First the stock market goes down 600 pts then it goes up 500 pts only to go back down 500 pts, not normal. For the first time in history the Fed will hold its’ interest rates at .25 for two years, not normal.  This month Texas set record temperatures over 100 degrees for over 30 straight days, not normal. Riots breakout in London for reasons unknown, not normal. Apple just became the most valued company in the world, surpassing Exxon, not normal.

Normal is no longer what it used to be. Things are changing at the speed of “click”. More people are connected globally than ever before in history, not normal. The global conversations are accelerating and the subsequent influence is changing market dynamics, not normal.

It’s hard when we face things that are “not normal”.  Our old patterns, habits and expectations often don’t meet our new needs and we’re left confused, frightened and overwhelmed. Finding comfort is not normal times comes from accepting not normal as normal and learning through the changing environments, relationships and value definitions.

Once we accept not normal we’ll find comfort in normal. Change is normal. Resisting change is also normal but brings difference consequences than accepting not normal. Resisting change is the enemy of not normal. The new normal is embrace change, learn its meaning, its value and use what you’ve learned to make a new normal.

For some organizations, near-term survival is the only agenda item. Others are peering through the fog of uncertainty, thinking about how to position themselves once not normal has passed and things return to normal. The question is, “What will normal look like?” While no one can say how long not normal will last, what we find on the other side will not look like the normal of recent years. The new normal will be shaped by a confluence of powerful forces—some arising directly from recent acceleration of not normal events and some that were at work long before not normal began.

Normal has been redefined as not normal. Get used to it.