Growing up, my family always used the phrase "normal is boring", which was really just a fun way to make us feel better about how weird we all were.

But that phrase had never met the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Normal is not boring anymore. It's been missing for over a year and many people are ready for it to come back.

Let me warn you when it does come back it hits you like a hurricane.

This week soccer kicked off. So Monday night, we frantically packed our bag and fill up the water bottles to head out to the field. Before the practice, I found myself incredibly stressed out. This is something we haven't had to do all year!

But there was a moment, sitting on the grass at Jubilee Park, where myself and several other parents realized that this is the most normal situation we've been in since February 2020 and it was an AMAZING feeling.

The next day, I messaged Tasha Collins at the CMHA because this is a feeling I needed to share. I apologized for what I was sure was an absolutely ridiculous question and she was instantly ready to help!

"I think we certainly know that the pandemic has been difficult for each of us," she said. "We are all in the same boat but maybe have experienced different waters throughout this last year."

What a description!

"The pandemic has had an effect on all of us and our mental health and it really consumed us all over the last year and it continues today. I think we could see lasting effects from the pandemic in terms of our mental health and so much of what we have been through affects us. So whether it was isolating or working, losing work, it could be increased responsibilities or having to learn how to do your job a different way. We as social beings, we're really hard-wired for that social connection, and it's vital to our mental health and I think that, with the pandemic, we've seen a great deal of mental stress because of the unpredictability and the lack of control so being back to some form of normal and seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, it re-establishes some of that control and brings back some of that familiar and predictable bits of our lives which I think is going to bring us a feeling of some relief."

That's it! That's the indescribable feeling! An overwhelming sense of relief!

"Prior to the pandemic, our routines, our interactions, our commitments, it could be going to soccer or baseball, whatever it is that was part of my life prior, gaining some of that back and having that social connection again with family and friends and the sense of belonging and as we start to see that light at the end of the tunnel, getting back to some sense of what our normal was, I think it's going to provide us with some relief and reduce some of our stressors."

So what can everyone do to help their mental health out, whether they realize they need it or not?

"We had this social distancing thing come over the last year and really what it was is physical distancing, not social distancing. Really, finding that little bit of what it was before the pandemic and looking at some of those things that were normal and what are some of those that you can put back into your routine," she said. "You can have those connections and that interaction and still maintain your distance. I think it's going to be a big change and an adjustment when we see the light at the end of the tunnel and we think things are going to go back to normal when, really, we don't know what normal is. We can put little things back into place and get that sense of relief from what we've been going through this last year."

So, it's time to get rid of the myth that normal is boring. Normal is what we need right now. Even if it's something small like sitting on the grass watching soccer practice.