4 things that 2020 has taught us

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What are the first words that come into mind when you think of 2020? For many people, it would be words such as “Covid-19”, “pandemic”, “write-off” and “terrible”. These words clearly indicate that 2020 has been a tough year for a lot of us. However, I do feel that there have been positive things that have come out of 2020 that we can be grateful for. In particular, 2020 has been an eye opener and we have realised things that we would have no chance of realising if life was normal. In this blog post, I talk about 4 things that we can take away from 2020 that will help us in the future.

Before I start, I want to make it clear that I fully appreciate that 2020 has been a horrible year for a lot of people. Loved ones have been lost, people have lost jobs and businesses, and mental health has generally been quite shaky across the board. The effects of 2020 and the pandemic have been devastating, and I have no intention to deny this in this blog post. If anything, we should first take time to appreciate how hard 2020 has been before we can think about the good things that have come out of it.

It is easy to get caught up in our own lives

One thing that 2020 has allowed us to do is to take life at a slower pace. This has enabled us to spend more time with loved ones, reach out to friends, do the things that we enjoy as well as more. In reality, things such as spending quality time with family or reaching out to friends are things that we should be trying to make time for even if life was normal. However, sometimes we don’t set aside enough time for things that we should be spending more time on. This is because we all get caught up and consumed with our busy schedules and lives, which means we sometimes quite frankly forget to make time for other things which are important. I have had people tell me that although they enjoyed spending more time with loved ones in this lockdown, they also regretted the fact that they were so caught up in their own lives before this pandemic.

It’s the small everyday things that make us happy

For me at least, life slowing down has made me realise that the things that I do every day are the ones that truly make me happy, such as going on walks, doing my hobbies as well as catching up with family and friends. This shows that the small and simple things can actually be the things that gives us the most happiness. In today’s society, it is very easy to think that things such as buying a new house, getting a promotion at work or getting the newest IPhone are things that give us the most happiness. It is true that these things make us happy, but we don’t need to wait for these things to happen to be happy and satisfied with life. I want you to think about the everyday things that you have done recently that have made you happy. It could be as simple as having a delicious meal. You’ll find that there are lots of things that we do everyday that make us happy, and therefore we should value and appreciate these things.

Hope goes a long way

This is something that has always been true, but even more so now. For a lot of us, the thing that is getting through the days is hope. Hope that this pandemic will soon be over and that we can return to some sense of normality. We may not have realised this before, but hope can be powerful and help us in ways that we wouldn’t have noticed. When we are going through a hard and challenging time, we need something that we can hold on to and no matter what the situation is, hope is that thing we can hold on to. Therefore, thinking about that light at the end of the tunnel is something that can motivate us to overcome challenging moments in the future.

Mental health is something that affects all of us

Mental health is a term that we all know about, but we probably weren’t aware on how much the term applies to us. I have found that some people have fallen into the trap of thinking that because they don’t struggle with mental health conditions such as anxiety or depression, mental health is not as relevant in their lives compared to people that do struggle with mental health conditions. However, during this pandemic, nearly all of us have struggled with mental health in some shape or form, and many of us have had to find ways to prioritise our mental health. This shows that mental health is something that is relevant to all of us, even if you don’t struggle with a mental health condition. Therefore, no matter who you are, doing things for your mental health should be an everyday reality.

What else do you think 2020 has taught us?

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Published by nirajshah2003

A lifestyle and mental health blogger that aims to help others by writing blogs :)

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56 thoughts on “4 things that 2020 has taught us”

  2. I hope it has taught us that all work matters. Suddenly we realized the grocery store clerk, and the person working in the fast food restaurant, are essential workers. These are jobs society has traditionally looked down on. Although my daughter works at McDonalds and, from the stories she tells me, it seems people could still use some lessons in respect and human decency.

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  3. Yes! Finding gratitude in the small things in life can help us get through the challenging times. And having hope that things will change for the better is definitely a wonderful thing! My hope is that once this pandemic is over that people will carry the lessons they learned with them so that our “new normal” will be better than it was before.

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  7. I was just musing today, while observing all us shoppers with masks on, that there is a lot of unspoken solidarity – people pulling together. Which made me happy. 😊 2020 has shown us many selfish individuals but many more unselfish ones.

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  10. I love this post. I completely agree and love how you found things to be grateful for during these unprecedented times. I am grateful for the gift of time. 2020 gave me the chance to reflect, spend time with my family and make important lifestyle changes.

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  11. 2020 surely slowed things down for all of us. It truly made us realized what is important in our lives, it’s not all work. It’s crazy to think that one of this virus’ prevention is to distance ourselves from one another but this pandemic made us all closer with our families.

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  13. To pick one lesson other than what you mention, and not to be controversial, I’d say we have learned which of the jobs and professions actually are valuable. I don’t imagine that these professions and occupations will receive appropriate remuneration, even now, but when I think which workers continued over lock-down.. who the key-workers were… they weren’t the chaps on the fat salaries. I certainly valued and admired the cleaners, the carers, the bin-men, bus-drivers, the shopkeepers and cashiers, and of course the NHS staff, more than ever.

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  14. Hi. Great post. I can relate to the points on slowing down and appreciating the simple things.
    It’s like I needed to read this post this evening. I’m in the process of drafting a similar post for Blogmas. Lol. Coincidence 🤔.

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  22. Great post!! 2020 has not been the best year for many but it has definitely taught us all something about life. It has taught us about hope and appreciating the little things because you never know when things might change.
    One other thing that I think it has taught us is how people can use technology to stay connected. People can use technology and creativity to create things they ‘ve never done before. People can push technology to its very limits. And this is truly remarkable.

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  23. This is so true, I couldn’t agree with you more. It all depends on our perspective, the way we see things. This is such an inspiring post. I am happy to discover your blog (through Olivia’s blog). You write very beautifully. 🙂

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  24. It taught me to slow down. It taught me to give myself time to heal, and know my own worth. This year helped me realize I’m not as alone as I thought I am. It also taught me the importance of mental and physical health. 😊 great post!

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    1. You make some really good points here, especially when you say that you are not alone! And mental health and physical health are both so important in our lives and is something that we shouldn’t neglect!

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