I mean, don’t get me wrong, it sucks not being able to travel and I feel for anyone who was economically crushed during this time or for those who got sick or lost loved ones.
But on a whole,I don’t really see 2020 as worse than any other year. If anything I think being forced to deal with panic and quarantine and social isolation and economic insecurity was extremely good for the personal growth of every single person on this planet.
I could make a very long list of bad things that happened, most immediately, the closing of many local businesses, but why harp on that when what’s done is done? There is more than a little silver lining here.
Let’s not forget that they were children starving, diseases spreading and economic disasters before 2020.
Let’s remember that what we see as negative can lead to something we consider much more positive.
Let’s try and look at the positive.
Self reflection for the Individual
Many of us were forced to face our fears and overcome them. Many were forced to face harsh realities that were not new to 2020. Many overcame loneliness, found their passion or purpose, realized how overworked they were, how little they honored and respected themselves and their intuition.
If in 2021 or 2022 or 2025 you find yourself having the best year of your life, you will have 2020 to thank for it.
I have personally overcome my addiction to social interaction and my desire to escape silence and isolation. It doesn’t mean I don’t love being social, but now I no longer NEED it like a drug. I learned focus. I can stay focused for hours at a time when before I could only handle a few minutes before I needed a break.
What about you? What have you learned and how have you grown?
A unifying experience
While not everyone agrees on the danger posed by this illness or the solutions to the problem, we were all there, we all experienced this moment in human history together. That is powerful.
While it’s easy to focus on “how stupid someone is for not wearing a mask” or “how stupid someone is for wearing a mask”, how stupid this political party or that group of people are, I think this is all just our old habits in play and that under the surface, people are more understanding and empathetic than they’ve ever been. People who used to hate the idea of a government handout can now appreciate that some people are fucked and it’s not their fault and that as long as there is a government, they need to do SOMETHING to fix it or disappear. Once again, they may disagree on WHAT needs to be done but a new level of empathy and understanding has been reached. At the same time, those like myself who thought that all we needed were more handouts were put in a position where we HAD to figure out how to make ends meet and stopped being so arrogant and overly idealistic about our charitable intentions because we had to figure out how to eat. I feel like 2020 whipped me into shape.
If there is one lesson I learned in 2020 it’s that the unjust nature of the world is not my concern until I’ve gotten my own house in order. I can complain forever about how unfair the system is and how it cannot function without losers and how I hate that we aren’t more compassionate, but at the end of the day, have I take care of myself? If not, how the hell can I hope to make life better or more fair for others?
I still think many things politicians and companies do are wrong, but I need to allocate my energy in a way that maximizes effect if I want to do anything about it. Worrying about Monsanto or whatever can come once I’ve turned my life into a positive feedback loop. The harder that is, the stronger it’ll make me which will allow me to do more good in the future. With every compromise I make, I gain a new skill, and I don’t have to internalize anything that doesn’t feel right to me.
A new perspective on old paradigms
The unsustainability of our current world culture has been exposed. Fewer and fewer people have power and influence over the system and markets, the middle class is constantly shrinking, the environment (whether you believe in global warming or not) is under immense stress from our consumerist habits and negligence. We all had a feeling it wasn’t sustainable but now that is something we can discuss and brainstorm solutions for out in public and we can find more and more support for alternative solutions.
New media is popping up, new ways of doing things and new technologies. More and more people are opting out of the rat race and experimenting and this can only be a good thing. Now people are finally questioning even the monetary system and looking for alternatives. Soon the concept of a nation-state will become fluid and flexible and while that has some dangers, it also has a lot of opportunities.
A transfer of wealth
Bitcoin has allowed for a huge leak of capital in the giant behemoth institutions and financial system.
No doubt the people with power will find a way to hold on to their power as long as they can, and new corrupt players may emerge but many regular people, including many who are reading this have been able to get in on the game thanks to crypto. As I heard someone say today, this was the first time retail had a chance to get in on a major asset before the institutions. I don’t pledge allegiance to bitcoin or crypto, but this early mover advantage for regular people is exciting! It means a whole new variety of power players who are different from the old ones and may be more holistic in thinking, Hive is just the community for them!
For some of us, just $5000-$10,000 in gains was life changing and could allow us to move out of a toxic environment or start out towards financial independence.
For those like myself, I pushed myself through hard times because I didn’t want to cash out and I hope that my efforts will be rewarded in the next year or two.
The decentralization of mainstream culture
This is as “two edged sword”ish as it gets. I personally see the way information and pop culture is splintering into little niches and communities as a good thing. It allows us all to be free of a dominant narrative.
The only problem is that we need more diplomacy between different niches and groups so that the echo-chamber doesn’t turn into a self fulfilling delusion and so that “tribalism” can become a good word instead of a bad one.
