a Topsy-Turvy Year

2020 has been a rocky road to say the least. I don’t think anyone could of ever imagined a year like this, it was supposed to be an amazing year as holidays seemed to be aligned perfectly with Christmas and New Years both being on a Friday. Instead, we have been surrounded by fear, death and struggle of everyone.

To list everything that has happened this year, it would be unbelievable. Starting from the devastating fires in Australia the loss of Kobe Bryant, the pandemic of Covid-19, the social justice movements across the world and the election just to name a few. Most would think that everything that has happened this year would be the encompass of the entire decade.

Many of us are exhausted, both physically, emotionally, and mentally and who can blame anyone. We have been pushed to our limits as humans. Many of us have had to be in lockdown where everything is closed, and you are forced to remain home. You now work from home, socialize from home, workout from home, everything from home.

Yet 2020 was a great year for a few things. Social change and self reflection mainly. This year forced us to think about a lot of things that needed to be changed in the world. We talked about how we need to focus more on the environment and climate change. The obvious one was the Black Live Matter movement that was a movement recognized throughout the entire world, and it is still felt today. Though it was always seen as to some obvious, it was shocking to see the uproar and the riots that came from them. It brought another movement forward that showed just how much funding the police get and the fact that they really do not need the billions of dollars they get. It was also crazy watching the protests only turn to riots when they were encountered by the police, that beforehand they were peaceful for the most part with a strong message. At the same time though it was awful to watch, it was also beautiful to see the whole world practically unite in the movement, to bring everyone to an equal level of human rights which should be the case without the need of the protests.

The other big thing we say, which is crazy coming from Canada, the importance for the US Presidential election. I think this was so big because everyone was shocked at the fact that a leader of a country could be this horrible basically. Like how the leader of country show could so much hate towards the people of his country, by saying how he does not see everyone has equal humans and just bring forth so much hate. And I know the fear of living in the US was thinking of how he would have the election rigged. The fact that it took almost a week for the results to be in to show that change won and that the voice of the people was heard and came through was amazing to see. The fact that there were parties on the streets, and everyone was out in celebration showed what it meant to the country, and in turn to the world.

More than what was going on in the outside this year we were really forced to look in, without any distractions. Being in quarantine and isolating with just your household brought things into perspective for a lot of people. It was dealing with some of the things you disliked the most about yourself and how to become a better version of yourself. It also showed who the important people in your life are, who are the people that really care about you and those that you want to be in your life. Mental health was really brought through to the forefront and so many realized how truly important dealing with depression and all mental health struggles are.

On the more positive side, we are going to come out of this year a better version of ourselves and the world as well. We come out of this with a better appreciation and understanding of the needs of others, with a desire to help improve the world and the environment and showing how our voices when everyone uses them can make the changes in the world you wish to see. Finally, the changes within ourselves. We are removing toxic people from our lives, having the tough conversations with family if needed, improving our mental health and making steady improvements on how to be the best versions of ourselves.

2020 was not the year we wanted. We wanted it to be like every other year, but so many thought it would be an amazing year. There has been a lot of death, a lot of struggle, a lot of questions, a lot of dark times. But as we look into 2021, things are hopefully going to start to improve and hopefully our improvements within ourselves will continue.

For those reading this currently while this is going on, stay safe. For those in the future, yes everything you read that happened in this year made it the hardest year of the 25 years I’ve experienced in my life.