The Things We Learned This Year We May Too Soon Forget
When 2020 is over, I hope we’ll remember what we learned
I keep trying to see the whole of 2020 rather than its ugly, brutal parts. The bright beginning. The rapid shift. Long walks with my children while flowers bloomed. The beauty amid the chaos.
It has been a year of fairly unwelcome life lessons — but lessons all the same. I’m afraid that we will too soon forget them when life makes its way back to what will be normal from now on. In fact, I’m sure of it as I watch the growing complacency with mask-wearing and social distancing. Too soon, we’ll take all the lessons and throw them in the dumpster fire that was 2020 and watch it burn to ash.
While this year has been far from my favorite, I’ve learned some important and wonderful life lessons, and I know I’m not the only one. Here are the five lessons I hope we’ll hold onto even when social distancing ends and masks are a rarity. This is what I hope we’ll keep.
The absolute necessity of finding a work-life balance Many of us figured out an important truth this year: it’s not that companies can’t accommodate disabilities, flex schedules, or remote work. They just didn’t want to do it. For some of us, we had more of a work-life balance this year than we’ve ever had. We didn’t have much of a choice. Suddenly, we had to figure out how to work from home while parenting and home schooling. How to fit in fitness. How to have more of a life than a career.
I hope we don’t forget this. I hope we don’t go back to putting our jobs before all else, particularly when we see how many companies let employees go instead of trimming the fat at the top. I hope we still find a way to be more present with our families while nurturing our careers.
The importance of nature, parks, and public recreation Hiking trails that were once sparsely populated saw a rush of visitors. Parks that were rarely used got regularly visited. Sporting good stores sold out of bicycles, kayaks, paddle boards, and every other form of outdoor (and often indoor) fitness equipment.
When we go back to something approaching normal, I hope we won’t forget the role that parks and public spaces played in keeping our sanity this year. I hope we’ll still get outside with our families, support the protection of parklands, and prioritize funding for public spaces.
The easy spread of illness when we don’t isolate ourselves when we have symptoms If there’s a single societal shift I want the most, it may be this one. I hope that after Covid is managed, we will remember how quickly illness can spread when we don’t isolate when we have symptoms. I hope there will be a new culture of staying home when we’re sick rather than praising perfect attendance over public health. I hope we will look at self-caring while we’re ill as also self-protective of those around us.
The importance of participating in the civic process at every election If 2020 taught us little else, I hope it was a reminder that every individual can make a difference in the outcome of our elections. Just look at Stacey Abrams who worked diligently to register voters in the year leading up to the presidential election. She took her platform and used it to make sure that everyone who wanted to vote was registered to do so.
But it wasn’t just our politicians who stepped up. Individuals mailed postcards to get out the vote, made phone calls, and sent texts. But this isn’t just necessary every four years. It’s necessary during run-off elections and local elections, too. If we want a say in how our country is being run, we need to put in the effort to register how we feel every single time an election is held.
The long-term nature and responsibility of pet ownership At the start of lockdown, I was concerned by the vast number of people posting that they had added a new pet to their family. I wondered just how many of those pets would make their way back to shelters or be re-homed when life got back to normal. In the last few months, I joined those numbers — but my choice of adopting a pet during Covid was largely coincidental. I had already planned to adopt this year, and I work from home regardless.
But pets aren’t hobbies. I hope we realize as we transition back to regular life that the pets we’ve chosen are a lifetime responsibility and commitment — at least, for their lifetime.
The lessons of 2020 are too numerous to fit here. I’ve discovered more about myself this year than perhaps any previous. I’m still learning.
While I might want to forget the sharp ache of loss and grief and the feeling of powerlessness I had every time I saw another selfish person refuse to curb their behavior to benefit those around them, I don’t want to forget the kindness of many or the gift of extra time with my children. I don’t want to lose that sense of balance or the way I reclaimed my time by no longer giving so much of it to others. I want to remember how it felt to accept that I could shift some of my work, and my world wouldn’t fall apart because of it.
The year isn’t over, but already I see people forgetting. I drove past a gathering the other day, not a mask in sight. I got a birthday invitation for my children to attend a party we won’t be going to because of Covid. I’m watching people forget while numbers rise, and I wonder what will happen when they finally fall.
Will we remember what we learned at all?