I love tribes. I want us to organize in tribes. Those tribes just need to work on having positive relationships with each other. I believe the reason they often do not is that this lack of an authoritative source of information and culture is creating a vacuum and many of us don’t now how to fill it so we get scared and defensive. This is very new and we aren’t used to it yet.
A society of leaders
Since all our leaders and hero’s are being defamed and exposed, it forces us to find our own empowerment, leading o ourselves.
This is a messy process! But it’s a necessary one for self-empowerment and a more evolved society.
We are not all doomed, I see cancel culture being questioned more and more, the social media giants still have control but they are losing ground. In the US, people like Dave Chappelle and Joe Rogan and Krystal And Sagar at the Hill give me hope that a new moderate is emerging which can call out the bullshit of the left and the right while also helping to elevate the more sane voices on both sides. There is much more of that at the ground level.
Possibilities
In order to create something new, we often need to shake things up a bit. If this year wasn’t a chance, I don’t know what is.
It’s going to be hard, we need to pick ourselves up, individually and as communities, but when we do the whole landscape will prove itself to be very different and we will be able to make a much bigger impact than ever before with a proactive and collaborative attitude.
Thank you 2020, you were a bitch, but in the words of the great Osho (enlightened teacher/con-artist)....
“I love bitches”
🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎
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Well said man. I'm hoping that this madness will wake enough people up to the ridiculous programming that has been living their lives for them that we see some change for the better in terms of inner work as well as the material world.
I got lucky this year with support from family but it could have been pretty tough. I wasn't able to return to the us to work as I normally do seasonally because I was afraid I would be separated from my wife indefinitely as we don't yet have residency in each others countries. So I've been stuck in Portugal basically living on charity... it's always good to give the old ego a kick in the nuts now and again though.
Other than that I've been social distancing my whole life so nothing new there ;) Might even come out of it with a new skill that I never expected to have with Blender and 3D sculpting/animation...
Grinder skills are gonna be important in 2021 :-P But seriously, the sculpting, was that even something on your radar or you just started out of no where? It's awesome and I hope many others found something like that to occupy their time in a productive way.
I'm in the same situation, a couple from two different countries living with visas. I was really in a bind with mine last month. Hope it all works out!
yeah it's slowly but surely coming together, though not without many frustrations.
I did dabble in sculpture for a few years in my 20's but I was working with stone and wood and metal. I loved it but with a nomadic lifestyle it's hard to sculpt stone. a bit heavy to carry around and whatnot. Going digital should have been obvious but I think the first time I glimpsed Blender years ago it scared the crap out of me (maybe because i was looking at grinder not blender ;). there is a bit of a learning curve with that software. With both of them I'm sure for that matter =)
Hahahah, Well, I tried finding students on dating apps, so I had my learning curve....As for being a nomad, You could become a sand sculpturer like @ammonite! Probably not much to carry?
Wow that is some awesome work. I guess you just need a shovel and a trowel maybe...
Great post sir, I am with you in this.
You are not alone who thinks that this year was not that bad, I have learnt a lots of new things this years as compared to other years and I have a lot more time then other year to know my self and improve.
✌️🙏
Do you listen to osho ???
I don't really listen to Osho. Do you?
I don't listen to Osho but I have a soft spot for corrupt and imperfect teachers though. If the teacher is too perfect we can not learn the lesson of our own empowerment, so I often find myself learning from controversial figures, and even some people I don't necessarily like much, like Trump for example. Everyone and everything can be our teacher :-)
i do listen to osho a lot, at sleep time usually I am kind of used to of it.
I was quite surprised to learn about the corruption in his community, I wonder how people who follow him feel about it. There was a Netflix documentary about it. Did you see it?
No not yet I don't follow him but just listen to the speech (paravachans)
Haven't seen it I will watch it today
Hey, @whatamidoing.
I guess I should probably start off this comment by saying I agree with you that plenty of good has, could and should come out of 2020.
After all, I only got sick once this year. (And it wasn't COVID-19).
I didn't see or hear as many sick people out and about as I have in years past.
If I didn't have to wear a mask the whole time, the cross country flight I took from South Carolina to Oregon would have been the best commercial flying experience I've had since 9/11. Actually, it probably still is.
I feel like I have grown in some ways., spiritually being one of them. As a member of a church, and being largely cut off from weekly in-person meetings, there has been the opportunity for a strengthening just as much as a weakening.
A lot of things, however, were pretty much the same for me, too, as they are any other year, which I will chalk up in the positive category, since they constitute normalcy for me and not an upheaval of routine or life in general.
That said, economically, there has been a hit, but yes, there are silver linings. We're still in our house, still paying our bills and on our debt, and if the federal government continues to throw money at us, we'll have more with which to pay down that debt.
