So Long Normal

In the shifting (or even collapsing) of everything familiar in life, you don’t have to wring your hands in fear. Push past the loss of your “normal” with bestselling author and Bible teacher Laura Story, and step into the new story God is writing for you. You've been faced with circumstances beyond your control. Your plans are altered. But you have the blessing of a Father who loves you enough to take off the training wheels and place his beloved child in the best possible scenario for your good and growth. So Long, Normal guides you to leave behind the idols of comfort, caution, and routine so you can live strong and well, even when life takes an unwelcome turn. In her confessional, conversational style, worship leader, Bible teacher, and Christian recording artist Laura Story weaves her own personal stories with examples from Scripture of characters whose lives were upended by unexpected (and undesired) change. So Long, Normal will help you: Process the trauma of the loss of your “normal” Learn to rest in God’s plan for you instead of trying to control your circumstances Find true community and encouragement in your struggle with uncertainty Discover three great comforts and three gifts to steady you on your journey Face the future with fresh spiritual eyes and find joy in the unwavering strength of Christ Losing your “normal” is not the end of the world but the beginning of a new adventure. It is possible to grow with grace through tough times, navigating the unknown secure in the knowledge that God is with you—every step of the way.

"The truth is I hurt people. It's what I do. It's all I do. It's all I've ever done." He lives in your community, he shops in your grocery store, he drives beside you on the highway. What you don't know is that he has an elaborate cage built into a secret basement under his garage, and the food he's shopping for is to feed a young woman he's holding there against her willone in a string of many, unaware of the fate that awaits her. This is how it's been for a long time. It's normaland it works. Perfectly. Then he meets the checkout girl from the 24-hour grocery, and she changes everything. One small problemhe still has someone trapped in his garage. Discovering his humanity couldn't have come at a worse time.

Untether from your sense of "normal" and fall into the abundant life God intends. Singer-songwriter and Bible teacher Laura Story gets what it's like to have plans altered and to surrender security when faced with circumstances beyond our control. But she also understands the blessing of having a Father who loves you enough to place you in the best possible scenario for good and growth. The So Long, Normal video study guide (streaming included) walks small groups through the process of leaving behind the idols of comfort, caution, and routine so you can live strong and well--even when life takes an unwelcome turn. Laura Story looks at the obstacles of attachment to comfort and leads the way to learning how to trust our unknown future to a faithful God. With personal stories and deep dives into biblical stories of people who wavered between God and earthly comfort, this five-session study is for anyone who finds themselves paralyzed by fear in the inevitable changes of life. When we say goodbye to normal, our joy and peace are no longer tethered to our circumstances; we can truly experience the abundant life Christ offers his children. This study guide has everything you need for a full Bible study experience, including: The study guide itself--with discussion and personal reflection questions, video notes, and a leader's guide. An individual access code to stream all five video sessions online (you don't need to buy a DVD!). Streaming video access code included. Access code subject to expiration after 12/31/2027. Code may be redeemed only by the recipient of this package. Code may not be transferred or sold separately from this package. Internet connection required. Void where prohibited, taxed, or restricted by law. Additional offer details inside.

How our shifting sense of "what's normal" defines the character of democracy "A provocative examination of social constructs and those who would alternately undo or improve them."--Kirkus Reviews This sharp and engaging collection of essays by leading governmental scholar Cass R. Sunstein examines shifting understandings of what's normal, and how those shifts account for the feminist movement, the civil rights movement, the rise of Adolf Hitler, the founding itself, the rise of gun rights, the response to COVID-19, and changing understandings of liberty. Prevailing norms include the principle of equal dignity, the idea of not treating the press as an enemy of the people, and the social unacceptability of open expressions of racial discrimination. But norms are very different from laws. They arise and change in response to individual and collective action. Exploring Nazism, #MeToo, the work of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, constitutional amendments, pandemics, and the influence of Ayn Rand, Sunstein reveals how norms ultimately determine the shape of government in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere.

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “This riveting and beautifully written tale has profound implications for all of our lives, including the practice of medicine and mental health.” —Bessel van der Kolk, MD, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Body Keeps the Score “Wise, sophisticated, rigorous and creative: an intellectual and compassionate investigation of who we are and who we may become. Essential reading for anyone with a past and a future.” —Tara Westover, New York Times bestselling author of Educated “The Myth of Normal is a book literally everyone will be enriched by—a wise, profound and healing work that is the culmination of Dr. Maté's many years of deep and painfully accumulated wisdom.” —Johann Hari, New York Times bestselling author of Stolen Focus “Gabor and Daniel Maté have delivered a book in which readers can seek refuge and solace during moments of profound personal and social crisis. The Myth of Normal is an essential compass during disorienting times.” —Esther Perel, psychotherapist, author, and host of Where Should We Begin From our most trusted and compassionate authority on stress, trauma, and mental well-being—a groundbreaking investigation into the causes of illness, a bracing critique of how our society breeds disease, and a pathway to health and healing. Gabor Maté’s internationally bestselling books have changed the way we look at addiction and have been integral in shifting the conversations around ADHD, stress, disease, embodied trauma, and parenting. Now, in this revolutionary book, he eloquently dissects how in Western countries that pride themselves on their health care systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. So what is really “normal” when it comes to health? For all our expertise and technological sophistication, Western medicine often fails to treat the whole person, ignoring how today’s culture stresses the body, burdens the immune system, and undermines emotional balance. In The Myth of Normal, co-written with his son Daniel, Maté brings his perspective to the great untangling of common myths about what makes us sick, connects the dots between the maladies of individuals and the declining soundness of society, and offers a compassionate guide for health and healing. The result is Maté’s most ambitious and urgent book yet.

