2020: The Year We All Needed
No, it’s not the worst year you’ve ever had.
Things haven’t been the best this year, for sure. Uncertainty took a toll on all of us. But, is this really the worst year we’ve ever had like we all keep saying?
It’s been around 7 months that we’ve been in a global pandemic and almost 10 months since the year has started and I have no clue about how to put together my feelings or even recount the same. Describing 2020 is an arduous task, to be honest.
I don’t know about you, but this year has changed how I look at myself. Above that, it altered my perception of life in general.
Did you ever surmise about how stepping out of your house could be a privilege? Well, I didn’t until I took the first-morning walk after staying in for two straight months because of the pandemic. The crunch after stepping on the fallen leaves on the streets, the eye-conversation with the neighbours from a distance while wearing the smile which the mask completely covered and all the little things felt strange yet exhilarating. Weird, no? Weird how just walking around the streets can make you feel how privileged you are?
Don’t you think we all took things for granted? I believe we’ve been doing that all along. We all made plans as if we knew what was really going to happen the next day but do we? I guess, not anymore.
Weren’t you so positive about meeting the love of your life the upcoming weekend when you came back home but who could decipher the fact that we were all going to be locked down at our homes for months and you would not meet them for so long?
We underestimate life a little too much, don’t we?
We’ve all done this. I mean, planning is great. It’s important to plan things beforehand but it got to the point where we all began to take things for granted.
Work. Love. Opportunities. Friends. Life. Everything.
I was so convinced that I was going to college in the month of August this year and I had planned out everything beforehand. I assured myself I won’t be in the same city after graduating from high school. Oh no, I don’t hate that though. I don’t hate how the virus prolonged my stay here. I think I sort of like it in this city too. Maybe it’s the people here or maybe it’s the roads that don’t seem so strange or maybe it’s just the sense of belongingness but it is what it is. Would I have had this realization if I just went to college and there was no coronavirus? I doubt.
Enough about me though. This is about you. You surviving one of the worst setbacks this world has ever faced. You constantly fighting back your cynicism and your gloomy thoughts after being sleepless for over three days. You making it till here. It’s been 6 months in this pandemic and no one can fathom how long it might take to actually get to our normal lives.
As much as you can’t wait to go back to the old normal, I hope you realize that things don’t always go your way and everything that you plan might never happen. I hanker that when you really do go back to the normal, it’s not like it was before the pandemic and you are more appreciative of the little things around you.
I hope you see 2020 as a year where you learnt the best lessons rather than the worst year you’ve ever had.