A lot of the positives you talk about that people have moved to I think I've been there for some time, but it would be nice if there were more and more of us heading that direction. I'm concerned that such is not the case, or that in reality, people will be upset that the government didn't or wouldn't do more, rather than simply provide guidance rather than mandate restrictions, then find themselves in a position where sending out billions upon billions of dollars in "stimulus money" is actually looked upon favorably to some degree.
I guess the one technical nitpicking I will do with "What's done is done." There are certainly situations that don't merit ongoing arguments or fights, but I don't know that I can put the shuttering of local businesses into that category. :) I think the rippling effect of those closures has not yet been fully felt, and that it will probably lead to a domino effect where others go down, too.
And in the greater sense of the phrase, I'm not sure anything is done yet. It may well be getting started, and we may very well find ourselves with a 2021 and beyond that make 2020 look like the best year ever. Or at least allow more of us to look back more fondly on it than we did going through it.
Faith in life (wherever it comes from) can make us strong and allows us to find the best possible outcome even in really shitty situations like this. If 2021 is worse than 2020 I think it will also serve to help us grow and evolve. I believe the seeds of better ways of living are already being sown, and we are a part of it right here. :-D
I sincerely hope that's true. It's certainly a big reason why I stayed on STEEM and now HIVE. We need something that changes the world for the better. I'm hoping that cryptocurrency or even blockchain technology is a significant part of that.
Historically, though, for enough people to be willing to give up what is necessary to actually make things better requires a lot more pain than what I think we've experienced communally so far.
There is no doubt, though, that a great good can come from bad. It happens all the time. It's sad that it takes having the bad happen for so many of us to be willing participants in something good.
The more I focus on the suffering or potential suffering, the less focused I become so my number one struggle is just focusing on doing what I can do right now....not always easy but I try!
This year has been a disaster, but a teacher too. A time to understand what is happening around, find the purpose to the life and its value that revolves around for a better outcome(eventually).
2021 mightn't be the best year, I have found a purpose to understand, and develop myself. 2020: A great teacher.
One part of your blog kind of links with My 2021 Resolution.
https://hive.blog/hive-163921/@suzn.poudel/my-2021-resolution
Happy New Year 2021.
Really hoping I will remember this sentence in 22-25 and find myself saying "this random dude 5 years ago was right, and now it's fine".
My problem is, that I am not really a born optimist ^^
I wasn't born an optimist either, I brainwashed myself into one and it was totally worth it :-D
Haha, that's nice to hear. For me its more an up & down, similar to the bitcoin chart :D
but don't you know the dips are the most exciting parts? That's when you double down and buy and get ready for how much more awesome the highs are gonna be :-D
Lol, what a bitch this year is, and in a few more hours we will say our last goodbyes to the BITCH in quote.
Of a truth, I also experience the sharpening and pruning this year. I worry less about certain things in life. Knowing fully well that I don't take charge of most things.
I think I wasn't really the social type but then I never liked staying indoors or just being in one place.
But the pandemic lockdown shaped that aspect of me. Now I no more find the joy of moving about anyhow so long I have my gadgets to blog and surf the net, I have power supply and data to accompany my surfing and blogging ministry lol.
I can also say that whatever or however 2021 is, we will always have 2020 to thank for.
I think a lot of us are more pragmatic about how we enjoy our time. If it's time to be social we will enjoy it more and if it's time to be alone we can be happy being alone, at least I feel that way.
The bitch is gone in Tokyo!
Lol. You are right about that. Yes, it may be gone for you but still a few hours here before it is finally gone for good.
All the same Happy New Year
This year kicked me in the balls from the beginning. But maybe I needed that kick. I thought the year would get a lot worse, but so far things have happened that even in my mind didn't happen. The people I've met this year at hive are really cool. It never crossed my mind that I would work in a bakery and learn how to make different kinds of breads and cookies or that I would be part of a team like crossculture. So it hasn't been my best year, but it hasn't been my worst either. I think in all the years I've had some good months and some bad ones. I haven't had any completely good or completely bad ones. In the case of this year the second half was better than the first. Next year I will get the covid vaccine and be the new Dr Connors lol
We all need a kick in the balls sometimes.....nah balls are too much!
See! Good stuff can come from bad stuff! Would love to try your bread and cookies :-D
I totally spat out my coffee when I read 'I love bitches - Osho' on the Facey group.
Priceless.
I totally agree with everything here - it was the year that had to happen, and there are SO MANY silver linings! I hate anything that disses 2020 for that reason!
Right？It's just so eaasy to shit on ２０２０ but it wasn't really that bad unless you lost everything you've built for years.....some did, but many did not.