Unpack your “normal”

You may have noticed, you may have not- I haven’t been posting on this blog for a couple of weeks. The reason? I want to be in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. I have become increasingly aware that my role was not to be making posts and speaking from my experience, but to rather use my time to amplify the black voices who are fearlessly leading this movement. For me, this has been a very fruitful and educational time, and I have learned more these last few weeks than I have my entire life (which, I also realize, is problematic). 

These past couple of weekends, I began feeling disheartened. People who have been desiring for social media/ life to go back to “normal” began post their regularly scheduled posts. Looking at my feed being inundated with cute bikini pictures and life updates made me feel uneasy. Did everyone just forget about the Black Lives Matter movement? 

While I know that this is not the case, it does feel that way looking at social media at times. If you are one of the people who is desiring things to go back to normal, I strongly encourage you to think about WHY you want things to go back to normal. Are you uncomfortable that you are being called to action? Are you having to dissect your privilege in a way that you never have in your life? Do you simply miss seeing cute dogs on your feed?

Personally, I’ve been struggling because I don’t want things to go back to normal. In some ways, I’ve taken it to the extreme, where I’ve only let myself consume media that promotes black lives matter. I spend time thinking about all of the other causes that I should be paying more attention to, such as LGBTQ+ allyship and advocating for immigrants and people detained. Trying to take on so many work issues at once has been overwhelming to say the least, and I have to remind myself to take it one day at a time.  

All of this is to say, the issue isn’t resolved, and we shouldn’t stop working to fix it. Your “normal” might be a sign of privilege for you to unpack. When you feel comfortable to retreat back to your “normal”, think about why that feels comfortable for you, and think about those people whose “normal” will never be even as close to comfortable as yours. Just because not everyone is not posting about the movement anymore does not mean your work is done. “Normal” isn’t normal anymore, and get used to living your life a little less comfortably to fight for people whose normal has always been less comfortable.