Reflecting over a difficult year & a most uncertain year ahead

Many people’s approach to the emerging new year in 2021 was sheer optimism, as if suddenly a New Year would herald a starkly new reality amongst the backdrop of that ‘unprecedented’ year 2020.  Many memes focused on this very idea.

What a surprise a lot of people would have had as 2021 dawned and there was no hope of life-back-to-normal in sight.  The health impacts of the pandemic only deepened in 2021, and as country after country endured third, fourth and fifth waves, the economic and social pressures intensified.  In fact, as countries prioritised economy over health, they suffered the consequences as the virus spread under Delta.

As a Western Australian, one of only three million people in a State of Australia that has keep Covid out, 2022 rings big alarm bells, as the State is to be ‘reopened’ in February.  Cases are skyrocketing around the country in every other State.  It may only be Omicron, but I don’t think people understand the future impacts.  Worldwide, we’ve been notoriously late on the scene every time.

So how do we plan for a year that promises to be very uncertain indeed?

Well, we need to hold out hope that during 2022 we will turn some sort of corner.

Keeping safe from Covid or recovering well and boosting our immunity must be big on the agenda.

We need to continue to help keep our immunocompromised family and friends safe—being immunised is the best hope we all have.

We need to set our houses in order, and there’s no better time than now to become disciplined in doing what we can while we can.  So many people have used Covid to lose weight and get fitter, not to mention get their lives more balanced.

Lockdowns have had their massive negative impacts, and perhaps we can predict that there might be fewer of those, but there’s no certainty in that.  At least now we have something to plan for—we know what to expect, and how to make the most of such times.  We need to hope that it won’t get much worse.

With travel being severely limited we’ve come to be very grateful for the travel practices we used to engage in.  Indeed, we’re not taking as much for granted these days.  This is a good thing.  We’ve been deepened in our losses of freedom, but this has also cost so many of us in terms of mental health.  Yet another sad reality is we seem more divided than ever as a society, locally and globally.

Then our gaze is stretched to ‘essential workers’ who will be never more exhausted than now, and we have to wonder how society sustains those who will be burning out or have already.

Covid is not much of an advertisement for attracting doctors, nurses, epidemiologists, etc, but it may also have the opposite effect for those who are young who have been inspired to take up the cudgel of service, and certainly those who have witnessed travesties and want to set those right.

2022 holds a lot of uncertainty about it, especially for those where geopolitical tensions exist, and there are so many of those.  But that said, we’re almost used to the chaotic by now.  Surely we’ve all become more used to being pushed around by life that 2022 holds few real concerns.  2020 and 2021 have been useful training for those who are looking forward.

It’s good to make plans, and I’m not talking New Years’ resolutions.  Some will be starting studies, and some will be completing them.  There are financial hopes that many bear, and certainly there are plans to connect with those we haven’t been able to see.  New careers will take form for many.  But equally for many, loss will bite, and we need to hold out a little space for those in empathy.

There is so much change and perhaps with it, a lot of opportunity.  To be honest, if only we can be open to seeing the opportunities, they’ll come.

Whatever 2022 holds, the past two years have been the ideal preparation for whatever might come.  Hopefully 2020 and 2021 have made us kinder in preparation.