Saying that 2020 was the year of surprises, unrest, change, fear and hope would be an understatement. There was a shared collective human experience at an unprecedented scale, but the pandemic was also deeply personal. Every person has had to deal with it differently and has had to face their own issues, losses and triumphs. The team at bazaar thought about it and these are our conclusions.
Farah Barakat (Mixed Media Content)
2020 Conclusion: Soldier on with a mask on, you cute thang!
I was going to write “to be continued” and call it a day, but the thought of possibly inspiring someone and honestly the peer pressure from my colleagues’ awesome entries to this question motivated me to leave you with this. 2020 has not been easy for anybody, on so many levels. Whether it be on a personal or professional level, or watching the world around you and your loved ones struggle, it has taken a toll on us all. For me personally, 2020 made me live in my head too much. And if i’m being very honest it’s both the greatest and worst place to be. I can be my worst critic which helps me stay on top of my stuff, but it can also make me feel like I’m not accomplishing much (when in reality, the world had come to a stop and there was only so much one could do). The good part? I did some major self reflecting and realized that I didn’t want to be someone who settles for their life, watches it happen to them and just reacts. I wanted to take charge and whatever that meant I wasn’t gonna let society, or anyone around me decide my path. So, I took a leap of faith when life made me and I set out to do what I deep down always wanted to do. Since fear was the only thing holding me back before, due to the unpredictability of this year I was able to become familiar with letting go of control and just being. Which meant, doing the things I love, being around the people that mean the most to me and letting life unfold that way. And let me tell you, it’s been one of the best years for me as far as inspiring my personal growth. Regardless of the craziness, and the low moments I am very proud of what I managed to accomplish this year. I hope that you too can look back and realize that you too, soldiered on with bravery and crushed your goals.
Jennifer Cádiz (Mixed Media Solutions)
2020 Conclusion: Same old same old
My brain is a filter which eradicates completely all memory unless something’s been absolutely horrific or touched me deeply. So, happily, I’ve forgotten most of 2020 already. It feels distant, like I’ve read about world events from a history book. I learned that there are people who care about me and have adopted me so much so that they will make sure I have plenty to eat and send me home cooked meals, but that I still won’t ask for help because it feels burdensome, although I will now accept help when it is offered which is totally new for me. Discovering whole communities of charitable fundraisers and distributors that do things more effectively and with more empathy than organizations built for the job, is an absolute joy, but not surprising. I worry that the spirit of Gen Z who were proving untamable, opinionated and righteous and in whom I held so much hope for the future, is being destroyed on a global scale through the installation of fear and division spread through societal manipulation led by the top tenth of the 1% who are, not coincidentally, the very same titans activists have been begging governments to tax into impotence for decades. Man’s inhumanity to man is astonishing, but our humanity is also breathtaking. And we’ll continue, until we don’t.
Umika Pidaparthy (Online Producer)
2020 Conclusion: Slow down, take a breather and reassess
The world before the pandemic was moving at breakneck speed in so many respects. The most pronounced to me was and still is the rate of ecological degradation. At that time environmental disasters like the wildfires in Australia that raged from June 2019 to May 2020, were at their peak. When the lockdowns came into effect, Earth received a brief respite – the air for a short time was cleaner, you could even see the sky in cities that were once blanketed in smog. If that wasn’t a more obvious sign from Mother Nature to slow down, take a break and cleanse ourselves of the figurative gunk that occupied our lives, then I don’t know what is. Let me be clear, the COVID-19 pandemic, when not affecting the health of millions, has been extremely cruel to those who couldn’t afford to slow down, whose livelihoods and existence depended on our capitalistic systems continuing to function. It is a sad state of affairs and a lesson that will hopefully spur change. Yet it can’t be denied that the world slowing down gave those who could an opportunity to stop, breathe, and think. It made me reassess what was important, reconnect with friends and family, savour the chances to go outside when it was allowed. I appreciated the small things and practiced gratitude, whether it was taking the time to cook a usually-ordered meal from scratch or swimming in the sea and being amazed by the natural surroundings. And that in turn allowed for self-reflection and rethinking what’s next. 2020 may have put a wrench in my plans but it’s allowing me to make better, more meaningful ones. Life may now be on track to return to its breakneck speed and the smog may have returned. But that does not mean it will be the same for everyone because of this momentary pause. And those who can will exit the systems that caused them sorrow. One can only hope and pray that this will bode well for our Earth.
Yasmine El Charif (Content Manager)
2020 Conclusion: This ‘new normal’ is not normal
People tend to confuse my sense of realism with pessimism, so I will try to be gentle. 2020 has been a year of big changes (duh), but I personally feel that we rushed into embracing a ‘new normal’ with hopes of quickly going back to ‘normal normal’. Socially distanced physical gatherings are a thing, and they are not fun. Not being able to see young children experience life beyond a screen most certainly should not be considered as the new normal. I can go on and on, but it all boils down to this: Change may be sudden, as it usually is, but it also takes time. We are still reeling. I still wake up some days feeling like I am dangling off the door of a very crowded bus hurtling at 1000 kilometers per hour and I just have to brave the asphalt burns. Other days, I wake up and I don’t even remember that a global pandemic put the world (and in turn, our lives) on hold. It sucks, but that’s change for you, it’s weird and it’s kind of like experiencing grief. So, let’s not rush to make up new words for what is normal, as normal is a) a social construct and b) a long time away. The way I see it, 2020 is the year of big change, and 2021 will be one of adjustment, with hopes of approaching a sense of ‘new normal’ by 2022 with a vaccine being widely available. Can we speed up the timeline please?
Yasmin Gamal (Mixed Media Creator)
2020 Conclusion: It will be ok
This was the hardest thing I had to write this year. I mean “2020: 0/10 would not recommend” feels like basically it. But really, I got repeatedly hit with thing after thing and survived. The universe served us a global pandemic, financial uncertainty and social isolation. Yet, we found a way to keep going. And that might be the real conclusion. As a species we don’t give up easily. We created memes, zoom bombed, netflixed, baked sourdough, checked in on friends, crafted and the list goes on. We learned to wear masks and obsess about our hand washing technique. There were undoubtedly some very low moments when we threw our hands up in the air and tried to quit but didn’t. We found a million and one ways to manage our own anxieties while taking care of each other. It is what it is, but we will be ok.
Photo by Wyron A and Mick Haupt on Unsplash.
