As the coronavirus pandemic upended daily life across the globe in March of 2020, many began regularly referring to pandemic life as the “new normal.” This phrase implies a complete change in the way we do things, from shopping at the grocery store to socializing with friends and family. While many people balked at the idea of a new normal–arguing that life would eventually go back to the way it was before COVID-19–experts believe accepting our current reality is more important than ever.

Why Accepting A “New Normal” Is Difficult

As society enters the 8th month of a COVID-19 reality, pandemic fatigue continues to set in. This fatigue is a feeling of overwhelming tiredness at the thought of maintaining coronavirus restrictions and precautions. It’s a perfect storm of lockdown fatigue, mental health challenges, employment and money concerns, confusion, and misinformation. Additionally, the coming winter season–in which experts predict an increase in coronavirus cases and no development of a successful vaccine–is a future few want to contemplate. (1)

Pandemic fatigue can cause people to let down their guard. A fierce desire to return to “normal” can also override common sense, even when scientific evidence says otherwise. While it can be said that people are simply tired of following COVID-19 guidelines, there are scientific reasons for our collective behavior. According to Dr. Gleb Tsipurksy, there is a “normalcy trap” that needs to be avoided. As a behavioral economist and cognitive neuroscientist, Dr. Tsipursky advises leaders on how to avoid business disasters. Known as the Disaster Avoidance Expert, he uses his years of research in behavioral sciences to help people overcome cognitive biases. (2)

Understanding Cognitive Biases

Cognitive biases are behaviors that affect our decision making and thinking process. One such bias is the anchoring bias. According to Dr. Tsipursky, this is “where we give too much credit to the initial piece of information we received on a topic.” Later, we then “perceive the rest of the information through the filter of that initial impression.”

One example of this occurred early in the pandemic. The CDC initially indicated that wearing masks was not needed to protect oneself and others from COVID-19. However, as more science emerged, they changed the guidelines. Although this is how the scientific process works, Dr. Tsipursky told The Scientific American, the human brain does not work the same way. The initial piece of information tends to stick, causing people to disregard helpful advice.

Another bias–and why people resist the idea of a new normal–is the normalcy bias. This relates to our instinct to think of the future as functioning the same as the past: in other words, normally. This causes people to want to rush back to their usual routine, despite real dangers. An easy example can be seen across the U.S. as well as the world, where the reopening of the economy moves forward despite the risks of increased spread of the virus. (2)

Embracing Reality To Build Resiliency

With no end to the pandemic in sight, many have put their hopes in a vaccine as a way to return to normal. Despite any claims by U.S. leaders, doctors warn that an effective vaccine could take years to be developed and widely distributed to the American people. Even if it becomes available soon rather than later, it will likely not be a cure. While embracing that reality might seem pessimistic, it can actually build resilience. (3)

Sonja Lyubomirsky is a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside. She devotes much of her research to the science of happiness, helping people to understand and build resiliency. One of her many lines of research focuses on hedonic adaptation. Hedonic adaption is the way the mind adapts to positive and negative experiences. When things happen to you–whether good or bad–you eventually adjust back to a baseline. (4)

Building resiliency and maintaining happiness, then, doesn’t necessarily depend on your situation. If it did, the good feelings of receiving a promotion or buying a new car would perpetually bring satisfaction. Accepting the pandemic for what it is and will be can allow you to focus on building a new normal. Learning new hobbies or skills, focusing on the things you can change, and letting go of ideas about normalcy can all contribute to overall happiness. The good thing about the human ability to adapt is that–should things go back to the pre-pandemic normal–we’ll be able to easily readjust.