Dear 2020,
I think everyone at university can agree with me when I say that it feels like just yesterday was March when we all got that email about the university stopping all in-person classes and activities and continuing online. For a moment, we were probably ready to celebrate, thinking it was some sort of a fluke or a mini vacation from the stress we were experiencing from school. But slowly, two weeks became a semester and then became indefinitely. Suddenly, the word “normal” and “daily routine” took on a whole new meaning and we would all be biting back any sort of victorious feeling we had previously felt.
Flash-forward nine months later, and we’re just a few weeks away from the end of the year. And while it’s so easy to look at everything that went wrong and all the opportunities we never got to take, sometimes we don’t realize the doors that opened because of those very circumstances. So, this is my thank you letter to you, 2020.
Thank you for teaching us how important the little moments in life are, both the good and the bad. Before you came along, I don’t think any of us realized just how much we were taking for granted in our lives. Something as simple as existing in a lecture room with a sea of people that could potentially become lifelong friends was a luxury that I took for granted. Walking down the street and passing by other students at midnight after studying at the library was a quintessential part of university that I didn’t realize I would miss. I could write essays about this point alone, but when the world finally resumes one day, it’s something that will positively impact how I approach life.
Thank you for giving us the time to reflect on what mattered to us. Some of us used this time to reflect on issues deeply rooted in the society we live in and take action to fight for justice. Some of us used it to connect with our friends and loved ones after realizing that absence really did make the heart grow fonder. Regardless of how everyone used their time, it became a defining moment in history both for the world and for us to develop our own lives in terms of the directions we wanted to go in.
Thank you for providing us with an opportunity to develop our hobbies. When the world paused, it gave everyone a chance to discover or rediscover things that sparked joy in them. I can confidently say that pausing the world gave me a reason to learn new hobbies or remember old ones instead of putting them off to the side.
Thank you for giving us a chance to learn about what was truly going on in the world. It’s a selfish thing to admit, but sometimes when the world around us moves a lot, we don’t go the extra mile to look past that to see what else is going on beyond our bubble. But the last nine months have given everyone an opportunity to truly learn about the different things currently happening everywhere, to the point where it almost became overwhelming. But that’s a good thing because at least it’s a start. The first step towards creating a better world for everyone to live in starts with becoming educated about where the world is currently at.
Thank you for giving us an endless period of self-reflection. Busy lifestyles are a common excuse to avoid dealing with the underlying causes of our emotional reactions or feelings. While it’s scary to confront our inner demons, it’s a necessary process in our own character development, and it’s crucial to becoming the best versions of ourselves we can be, both for ourselves and for the people around us.
As the clock keeps ticking and the gap between this year and January slowly starts to shrink, I won’t forget the life lessons you taught the world. And while it’s naïve to think that everything will completely change in the new year, it’s become a sort of symbolism to represent better change. Better, because I’ll be applying these valuable life lessons moving forwards.
Cheers and Goodbye,
Melissa (and anybody else who resonates with this letter)