Sarva’s 2020

You know that feeling when you’re bouncing on a trampoline and you fall while everyone is bouncing around? And no matter how hard you try to get up and regain your balance, you just cannot and ultimately give up and lay there while no one helps you get up? Well, that’s what 2020 felt like. A year that left 7 billion people confused and perplexed, isolated from their loved ones and with no closure even at the end of the year.

2020 started off as any other year. January was filled with people trying to stick to their resolutions, or like me forgetting to change the date from 2019 to 2020.February flew by and even though it was a leap year, the extra day didn’t change much. March is when the warning bells started ringing around the world and suddenly the seemingly normal year seemed to change colors very quickly. 

But don’t worry. Unlike 2020, my article won’t take a very dark turn and make you want to curl up and cry. While this may have been a very unusual year, it was definitely something I’m happy to have lived through in this life time.

In our bustling lives, we often don’t realize how much we really need to take some time off and just be. Be it a student or a professional, everyone is so caught up in their lives that we forget the smaller, simpler things that help keep us sane. This lockdown did that on a global level and while it may have been a rather scary experience for some, it gave me time to cool off. And not just myself, I’m sure a lot of people would agree that they really did need this break that they wouldn’t have been able to take, had it not been for the worldwide lockdown. 

When was the last time you stayed with your family for such an extended period of time? Or took up a hobby like baking or cooking to pass time? In a funny way, this year may have isolated people from their loved ones, but at the same time brought them closer than ever through Zoom calls going on for hours, virtual weekend drinking parties, and heck even virtual wedding ceremonies! 

Obviously, the above paragraph comes from a rather privileged stand and I’m not here trying to brag about how good this year was for me while millions of people lost their lives and countless people were left jobless. I’m simply acknowledging that I, along with most of you had it rather easy this year and I would never ever ask for this year to be any different. 

All said and done, I hope everyone takes this year as a learning lesson for so many reasons, even though the negatives outweigh the positives. In my opinion, here are a few examples of the positive changes seen this year and are here to stay. This pandemic brought in the culture of “work from home” and I’m sure a lot of organizations would integrate that into their working culture going forward. While people did lose their jobs, the lockdown also saw a rise in entrepreneurial ventures with people starting businesses right from their homes. Another big change, one that I personally vouch for is the idea of socializing with a limited number of people, those who matter the most to you and keeping an intimate, low-key setup to celebrate the big moments in our lives. 

So, in the final days of this rollercoaster of a year, I urge everyone to hold on a little tighter and see this not as a nightmare, but as a period of insane character development. While 2020 may have kept you away from everyone you love, let us crack a cold one on Zoom and wait in anticipation to see what 2021 brings us. Maybe it’s aliens, or maybe someone eats another weird animal, just remember that we’re all in this together.

To conclude, here is a big hug for everyone who needs it and I hope we as a species get the strength to bounce back stronger in the next year. Signing off while Mask off by Future plays in the background (Just kidding. Wear your masks people).