In the late 1960s, riding the crest of the counterculture movement, Cea’s family left a comfortable existence in California to live off the land in northern Alberta. But unlike most commune dwellers of the time, the Persons weren’t trying to build a new society—they wanted to escape civilization altogether. Led by Cea’s grandfather Dick, they lived in a canvas Teepee, grew pot, and hunted and gathered to survive. Living out her grandparents’ dream with her teenage mother, Michelle, young Cea knew little of the world beyond her forest. She spent her summers playing nude in the meadow and her winters snowshoeing behind the grandfather she idolized. Despite fierce storms, food shortages and the occasional drug-and-sex-infused party for visitors, it was a happy existence. For Michelle, however, there was one crucial element missing: a man. When Cea was five, Michelle took her on the road with a new boyfriend. As the trio set upon a series of ill-fated adventures, Cea began to question both her highly unusual world and the hedonistic woman at the centre of it—questions that eventually evolved into an all-consuming search for a more normal life. Finally, in her early teens, Cea realized she would have to make a choice as drastic as the one her grandparents once had made in order to get the life she craved. From nature child to international model by the age of thirteen, Cea’s astonishing saga is one of long-held family secrets and extreme family dysfunction, all in an incredibly unusual setting. It is also the story of one girl’s deep-seated desire for normality—a desire that enabled her to risk everything, overcome adversity and achieve her dreams.

A smart, tight, provocative techno-thriller straight out of the very near future—by an iconic visionary writer Some people call it "abyss gaze." Gaze into the abyss all day and the abyss will gaze into you. There are two types of people who think professionally about the future: foresight strategists are civil futurists who think about geo-engineering and smart cities and ways to evade Our Coming Doom; strategic forecasters are spook futurists, who think about geopolitical upheaval and drone warfare and ways to prepare clients for Our Coming Doom. The former are paid by nonprofits and charities, the latter by global security groups and corporate think tanks. For both types, if you're good at it, and you spend your days and nights doing it, then it's something you can't do for long. Depression sets in. Mental illness festers. And if the "abyss gaze" takes hold there's only one place to recover: Normal Head, in the wilds of Oregon, within the secure perimeter of an experimental forest. When Adam Dearden, a foresight strategist, arrives at Normal Head, he is desperate to unplug and be immersed in sylvan silence. But then a patient goes missing from his locked bedroom, leaving nothing but a pile of insects in his wake. A staff investigation ensues; surveillance becomes total. As the mystery of the disappeared man unravels in Warren Ellis's Normal, Dearden uncovers a conspiracy that calls into question the core principles of how and why we think about the future—and the past, and the now. The ebook edition also includes four conversations with Warren Ellis about Normal, featuring Robin Sloan, Laurie Penny, Geoff Manaugh, and Lauren Beukes. The conversations originally appeared on tor.com.

Heartbreaking and funny: the true story behind Jeanette's bestselling and most beloved novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. In 1985, at twenty-five, Jeanette published Oranges, the story of a girl adopted by Pentecostal parents, supposed to grow up to be a missionary. Instead, she falls in love with a woman. Disaster. Oranges became an international bestseller, inspired an award-winning BBC adaptation, and was semi-autobiographical. Mrs. Winterson, a thwarted giantess, loomed over the novel and the author's life: when Jeanette left home at sixteen because she was in love with a woman, Mrs. Winterson asked her: Why be happy when you could be normal? This is Jeanette's story--acute, fierce, celebratory--of a life's work to find happiness: a search for belonging, love, identity, a home. About a young girl locked out of her home, sitting on the doorstep all night, and a mother waiting for Armageddon with two sets of false teeth and a revolver in the duster drawer; about growing up in a northern industrial town; about the Universe as a Cosmic Dustbin. She thought she had written over the painful past until it returned to haunt her and sent her on a journey into madness and out again, in search of her biological mother. It is also about other people's stories, showing how fiction and poetry can form a string of guiding lights, a life raft that supports us when we are sinking.