my everyday routine has become. Although it did seem quite interesting in the beginning to attend online classes, within a month everything became tiring and monotonous. Wake up (half-heartedly), log into classes, face network issues on and off, get through classes somehow for about 4 – 5 hours, come back to my laptop and frantically deal with assignments, tests and hastily try to just put up with everything. Oh my! That’s how it is almost every day and I’m sure you can relate when I say at this rate, we’re all just trying to survive and get through it one day at a time.

To be honest, now that I think about it, my routine has always been mundane, I just did not want to stop and confront it, well until now! Maybe this is why I have been wondering, should it be that way? What do we keep running towards and how did we all end up doing it?

From a very young age, we are taught to “aim for the stars” and at every step of life, we tune ourselves to set our focus on something and work towards it. Sometimes we love doing it, and at other times we don’t. We merely end up doing it to please others or to feel good about ourselves. Be it learning to eat, getting a driver’s license, or settling down in life as per societal norms, each challenge comes with its own set of hurdles to overcome. As humans, we somehow struggle, learn, and thrive in facing these challenges. 

Being a part of a capitalistic society, collectively our minds are filled with thoughts and intentions to be goal-driven, success-oriented, productive, and have big aspirations and dreams in life. Well, that naturally kindles a competitive spirit, making us a part of the “global rat race”.

In this quest of pushing ourselves to be better individuals who become change-makers in the world, we often get side-tracked from accomplishing our main achievement. In our checklist filled with multiple tasks and activities to take upon our journey, maybe we should reflect on whether ‘knowing God truly’ is our topmost priority. At some point, we are expected to answer this question, which goes beyond leading just a “good lifestyle”. Our target goals and accomplishments might not be bad but it should not pull us away from God. Priorities matter.

In the Bible, a woman called Martha faced a similar situation. To many it may seem like she did not commit a crime, she was only giving her best and doing her part which was serving, preparing, and taking care of everyone who had come home. Where she faltered like us was when she chose chores over Christ. This resulted in her complaining about her sister Mary to Jesus. Again, I’m sure we have been like Martha too, grumbling, ranting, struggling to justify being overwhelmed by everything we do and maybe we have not given Him time.

Jesus replies to Martha and all of us, “you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” The ‘good part’ for me is spending time with God personally over anything else. It calms me down even amidst the daily rigmarole of life. It gives me strength to treat my failures as accomplishments, it helps me get through tough times and emerge stronger.

So, the next time you find yourself overwhelmed with deadlines, assignment submissions, or meetings scheduled one after the other, just pause. If you find yourself unable to find time to spend with your peers and family, maybe you should reconsider slowing down a bit. Remember that God loves you, and He wants you to achieve so many great things, but He also wants you to cherish the small things in life as well, without being overburdened by everything. Maybe we should all try being a little like Mary?