When Pigs Fly …

Dear 2020,

You were visceral gnawing at on our weakness, tempting us to see if humanity had goodness in it, playing us against one another, and waking us up to remember that we were never really in control.

As I reflect on 2020, shocking and horrible words come to mind the cliché word being unprecedented. After making it to the end, I think it is the beginning of a modern lifestyle renaissance. You had to learn to like and love the people you live with or get out, you finally had to learn to cook, balance became a mystery and clear at the same time.

What became evident was that we all had forgotten what was important in life and how to live. The simple things like going outside to get some fresh air became a luxury, having rainy day money meant you could relax a bit, human connection in any form got us through the days. During this time, the world came together and fell apart. We realized how important life is and questioned ourselves if we had always thought so.

Looking back to the beginning of 2020 in January, I noticed that I longed for something new and different in this new decade like many people. Although I did not expect different, to be so dramatic, this year certainly made me rethink my life and plan.

I picked the three most important tests that 2020 introduced and have categorized them under what I am calling the Modern Lifestyle Renaissance:

Modern Lifestyle Renaissance

Who’s In Charge

The biggest thing or problem everyone on the planet had to face during this crisis was themselves. The irony is the year 2020 gave us a perfect vision into the future if we do not take time to reflect and change. While there was panic about the pandemic, the crisis no one could escape was spending a lot of time with themselves. Did you choose to use the time to reflect and think, create something, or numb yourself through this whole experience?

According to Psychiatric Times, through a survey conducted by the CDC, for millions of people around the country, there is a growing mental health crisis, as of June this year, 40% of adults reported struggling with mental health or substance abuse.

Having to spend time alone or only with close family members made people examine their relationships and feel that there was a lesson to learn to start this decade. A recent survey completed by the Pew Research Center found that 86% of people felt there is some kind of lesson or set of lessons for mankind to learn from the coronavirus outbreak, and about a third (35%) say these lessons were sent by God.

Whether you believe in God or not, it was easy to see that the world was given a timeout and that it tested everyone and everything that we had come to know as standard and normal. If you are to survive such a change in history, you must be mentally fit and understand what you value in this life. Although pandemics have happened before on the planet this one was different because it brought up more to survive than a disease. This pandemic took away livelihoods, routines, social interaction, and control.

Moving into 2021, I think it’s important to decide who oversees you and what will you stand for in the future.

Human Connection- We Need Each Other

Before the pandemic started there was already something called the Loneliness Epidemic where two in five Americans reported that they sometimes or always feel their social relationships are not meaningful, and one in five say they feel lonely or socially isolated. The pandemic only exacerbated the problem bringing not only old people and those who already suffered but, young children to their knees. The inability to socialize was maddening, people missed births, funerals, graduations, birthdays, holidays, and intimate moments with family and friends far away.

For singletons and those living far from family, going to the grocery store became the only escape from the continuous isolation. Seeing another human-being as you took a walk around the neighborhood became exciting. For the first time in a long time, each of us looked in the mirror and saw ourselves because we had the time to do it. We felt the weight of how we had been living, how busy we had become, and how tired of always going we were.

For the first time in a long time, we saw the trees, felt the wind, heard the silence, and desired to connect with another human being.

When was the last time you hugged someone, shook a hand, saw a strangers’ smile, and had your extended family in the room with you? It has been a long time.

Planet Earth- What’s Next

During this pandemic, when much of the daily activities outside around the world halted, planet Earth enabled the smog to lift and we were able to examine the damage we have done. While many people know that the planet is in trouble from climate change, the pandemic enabled people to learn that the problem was strongly socially-economically linked and engrained in our global thinking. The pandemic brought what we had always thought of Hollywood’s portrayal of the future to an unsettling reality.

The United Nations 2030 Goals now seem to be more crucial than ever as the 2020 pandemic may be a prelude for our future.

Solution- The Change

So, what is to be done? The answer is simple and difficult. We must change our course, our minds, and what we are doing to have a more equitable and promising future. In the Modern Lifestyle Renaissance, we can no longer compartmentalize our work and home life. It is imperative to decide how to live your values through your personality and daily actions, in other words, there is no more hiding. Now that we are all awake, let’s move forward to 2021. Welcome to the future!