Cadence

You know you’ve done it—so have I.

I’m thinking that at one time or another, every one of us has really, really just wanted things to get back to normal—back to the way they used to be.

We live our lives to the beat of a rhythm that only we can hear. If we’re even aware of it, we become accustomed to it, as it forges our path towards tomorrow. As the months and years slide by, we grow more trusting and comfortable in the rhythm, secure in the knowledge that everything is as it should be.

Everything is normal.

Then, something happens to spoil our reverie, and all of a sudden we’re trying to both beat back the flames of change and get back to where we were. So, how can we go back to the way things used to be? Back to normal?

We’ve all wanted to un-say something, undo a mistake, or reach back to retrieve a lost loved one. Who hasn’t regretted a missed opportunity, a neglected kind word or a lost moment? We want them back, but, well—life doesn’t work like that. No matter how fervently we pray, hope or wish, the road to yesterday is irretrievably closed.

We don’t have a backspace key in our lives. All of life moves forward, from conception to death. There are a few side roads, but even they move us forward, not back. I’m thinking that by longing for and focusing on the yesterday we can’t reclaim, we leave ourselves at risk of missing today, thereby letting tomorrow slip through our fingers.

We can’t go back to normal, but we can adapt, accept and refine a new normal. We can use the lessons life has taught us, and by carefully crafting each new day, we can create a new rhythm—a new normal—which improves the quality of our life, and affords us the security we seek.

Yeah, yesterday is gone, but with insight, honesty and a little creativity, we have the option of cranking the rhythm up, and constructing better tomorrow.