What a year! With COVID pretty much taking the limelight from everyone and everything else going on, we thought it was important to highlight some GOOD things that happened in 2020…yes, there were one or two…
After Joe Wicks nearly killed us all at the beginning of the pandemic with his home workout videos, we all faced our fate and resumed to eating what we wanted, when we wanted. The only thing off the menu though was fast food as the lockdown saw all of our favourite restaurants close. The restaurants, however, took pity on us and our heightened cravings. From McDonalds McMuffins to Ikea’s meatballs, the big dogs had us covered and released some of their secret recipes so that we were able to make the real thing at home.
We all rediscovered our love for sitting together at home and binge watching Netflix series and what series connected us better in 2020 than Tiger King? I think it’s safe to say it had everyone hooked from the off. The story got more and more unbelievable as the series went on and left everyone asking “what on earth did I just watch?!”. Conversations started to not solely be about the virus which was a welcome break for us all. It was also ironic timing because by this stage of the COVID-19 lockdown, we had all started to cut our own hair and let’s just say for some, it looked as though they had taken inspiration from Joe Exotic and his now infamous mullet.
Just a week into the lockdown, India experienced a 20 year low in pollution levels. We were met with images from across the world showing the visible changes to the environment and the UN Environment Programme have claimed 2020 to be a super year for nature and biodiversity. We’ve seen dolphins frolicking in places we never normally would and turtles thriving on the beaches.
Another great thing to come out of 2020 was the emphasis on the importance of mental health and wellbeing. It was no longer a taboo to talk about your feelings and companies worldwide really stepped up their game when it came to their approach to the subject.
Something like a pandemic will bring out the best and worst in people. We had the people who, for some reason, thought their milk, pasta and flour consumption would quadruple during lockdown and cleared out the supermarkets but we also had some absolute heroes emerge from the darkness. 99 year old war veteran Tom Moore raised more than £14 million for the NHS after walking 100 laps of his garden, absolutely smashing his £1000 target within days. And the healthcare workers, where do we even start? They will really be the heroes of this crazy year along with the other frontline workers working tirelessly every day to keep us safe, healthy and fed…To you, we say a huge THANK YOU!
Now, the next one is controversial. 2020 meant a lot of us ended up creating makeshift offices at home. I for one had always been jealous of people prior to 2020 that worked from home…well, not anymore. I completely lost any sense of routine, I was eating a diet which very much centred around convenience rather than health (or even taste for that matter), and I deemed it a good day if I had brushed my teeth. However, I have added it to this list because for some, it was a game changer. Many have found they are more productive when working from home with fewer interruptions and it’s helped them create a better work/life balance. Some companies have even cancelled the lease on their offices to adapt to a fully remote work life. As I said, it’s a controversial one as mine and many others personal experience of working from home was the complete opposite and I would rather work in the office kitchen than at home again.
So as we approach the end of 2020, a year we will certainly be happy to see the back of, we wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday. 2020 has hit a lot of companies hard, except maybe the toilet roll manufacturers since it appears bog roll became the new “must have” commodity of the year. 2021 can’t come quick enough and here’s hoping that this time next year we are posting a blog about how the world got back on its feet and how our feet got back in the bars!