Dear Kiantha: To live in our new NOrmal, secure your own mask first

Dear Kiantha,

I don’t mean to be negative or make your first column so heavy, but I’m really struggling for air. It feels like everything in our lives has changed. All because of this horrific pandemic. Nothing feels the same, and I don’t know if I can handle this new normal.

Dear New Normal Friend,

You, me and our entire country are struggling for air in our new NOrmal. I capitalize the “NO” in normal because that’s another thing this pandemic has caused – a whole bunch of NOs. NO hanging out with big groups of friends, NO being with our loved ones, even when they are in our own backyards.

It often feels like we lack clarity when it comes to local and national mandates that seem to change minute by minute and city by city. NO toilet tissue or baby formula in stores. NO this and NO that. And of course, the biggest NO of them all: NO end in sight.

We wake up most days since the start of the pandemic trying to figure out which way is up. Constantly and desperately seeking a workaround for something that has happened because of COVID-19. We are gasping for air in more ways than one.

It’s thin everywhere. You can see this in how we deal with and treat one another.

Salish translation of Kiantha Duncan’s Jan. 14 column.

Everyone is a little shorter with each other, and many of us have even developed a mild case of impatience. You don’t need to raise your hand, you know who you are lol … LOL stands for “laughing out loud” for those of you who “Stay off The Facebook,” as the older folks say.

Back a long, long, long time ago when we could get on an airplane freely without getting stuck in an airport for hours, the flight staff would tell us, “First things first, in the event of an emergency secure your mask, then help your neighbor secure theirs.”

Each of us must diligently find ways in today’s life to secure our own masks and process all that has changed in our everyday lives, and trust me, just about everything has changed.

We are all doing the best we can to stay above ground and come up for air. The best thing we can do for ourselves, and others, is to figure out what is in our control while accepting what is not. I suggest we be as nimble as possible around everything and everyone else.

Breathe, we’ll be OK.

Kiantha