The year is finally, finally drawing to a close. It has felt for me, as I'm sure it's felt for many people, as if it would never end and it was speeding toward a brick-wall ending simultaneously since March. I've watched the entire world change around me like something out of the YA novels I've been reading since I was sixteen.
It's alarmed me tremendously. What kind of world will I wake up to tomorrow? What kind of world will I raise my son in? Will anything ever go back to normal? What is normal anymore? Will the people I love be safe? These questions keep me up at night. They've given me nightmares and breakdowns for months. They've made me tired in every way imaginable.
I don't think any of this trauma will go away when the ball drops as the clock strikes midnight on December 31. Much as I would like to believe in a Cinderella-style transformation of the world in the new year, I know that there is still so much left to do before we can have even a taste of normal.
We'll need to be distant for months to come as the vaccines in development are finalized and distributed.
We still need to keep a watchful eye on our world leaders to hold them accountable for their actions and ensure that they implement the changes that they've promised, following through on making the world a better place.
We need to continue to educate ourselves and our loved ones on the changing state of our society and prioritize the need to accept and understand each other over upholding "traditions" that injure.
We need to force changes on the powerful corporations that are hurting our Earth and do our own parts to keep our blue planet from turning grey.
We have so much to do, and so little time to get it done. But I want to be foolishly optimistic this one time and believe that we can still do this. I will stand by the idea that humanity is worth fighting for until I cannot stand at all.
Normally, this would be the time of year I post a list of my goals for the coming year, but really, I only have one: survive. Dark as that may sound, I just want to get through the year as safe, healthy, and happy as possible, bringing my family with me as safely, healthily, and happily as I can.
Be safe, everyone. Be conscious. Happy New Year. May your 2021 be kinder than 2020.
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