2020 - Like No Other

2020...

If someone has 20/20 vision, they can see well. And perhaps in the most ironic way, 2020 is giving us clarity in ways none of us could have predicted. 

2020...

Ringing in the New Year felt off somewhat. To be clear, I went to church, I danced into the year, and I was certainly grateful to be alive. But something felt off. I assumed that perhaps it was celebrating solo after a friend and her mom left, unlike the previous year where another friend and I celebrated at the same church where I rang in 2020. I enjoyed the music, the fireworks. 

2020...

The year started off without much drama. For work, it was relatively light (ie, not break-neck speed), but like a ball going downhill, things quickly picked up. And before we knew it, there was one thing that also picked up - a novel coronavirus.

2020...

To be fair, the COVID-19 epidemic began in 2019. And I recall reading about it and some having concerns about it. Then in 2020, things took a turn for the absolute worse. Country after country were reporting cases, and more and more people were dying. The WHO had no choice but to declare it a pandemic. This meant that event after event got shifted or postponed or cancelled. And many were moved to the virtual realm with much success.

2020...

It is most evident that our lack of stewardship of the environment is one of the reasons we are in this predicament. We have destroyed habitats, we have over-exploited species of all kinds, and we have increased our appetite for animals which should be protected as their numbers decline expotentially. This has been a clear message from the scientific community, but so has climate change...

2020...

Life as we know it will never be the same. Already the way we socialise, work, learn and more have been altered, in many ways, permanently. Simple things, like greeting family and friends, or going to the supermarket, are no longer simple exercises. Now, we hug using emojis or speech; we sanitise everything from the grocery store. We get paranoid when we see people serving us and walking near us without a mask. Temperature checks are now standard in many places of business. 

2020...

On a more personal level, it has also been eye-opening. I have had the opportunity to do some introspection about my life. My purpose in life gained sharper focus. I was able to appreciate some of my strengths. Areas of struggle were revealed even as my commitment to working on them grew. In all of this, I have also been deliberate in spending time daily building the most important relationship in my life - with God. 

2020...

Most of the year is already spent, and we can only hope that things will improve. But even if they don't, I plan to learn, to unlearn, to grow,  to stunt growth, to build, to tear down, to plant, to uproot, to write, to erase, to smile, even through tears and heartbreak...The point: to do whatever is necessary to make sure that when the smoke clears or the dust settles, and hindsight comes to view, that the chaos was not wasted. May I be better, brighter and braver.