Lessons from 2020
Finding Hope and Gratitude in Hard Times
I have always loved New Year’s Eve. That moment when hope feels brand new, when it seems possible to start again from a clean page. From now on, everything will be different. Better. I will change. No more silly mistakes. I will be good. I will lose those extra pounds. I will spend more quality time with my family. I will eat better. I will work less. Or more. I will be more organised, less stressed, and finally become the person I keep promising myself I will be.
Then 2020 arrived and reminded us of something uncomfortable but true: we can make all the promises we like, we can build plans as small or as grand as we want, and still, not everything is in our control. 2020 was not the year most of us got everything we wanted. But it was a year when many of us finally noticed what we already had. In our endless rush to earn more, achieve more, look better, own more, and upgrade everything, we were forced to stop and remember that we are only one part of a much bigger system called the world. Money means little if you are ill. Luxury means nothing if you cannot reach someone you love who is lonely, suffering, or close to the end.
2020 was heavy. A global pandemic. Extreme weather. Record unemployment. Social injustice. Forest fires. And where I live – Brexit. Enough. Please. No more of that. Instead, let us talk about what went right, because even in that year, good things still happened.
Teachers, healthcare, and social care workers finally received the public recognition they have always deserved. And they were joined by other often invisible heroes of the pandemic – delivery drivers, cleaners, and supermarket workers.
2. Kindness has spread around the world and people came together many times and on different occasions: neighbours organised socially distanced parties and concerts, people bought supplies for their shielding or elderly neighbours, prepared meals for strangers, reached out to friends, family members or neighbours who were experiencing loneliness or isolation, children wrote letters to the elderly to curb loneliness, and fundraising has reached the new levels.
3. Birthdays and other special occasions became less about presents and more about connecting with loved ones.
4. Diversity and inclusion became more important than ever: Black Lives Matter became the biggest mass movement in history. Kamala Harris became the first female, first Black, first South Asian US Vice President.
5. Careers were reassessed and horizons broadened as a work-from-home revolution started.
6. Our priorities were re-established: health, family, relationships, compassion, bringing diverse people together, fostering communities, food waste and recovery, natural environment.
7. We avoided a Great Depression (for now, anyway).
8. Africa was declared free of polio.
9. Pollution has dropped. Because we are all “staying in”, levels of air pollutants are almost 50% down compared to 2019.
10. A Covid-19 vaccine was approved for use, giving us hope for the better 2021.
