40+FAB Blog

Trying to act normal

There was a TV interview which went viral a few years back. This man was being interviewed while working at home when one of his sons wandered into the room, then the baby came in, and moments later, a frantic mother flung herself into the room at knee height, to avoid being seen on camera, as she tried to get them all out of the room. Viewers could see all the drama going on, the news casters could see it too and they had smiles on thier faces, however the man being interviewed kept a straight face as he tried to act normal, as if nothing at all was going on behind him.

We have all been in such situations where one is set for a serious minded engagement, then something ridiculous happens that could take away our ability to act with decorum. So what do you do at that point, do you ignore the distraction and act normal, or do you acknowledge the distraction and find ways to resolve it quickly and continue with your engagement.

When is it actually ok to act normal, and when should we attempt to address the distraction? The answer might differ from person to person, but one thing we all know is that life doesn’t always go according to plan no matter how prepared things are.

Working on your flexibility as a person becomes essentially important to move you from the place where you are either flustered by the unexpected or you are seen to be acting normal when clearly things are not going to plan, to a place of being in control and handling all the glitches that could faze you.

If you develop that nimbleness in responding to the unexpected, you will not need to act normal, you will be normal while handling any one of the catalogue of things that could go wrong in life.