12 months | 12 things
Tired, but aren’t we all?
Next to “unprecedented” and “uncertain”, tired is a word which has dominated small talk this year. In the midst of the whirlwind of a year we’ve had (yep, I’m tired of this phrase too), I was surprised earlier this week to find a handful of pictures reflecting pleasant moments I had forgotten took place in 2020. It seems my memory of these moments were lost somewhere between clapping for the NHS on Thursdays, and googling the difference between Tier 4 and Tier 5. As for everything which happened before March 2020, my mind had clearly boxed these events into an album called ‘2019.B’ (and others have confirmed that I am not alone in this).
So what has occupied our thoughts this year?
In no particular order, here are 12 things which have happened over the last 12 months:
1.
Coronavirus outbreaks and national lockdowns: this not only meant that hand sanitiser was momentarily a national treasure in the UK and near impossible to find, but it also caused the corporate world to question whether the feasibility of working from home had been hid from us for all these years.
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FYI: Adeola Adebiyi just published an interesting piece on the concerns surrounding Covid-19 vaccines — another major feature of this year!
2.
An extension of 1 which deserves its own slot: high levels of physical and economic loss. Lives and livelihoods have indeed struggled this year, with the rate of redundancies in the UK reaching a record high in October 2020.
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With the above in mind, I believe this year has shown many to:
(a) regard the wellbeing of others as well as our own;
(b) appreciate those who matter most to us and the time we have with them; and
(c) recognise the impact our seemingly ‘small’ and individual acts have on our wider communities.
3.
The World watched President Trump (amazingly more than usual) with his publicised impeachment trial and intense election campaign against Joe Biden. The show however continues as people wait to see if Trump will in fact ‘stand back and stand by’* on inauguration day (pun intended).
4.
The UK left the EU, with (until this month) the general populace not knowing what was going on most of the time, other than the fact that ‘Brexit’ had taken a backseat to ‘Covid’ in the news.
5.
Worldwide cries were heard against police brutality and racism after the tragic killing of George Floyd: this in turn created a spotlight for the daily struggles of black people relating to racism and lead to corporations being challenged to prove that they were in fact listening.
6.
Nigerians gathered across the globe in a physical and digital protest tagged #EndSars against police brutality and bad governance in the nation, which gained heightened media attention when the Nigerian army killed unarmed protesters at the Lekki toll gate on 20 October 2020. This protest continues although with less media attention.
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Even though discussions and initiatives on such issues existed before, the reach of the #EndSars protest did lead to louder cries on social media for the end of bad governance, corruption and ‘commercial’ abuse across Africa under the hashtag #AfricaIsBleeding. Such online campaigns also highlighted the need to share knowledge without overly depending on popular news outlets which may miss important events.
7.
Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior members of the British royal family, moved to California, and started new commercial ventures including their podcast on Spotify called Archewell Audio.
8.
There was an explosion of ammonium nitrate in Beirut, Lebanon, on 4 August 2020 which sadly killed over 178 people and made 300,000 people homeless.
9.
Tragic deaths of well-known figures: including Naya Rivera, Kobe Bryant, Chadwick Boseman, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Pop Smoke, Caroline Flack, and Sean Connery.
10.
A report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, further exposed the nature and existence of Chinese ‘indoctrination’ or ‘detention’ camps.
11.
The world witnessed vicious wildfires in several locations including Australia and California.
12.
On 18 February 2020, SpaceX (founded by Elon Musk) and Space Adventures announced their agreement to offer commercial flights to private individuals into outer-space. Cue the cringy out of office messages: “Thank you for your email. I am currently out of this world, and will respond as soon as possible once back under the stratosphere”.
Those were only 12 things which we have heard about or experienced this year in a condensed form. It is no surprise that I haven’t rushed to turn on the news this year, and admittedly for the initial two months of the first UK lockdown I actively avoided it. Although ignoring reality doesn’t prevent it from being reality, one thing I have learnt this year is to not underestimate the need for rest (my favourite word of 2020). It is important to be able to identify when you are getting overwhelmed or excessively prioritising stress-generating activities, so that you can be restful enough to maintain a productive state of mind for the long haul.
I thank God that there is at least one good thing I can say has come out of this year which starts with a ‘y’ and ends with a ‘u’ — I also hope to be able to say the same thing in 12 months time.
Thank you for reading NTI in its first 3 months❣️
Wishing you a restful and happy 2021,
NTI | ntiyanu@gmail.com
31 December 2020
🥂
p.s I’m expecting props for finally writing something under a 5 minute read.
