10 Things that 2020 Taught Me

People are calling 2020 the worst year in human history. However, I personally feel we all needed 2020 to learn our lessons. We have been treating this Earth very badly, we have been literally abusing mother Earth and this year is how mother nature taught us a few lessons. Following are the lessons that we should all learn from 2020.

We can slow down: We were going too fast. We had time for nothing. No time for family, no time for friends, no time to sleep or eat, no time to relax, no time to sit and watch the birds, basically we had no time for ourselves or others. Our work, deadlines, clients, balance sheets, power-point presentation and meetings consumed all our time. It felt as if to stop to catch a breath would make the stock market crash. 2020 taught us that everything can stop. Meetings can stop, deadlines can wait, Olympic can get cancelled, flights can stop operating, war can stop, cities can shut down, stock market itself can shut down, churches can shut down, Mecca can shut down, . It taught us that all this humdrum was nothing but cacophony. If we want we can STOP everything. I am happy that even the busiest of men or women had to stop this year. The mother nature also stopped for a while and healed herself a little bit. We should focus more on our health than anything else: We were so busy with our financial profit and loss that we neglected our health. 2020 taught that the only wealth that we have is health. It taught us that without immunity we are puppets in the hands of a virus that can put an end to all our hopes and dreams in a matter of few days.We should have more hospitals than malls and statues: I don’t know if our leaders learned their lesson. The things that we need the most is medical aid. We need hospitals and we need schools to educate our doctors and nurses. They are the backbone for our survival. We should start spending more money on hospitals and education.We should have time for family and friends: We were so busy that we had no time for our family and friends. 2020 made many of us call our old school buddies, ex-colleagues, ex-neighbours, forgotten cousins and lost friends. For me, the video calls with my family and friends kept me sane and I realised how much they make me happy. Home schooling is a big headache: I used to be a huge advocate of ‘homeschooling’ but not anymore. My son’s online classes are driving me up the wall. I would actually write an entire post on why online classes are not my thing, even though I have spent most of my career designing online courses. What a cruel irony.We should learn to grow our own food: During the lockdown we all realised that how much we are dependent on others for our food. Therefore, it is high time that we start growing our own food. Growing everything wouldn’t be possible but we can always grow a little. We can spend much less and yet be happy: Did you realise that all of us spent so little during the Covid pandemic. The truth is all of us need quite less than we buy. This year made me resolve my oath towards minimalism stronger. We all should learn how to cook and clean: There is no pride in not knowing how to cook and clean. Irrespective of your gender, you should learn to do basic household chores. If you are a parent then teach your child how to cook and clean. They would thank you later. We should take care of our mental health: A majority of us suffered from depression in 2020. Apart from our physical body, all of us should take care of our mind. We should all learn to become a good Samaritan: One of the silver lining of the pandemic was random acts of kindness. This year, definitely taught me to become kind, compassionate and empathetic. At the end we all are human beings and should be kind towards others. This planet is home to all, let us make it a happy space.



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