New Year’s Eve is tomorrow, when it seems like the beginning of December was only yesterday. Is it just me, or does it seem like this year has gone by extremely fast?
I read a study the other day that examined human behavior, and it delved into why it seems that this year has sped by. Most of it has to do with our routines. If we’re doing nearly the same thing every single day; wake up, make coffee or breakfast, work from home and finding a way to entertain yourself in the evening, this same-same routine can make days blend together. Thus resulting in a faster perception of time passing.
In a way, I guess it’s a good thing – and I could potentially speak for many when I say that I’m glad that 2020 is nearly finished. It’s been a hard year for so many, in a variety of ways. In some respects, this year has certainly been a year for reflection, for contemplation and for realizing what is truly important in our lives. Because the year is coming to a close, I wanted to take this opportunity to chat about how the year has changed my mindset, changed my perspective and changed my priorities going into 2021. I think with the future months still being a bit uncertain, it can be hard to map out what you think they’ll look like.
Did 2020 live up to our expectations?
In short, probably not. But let’s do a quick rundown of the year, shall we?
I feel like 2020 started out as most people thought – that this year was “their year” with so many goals they wanted to pursue, both in personal development and career focus. At least, that was my initial mindset when it came to the new year.
At this point, I was planning a trip back to London in March, completely in the throes of freelance and ready to expand my business into the realms of creating educational content resources amongst other ideas. When I was looking at 2020 from a bird’s eye view, I thought that this year would be the year that I moved to London, a city I love dearly. I had specific goals and many other bits that I’d lined up, definitely under the impression that I was really going to shoot for the moon.
COVID-19 was on my radar. I was monitoring the situation on international news sites, but I really didn’t give it much thought in January, February, and even as I left in the early days of March to be in London for a two week trip. I think part of me thought that there was no way that this would disrupt the entire world’s view of “normal life”, the effect wouldn’t be massive, at most, it might make people that a germaphobes perhaps a little jumpy.
Oh boy, was I wrong.
For a travel-lover, staying home for months felt strange.
You might be with me on this one. When you’re used to being out and about – or travelling when you’re able – the need to transition to staying at home, I personally found quite difficult. I realised pretty quickly that I needed to get a little bit creative with how I was spending my time.
Due to being in one place for the last year, I decided that this year was going to be the year of self-education. For those of you that know me, I liked University quite a bit. The piece I didn’t miss, was the cramming and the exams that always seemed to bring more stress than they were worth. This made me realise that I truly loved pursuing self-education by ways of independent courses and programs. Free of the stress of testing, midterms and busy work.
And really, I’ve found that hunkering down into these courses have really made the time go by in an incredibly productive way. A few favourites have been the cornerstone finishing school program by Anna Bey, Secrets of the Elite Woman, too many to name from MasterClass but a few being Wine Appreciation, Creative Writing, and Photography courses, The Content Lab and Podcast Lab by Jenna Kutcher (both of which actually spurred the attention back to creating Passione) and so many more.
It’s hard to narrow in on the biggest change to come out of 2020 when there have been so many.
2020 was a year that changed us all. Whether it was for better or worse, I’ll leave it up to you to decide. Because whilst this year has been strange in so many ways, it’s also solidified my sense of self, my goals and what I’d like to continue bringing into my life and spending my energy on in 2021.
I think this year will be one that will stick with us forever, and the effects of 2020 will be felt long after the year is long gone. But, I think that it’ll in a way, make us realise that we’re stronger than we think, more resilient, more connected than ever before – because we had to get creative when physical connection was something that we couldn’t have.
I’d love to ask you lot about what you’ve gathered and gained from 2020. Was it a shift in perspective? Was it more self realization? A hobby that you’ve learnt, or perhaps a cause that you feel called to donate to? Let me know by screenshotting this episode in whatever podcasting platform your listening on, and pop it on social media with the hashtag, #PassioneThePodcast so I can have a look through.
Until next time, I hope for you all to have a blessed new year and hopefully a brighter 2021.
Ciao.
The Look
