A life transition is tough.

You’re used to a certain way of living and doing things, then you’re expected to adapt to a completely changed circumstance. After the honeymoon is over, the frustration sets in.

Take, for instance, students moving in together for the first time. I’ve lost count of the conversations that started this way when they talk about their living arrangements:

“We’re good friends and we know each other very well…”

A few months later, the conversation abruptly shifts.*

Then of course are the life transitions when starting a career, family, business and everything that happens between leaving school and retirement. Life is just too chaotic to even guess at what the next day will bring and it’s a matter of holding tight.

Somewhere in there are schedules and some semblance of order, but nothing you might constitute as normal, every day. When prompted, a person will give their wishful thinking for what a normal day would be.

Finally are the golden years of retirement. Supposedly you have more control over your time during these well earned years, but that might even be laughable depending on who you speak with.

Looking for a new normal is on par with looking for where life plateaus and stays perfectly level. It just doesn’t happen.

This reality is rapidly being compounded with the advancements in technology, especially bio-medical, where the idea of human life itself is being radically altered. For instance, there are currently projects in the works to extend human life by thousands of years.

If a level of normal didn’t really exist up until now, it’s not going to happen tomorrow.

The best we can do is accept chaos and uncertainty as the new normal. Things will keep changing, but at least we’ll feel comfortable with it.

*Usually this is the case. I don’t want to paint all students with the same stroke as some make it work really well.