What a global pandemic has taught us in 2020

What a global pandemic

has taught us in 2020

There’s really no other way to put it: 2020 has been a weird year. As we all celebrated the start of both a new year and a new decade on the 31st December 2019, it’s unlikely that any of us expected what exactly was to come. Instead of more of the usual, we ended up going into a nationwide lockdown, leaving our schools and workplaces behind for several weeks before going back to strange new systems, a lot more antibacterial gel and a lot less hugging. It’s been an undoubtedly tough twelve months and we can’t be blamed for occasionally lamenting upon all the negativity we’ve been forced to endure. But it’s not been all doom and gloom. For every cancelled holiday and boring weekend, there’s been a lesson learnt. If you’re feeling low and struggling to see any positives to this peculiar year, here are five of the best things that 2020 has taught us:

1.  The importance of self-care

In the fast-paced, crazy world we’d grown so used to living in, many of us had forgotten the importance of a good sleep schedule, excellent skin-care routines and alone time. Even though the initial lockdown period and its aftermath were,initially, a huge shock, it did provide many of us with a chance to reflect upon how many unhealthy habits we may have been practicing. The pandemic has highlighted the close link between self-care and our overall physical and mental health and given us all a (quite necessary) reminder to put ourselves first once in a while.

2.  How to appreciate the smaller things

As we welcome in 2021, the pandemic isn’t over. Whether we are slowly getting back to normal or not, there are still many things from the pre-pandemic days that we are unable to do. Covid-19 has, therefore, taught us how to appreciate the things that in the past we may never have felt were a privilege in the past. Something as simple as a hug from a friend – once part of a normal greeting and farewell – is now a potentially dangerous act. For some, even spending time with family and friends is still impossible. The pandemic has taught us to appreciate anything and everything that makes life normal, no matter how small.

3. Why education isn’t just for school

2020 brought with it an abrupt end to a lot of people’s formal education. Many GCSE and A-Level students were suddenly told they had no need to revise, being given grades that were instead based upon their work throughout the years. University students, similarly, found themselves heading back to their hometowns, unable to hold end-of-the-year or graduation celebrations. However, whilst formal education stopped, a lot of people realised that the extra time that Covid-19 awarded them could be spent learning new things. For a lot of people, this was as simple as learning how to bake bread or spending a couple of extra hours reading each day. For some, this was learning a new language on Duolingo or picking up a new instrument. Whatever your chosen lockdown activity was, the pandemic has helped to remind us that education doesn’t stop when you leave school, and that we’re constantly learning new things and improving ourselves.

4.  The beauty of modern communication

Humans are built to communicate. We thrive on relationships, be they familial, friendly or romantic. As the initial lockdown began, we were confined to our homes, deprived of the usual human connections that we made at school, work and social events. For a moment, it felt as though we all might become hermits, holing away and not speaking to our friends for days on end. But then, people found new and innovative ways to communicate: grandparents figured out how to use facetime, groups of friends conducted quizzes over zoom, anyone with a smartphone downloaded Houseparty and utilised it weekly, and exercise studios conducted online classesclasses online. Technology has its downfalls, but it’s safe to say we’d have been lost without it this year. Anything that helped us maintain human connection is something that we can be thankful for.

5.  How to live in the now

If there is only one thing that the pandemic has taught us, it’s how to live in the here and now. Whilst at times, Covid-19 has felt like an awfully cruel reminder that the future is uncertain, it’s perhaps a reminder that we all needed. By teaching us the importance of our daily routines, the smaller things, learning and human connection, the pandemic has taught us to stop worrying so much about our future that we forget to live in the present. And that can only be a good thing.

It’s likely that we’re all very happy to have said a hasty goodbye to 2020, but in twenty years’ time, I’d like to think we can look back on this year as one in which, despite it calling a halt to all normality, we never stopped learning.