I was born in the eighties, early eighties. As a young girl, I went through different phases with ageing. At first, I wanted to grow up so that I can attain the independence that my parents hoarded so much. Then as I grew, I wanted to be forever young because the responsibility that comes with adulting was just so overwhelming. Just like with rain and tax, there was nothing that could be done to alter ageing. So age I did.
Typically, as one year rolls into another and we calculate our new age and make new year resolutions or goals. However, some years just seem extra special. I can recall that as we started the year – 2020, I felt the same wave of excitement that I felt when we began 2000, more so back then, with all the millennium noise that was going around. It felt like in the year 2000, there was going to be an apocalypse of some sort but it turned out to be just like any other year.
Coming back to the beginning of 2020, the feeling was different. There was no apprehension of any kind. It was a new decade alright but nothing was frightening or alarming about it. All I felt was gratitude and just the typical enthusiasm that comes with starting a new year plus a strong drive to achieve those desired new year ‘goals.’ It was quite refreshing to start a new year and leave all the noise of ‘dirty December’ behind. If you know, you know…
I remember how slow January dragged and all the memes about it on social media that made us laugh. I must have first heard about Coronavirus around that time and how it all began in a place called ‘Wuhan’. Like everyone else, I paid zero attention. Little did I know that the ignored virus was going to become a fast and dangerous killer across the globe. I am not a medic so I will move on from the virus itself and talk about the way the pandemic single-handedly changed the narrative for everyone. I mean every single one of us, old and young, black and white, male and female. Did I say rich and poor?
By mid-February, the virus had begun to spread like wildfire across different parts of the world. Many countries started to put measures in place to reduce the spread, just as the death toll began to rise. By the end of February, people in the UK must have sung the happy birthday song a gazillion times just like our Prime Minister advised us to do while washing our hands. We all know what came next – the lockdown. It sounded like a great idea at first, every family unit gets to be together, every time. Why not? The word ‘furloughing’ has never been used as much as it was used in the UK. Daily briefings became the new Love Island.
Quickly, the novelty of being at home wore off just as the death toll was exponentially on the rise. We soon realized that the lockdown wasn’t going to end anytime quickly. It soon became a normal way of life. Food shopping turned out to be not such a task after all and didn’t we all become experts at baking. Banana bread began a baking trend of some sort on the ‘gram.
While all of this was going on, our lives changed. We are no longer the same as we were three months ago. The year – 2020 did to us what no other year in history has ever done, locked us all down. We became truly humbled. We started to re-appreciate life, existence and freedom. Several hidden talents were discovered. Boredom drove us nuts. You loved harder and fought more. We became fed up with our children. Like who knew these babies were these full-on.
On a grimmer note, many lost their lives. Proper goodbyes could not be said and befitting funerals could not be given. Jobs did not survive; businesses crumbled; lay-offs and redundancies became everyday terminologies. Marriages broke, relationships strained and mental health distraught.
All of these in one year, I mean in just a quarter of one year. I will never be the same again, we will never be the same again. Many families will never remain the same again.
Just like many people have been asking, can we just fast forward to 2021 now. We have had enough of you already – 2020.