It’s hard to describe the past year. Perhaps the best definition is the word change, closely followed by anxiety. The pandemic has changed lives forever. People have lost loved ones, that cannot be diminished or taken lightly. People lost jobs, businesses shuttered overnight, families had to adapt to a new routine of having their kids being home-schooled. Companies had to transition, abruptly, to working from home. Single folks needed to deal with solitude due to the necessity of isolation. That was a summary that best described 2020 for me.
I don’t know if that is the end of the 2010s decade or the beginning of the 2020s but this pandemic was one for the history books, remembered for generations to come, like the Spanish Flu of 2019. Hopefully big improvements will come the way they did in 2019. I am optimistic that in the future we will look back with a less negative mindset.
And, I hope by this time next year we all can be celebrating without restrictions, without fear, with family and friends together. Till then let’s stay safe and follow the recommendations instead of questioning them. Let’s open our minds to different points of view rather than narrow it by trying to confirm our biases, which is too easily available through social media today. Remember that our individual actions ripple through the collective of our society. So let’s act to benefit all, rather than just ourselves. I know it’s not easy, but more than ever, it’s really needed.
One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful. — Sigmund Freud
I wish you all a great 2021!
