Well I don’t think that many would disagree that 2020 has been a very trying year. It has been a year of many different ups and downs. Some would say it’s been a dumpster fire of a year. I don’t know about that. We look at December 31st as some finish line where we can start over. The problems don’t go way just because the year changes.
COVID-19, The Corona Virus, or whatever you want to call it has been the primary thing that 2020 will be remembered for.
But how has it affected us?
Social distancing and Mask Wearing are the two big things that people seem to be consumed with. But what about the positive things?
- I got to work from home for most of the year. Telecommuting is a thing and will be here to stay.
- I saved on wear and tear on my car and hardly used gas.
- Used the commute time to exercise.
- More opportunities to cook and eat at home, saving some money.
- Faster development of technologies that enable us to live better at home.
- Zoom
- DoorDash, UberEats, Postmates, Grubhub
- Order groceries and other items for pickup when you get to the store.
- More fitness at home, Peloton, Apple Fitness+, etc.
- Streaming first run movies at home.
- Normalizing online purchasing from places like Amazon.
We have heard this term, “The New Normal”. I feel like the only thing that is the new normal is masks and social distancing. And they will go away in the next year. But the reality is that all of the things that are making our lives easier to deal with using technology have been ramped up faster because people will use it. That’s a positive thing. We would not have been as quickly on board with these technologies if it wasn’t for this pandemic. This change was coming, albeit slowly.
There are downsides to all of this as well. We are social creatures. Not getting to see co-workers, family, travel, and generally socialize can have a real mental toll on a person’s psyche. We need human interaction. We need to see and touch and breathe in the moments. That’s part of the human experience.
Let us not forget that 2020 has also been an election year.
Former Vice-President Joe Biden beat President Trump in the election, and while Trump will not concede the election, it is all but assured that Biden will be sworn into office on Jan 20th.
But this election has been one of extreme controversy, where the nation has been pretty evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans. But there is a lot more going on here. There has been a lot of misunderstanding about the goals and aims of each party.
There has been an uptick in violence by hate groups in the US.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54968498
It’s concerning and alarming that we are not living in a world that we can agree to disagree any longer. We don’t see each other as human beings but something lesser.
It’s been a difficult year for everyone…
And maybe having a January 1 is the fresh start we all need. Get away from the politics. Get away from the fear. Get away from the hate, and start fresh and new.
We have to be committed to making our country and our world a better place. We are in this together.
We all have a choice on the path that we will chose in 2021. I think that this is the time to mend fences and move forward. If you continue to live with suspicion, hate, and fear, then you will be living in a terrible past. This is our chance to renew and refresh. Let’s make 2021 better. We are after all at the home stretch.