What is Normal?

Today was my first Monday back at work after almost three weeks away – the beginning of my first full week of work after two weeks of fun and sun at Walt Disney World and a third week to recover. 

Imagine my joy.

I seem to be talking a lot about getting back into my routine.  Or rather people seem to be talking to me about it.  The jet lag from this particular trip has been vicious, largely due to the fact that I’ve made almost no effort to overcome it (note to self: all-night marathons of One Tree Hill DVDs are not the way to beat post-park exhaustion), and I’ve been offered lots of helpful advice about how to ‘get back to normal’.

And here’s the problem.  I don’t want to get back to normal.  I don’t want to return to a routine that I didn't care for in the first place.

It’s not that I’m still pining for the kind of routine that revolves around rope drops, FastPass return times and Strategic Parade Position Planning.  Sure, I miss the carefree days of stroller wars and epic ride lines, but that’s not it exactly.  The thing about a trip to Walt Disney World is that it’s not a place where you go and switch off your brain for two weeks, or at least it isn’t for me.  When I’m there I’m surrounded by things that make me look long and hard at the way I live my life, and there’s a lot I want to change.

I want to learn more about history.  I want to read more than I already do.  I want to learn how to draw.  I want to grow my own vegetables.  I want to recycle more.  I want to do more for the environment.  I want to spend more time with my family and friends. 

More than anything I want to follow my dreams and feel the kind of inspiration that I see all around me. 

Clichéd?  Probably.  Sentimental?  Definitely.  It’s no less true. 

For me, getting back to normal means a routine of battling the demonic morning alarm and wringing out every last drop of sleep before starting my day; reading only half as much as I want to and watching television twice as much as I should; counting down the minutes till the end of every work day, rejoicing on a Friday and dreading a Monday.  It’s a routine that is always waiting for what comes next.

I don’t want to get back to normal.

I need to make a change.