Hello Sparky!: Well... my perspective is there is no before, no after, & no normal. There is just now. One thing I have learned is that there is nothing in the present moment but the present moment. The Buddhists talk allot about there being joy in the present moment. But I have found that, to be frank, there isn't even joy there. There is very simply just the present moment.

The thing is that all emotions: sadness, joy, regret, satisfaction / dissatisfaction all are the outcomes of comparing how we feel now with how we felt at some time previously, or with how we think we want to be able to feel, or should feel, in the future. However, since there is no past or future in the present moment, none of these comparisons exist there either.

What is important to me is to not to try to get back to some state I imagine to have been "normal" but simply to strive to live in the present accepting it for whatever it is, however it is. Nothing ever stays the same anyway. So, even had I, or you, not developed the mental health challenges we face, our lives would stlll be changing anyway.

I wish you well...