I’m a creature of habit, and never is that clearer to me than when I’m in a new situation. Uncharted territory? Hold on, let me just make a chart real quick. Terra incognita? No no, there’s a guide to it online, Yelp maybe, or Wikipedia — give me a minute, I’ll find it.
For the past week, I’ve been in an Unusual Undisclosed Location, about an hour away from what was for many years my Usual Undisclosed Location. And I’ve been doing my damnedest to maintain the routines that make me feel like I’m operating the machine of my life efficiently — gym, cooking, writing — even as I’m aware that the ground underneath me has fundamentally shifted.
But of course, when I think about it, I realize that ground has never actually been still.
The new normal is the only normal we ever get.