This week’s Flashback Friday is all about NORMAL. What is “normal” any way? I believe that I am normal and you are normal. Read on to find out what I mean…
I was having a conversation with someone a few days ago and the topic was raising kids. She was telling me about how she needs to begin setting boundaries for her son because he was staying up too late and it was becoming an issue. She was sharing with me that she was worried about his reaction and whether she would be able to endure all of the crying and screaming.
I assured her that I have been through similar moments with my kids and that it’s never easy. We shared a few other quirky stories about the difficulties of being a parent…especially a working parent who is away from our children for most of the day.
At the end of the conversation she looked at me very sincerely and said that she appreciated hearing that what she was dealing with – both relationally and emotionally – as she’s trying to be the best mom she can be was common and very normal.
Doesn’t it feel good to hear what you’re going through is “normal”?
Often, we go through things at home, in our job, or in life and we begin to believe the lie that what we’re experiencing is dysfunctional or abnormal…when in fact, most of the things we go through in life are quite normal.
When we don’t feel like our lives are normal, that leads us to hide our problems…rather than talk about them. It leads us to be dishonest – with others and ourselves. It leads us to have feelings of hopelessness because we believe no one has the answer. It leads us to isolate ourselves and then we feel alone with nowhere to turn.
One of the best ways to overcome this phenomenon is to be with people. Have friends and mentors who you meet with regularly. That you can share the deepest parts of your life with. That you can be honest and open with and have substantive conversations with so that they can speak to the parts of your life where you have bought into this lie.
In a world where we all strive to be unique, independent, and different…I have found that our circumstances tend to have far more in common than different.
In what areas of your life do you feel dysfunctional or abnormal to the point of feeling like no one could relate? Post it here…I believe others will chime in and tell you that YOU ARE NORMAL.