In the book, Indispensable, by bestselling author and Hall of Fame speaker, Joe Calloway, there is a concept called Your Normal. He said that everything that happens to you is normal. This resonates with me so much that I even wrote a chapter in my book Big Dreams Take Small Sacrifices.

There have been many periods of my life where my unique challenges felt well… unique. They felt so abnormal that it left me sad and frustrated. When I read this book, I realized that everything in my life was my normal. The times when I accepted the fact that my unique challenges were my normal life became easier.

Right now, we are in the thick of dealing with the coronavirus and it feels so unique. It feels so unfair. We miss our freedoms, but guess what? This is normal. Scientists were warning about some pandemic for years. Throughout the decades and centuries, humans had to deal with different illnesses and different pandemics.

I always looked at my life like this. I was always fascinated by an amazing life. Simultaneously, I had to deal with a disability that effects my entire life. I had to figure out a way to attend to both parts of my life. Although I don’t like to admit it, my disability impacts the way I go after my goals.

A big part of life is just dealing with the unexpected, and, for many people, this pandemic came out of nowhere. This is just one more challenge that we have to deal with. It’s normal.

Living out an amazing life takes having focus on how you can improve life, regardless of the circumstances around you. You want to put less energy into complaining or telling yourself that this isn’t fair. Furthermore, no matter what’s going on around you, no matter how challenging life may seem, or no matter how much you miss living life pre-pandemic, focus on growing yourself and putting yourself in a position to succeed later on.