What is normal?

Normal to Abnormal to New Normal VUCA

Planning for what has been ironically labelled the New Normal we must not lose sight of the things that are important to maintain quality of life. Over the last four years, we have been relentless on key initiatives to improve the viability of our planet and general wellbeing:

1.      Reduce the use of single plastics

2.      Carbon footprint

3.      Reduce the use of harmful product and chemical

4.      Reduce screen time in the 4G era

5.      Mindfulness and mental health

These initiatives were trending, and for the first time in forever, there was a general awakening, and most were on board except for a few sceptics. The world was aligned on a single mission.

A Pandemic pushes us all into what I described as the Abnormal – force us to adapt to a way of life that was alien to us, and yet we are able to take some of the good:

1.      Reduce carbon footprint

2.      Improve wildlife health

3.      More quality time with love ones

4.      Time to reflect etc

But there are significant negative that came with the pandemic, and I believe the reason why the post-pandemic is referenced the New Normal is because of the uncertainty as to how it will impact our lives in the future. Some of the impact:

1.      Socio economical

2.      Mental Health

3.       Identity

4.      Increase single-use plastic

5.      Increase the use of harmful chemicals

6.      Increase screen time in a 5G Era 

7.      Multifaceted impact of the financial meltdown

What most are calling the new normal to me, I can only describe it as the VUCA period where we will experience Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity. I fear in all of this we will lose our focus on the very response that is needed, how do we save lives and continue to improve its quality?

We must remember the ones that we have lost to this pandemic, and we must honour them by preserving lives. In doing so, we must never forget the reasons why we have invested so much time in making this planet a better place for us and generations to come.

1.      We must embrace new technologies that give us the ability to reduce single-use plastics

2.      We must find ways to reduce the use of harmful products, especially foods and chemical, by embrace new technologies.

3.      Food will play a vital role in cost vs quality and especially in a recession, link this to quality of life and obesity.

4.      We must reduce our screen time to leave the mobile in our living rooms are away from our body when we go to sleep. We must find ways to promote digital detoxing

5.       Mindfulness should become a standard in the school curriculum to assist the education sector with the increase in   mental health