The Year in Retrospect

It would be an understatement to say that 2021 has been a crazy ride. From a year of pandemic to the next, some were hopeful but most expected the worst. Everyone was on the edge, thinking of how long this situation will last. Are we going to go through another year of face masks and isolations? People tried to keep their expectations to a minimum after seeing how the previous year has been. And yet, here we are, surviving and is about to face the next one.

2021 is not the best. We have seen better. Mundane things that we have taken for granted, places, experiences or even people for others, have been taken away from us. It was tough. Losing things has never been easy anyway. However, this year has also taught us to appreciate more. Make do of what we have. Understand that no matter how stable things may seem, things are still bound to change. Either we adapt or we lose ourselves in the process.

And now, as small as it may seem, things are slowly easing up. Gatherings are happening, lockdowns are being lifted, vaccines are being rolled out, jobs and businesses are bouncing back. Little by little, we are now gaining back our sense of normalcy. It will still be a long way to go back to how things were before the pandemic because in reality, there still is a pandemic. It is just that now, we have learned to adapt. We were no longer our clueless selves when all of this havoc started. We are now the better and more prepared version of ourselves. 

We still have a long way to go, that bit is true. What happens from here on out is still a big unknown. But isn’t every new year the same? We go into it not knowing what it brings us. And still, we celebrate it coming with fireworks and celebrations, hoping that this time, we’ll brave through it, again. 

Credits: Photos by olia danilevich, zydeaosika, Nandhu Kumar and cottonbro from Pexels