We are raised with this concept of “normal” – an idea of
what is regular, standard, and common. It is what we are comfortable with, what
we are used to, and what we know life to consist of. Normal are the things that
we cease to notice in life – because they just are there.
Often times I have said that I just wished my life was “normal”.
About half way through my time in Asia I began to struggle with longing to be
normal. I wasn’t actually sure what I meant by that, but I struggled with the
reality of how unorthodox my life was. I yearned to be what I knew, to have a
life like what I had seen before. But no, I wasn’t your average American young
woman. I wasn’t living a life that my culture had said was the ideal. While all
my friends were declaring majors at good colleges back in the US, I was working
a full-time job in Asia trying to figure out who I am and what to do with my
life. My lifestyle was exciting and adventurous, but some days I just wanted to
not be stared out when I walked down the street. I wanted to shop in a regular grocery
store. I wanted to be with people who were like me – my age, my stage in life, my
way of life. “I just want to be normal!” I would mumble.
But last week I walked by a man who was carrying a live
chicken and big knife out to the sidewalk. I looked twice but I didn’t think
twice. Last night I sat on my friends’ couch listening to Tibetan music being played
in the square outside as women danced to the music in a large circle. At four o’clock
every day the call to prayer can be heard over loud speakers. I go to the
office every day to work with amazing women who have come from backgrounds of
exploitation. I am often stopped on the sidewalk and asked to take my photo
with some random excited stranger who makes me feel like a movie star. I eat
lamb (and one time rat by accident) on a stick for dinner which has been cooked
over coals on the side of the road. I am highly under-trained and
under-qualified for my job, but I learn, I make mistakes, and figure it out as
I go. The other day I was in my friend’s car driving home and realized that out
of the 5 people in the car, 5 different countries were represented. I sat with
a British friend, a Canadian friend, a German friend, and a Dutch friend. And
this kind of diversity is a common occurrence in my social interactions.
I see and experience a dozen things every day that 2 years
ago would have made me either laugh, cry, or go “Huh?” But I hardly even notice
them anymore. You know why? Because this life is my normal now. I’m used to eating yogurt out of a bag, speaking
Chinglish, and getting to know people from all over the world. I drink hot
water now (something I swore I would never do when I first move to Asia). I
have my favorite gaifan (a veggie dish over rice) delivery guy. I’m used to
squatty-potties. I don’t think twice when I see a man riding a bicycle with a
couch to strapped his back.
I’ve learned that this idea of “normal” I was conditioned to
believe in, pressured to pursue, doesn’t really exist. Normal is just what you
make life to be. And often times life changes and you have to adjust your
perspective and adopt a new normal.
I am soon to leave my normal life in East Asia – the life I
know, the life I’m used to, the life I love – for a new and foreign way of life
in a strange place called the United States of America. I have come to love my
current normal and I know the lessons I have learned and experiences I have had
in this normal will equip me for the next normal too.
No comments:
Post a Comment