The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly of 2020.

I think I can speak for everyone when I say that this year was one of the worst years to ever happen to us. Of course, it’s self-explanatory, I do not need to rehash every single awful thing that happened nor do I need to give a breakdown of each terrible event in chronological order. Collectively, we all shared a horrible 2020 and I am confident to say that no one would agree that this year was “good”. I, for one, can say that I went through a lot of lows. For months at a time this year, I caught myself in some of the worst depressive states, where it was extremely difficult to get out of bed .   While I felt glued to my bed, my place of comfort, I came to a realization about a lot of things: the good, the bad, and the ugly of this pandemic. 

​  Before I get into the bad and the ugly, let me start of by saying that we all  went through the same year , but  it affected each of us differently.  Many people lost their loved ones, t his virus  took  the lives of 1.5  million people.   (CDC, 2020).  Also, many individuals were unable to say a final goodbye to their loved ones  burd en ed with the deadly virus due to overcrowding in hospitals, mandates but on traveling, and of course, strict safety precautions. And to make matters completely worse ,  we didn’t join hands to come together when we needed it the most. This year was the most polarizing year that caused a massive divide between us. We all  saw a side of how repulsive  and selfish  human behavior  can be . Obviously, for many of us, this isn’t news, we have known this.  But this year really highlighted the bad in people. We saw how selfish  those  were acting during the beginning  ( and  even  recently ) of this widespread disease. Remember the anti-mask protesting and rallies? These protests heavily upset many people, including myself because the selfishness of humankind has gotten out of hand. How pathetic and depressing it was to witness grown adults whining about having to wear a piece of cloth around their nose and mouth to protect not only themselves, but others around them. It was the lack common decency this year that made me lose hope in humanity and spiraled me into a long, deep depression. Speaking of protesting, another thing that this year brought was Black Lives Matter protesting, that originally started in 2013 (Herstory, 2019). This brought out the ugly in a LOT of people and I’m talking about those who were against this protesting and claiming that All Lives Matter. These of course were the same people who were protesting wearing masks; it was a trend to see the Anti-maskers were also Anti-BLM. 

I have to say that I am upset with myself. I allowed th e behavior   of others  really get to me and add to my depression.  So, you must be wondering and asking after all reading all of this: What was  good  about this year? What I am about to say next is solely based on my own personal experiences and ways of coping, so granted, it may not work for everyone, but I thought to at least share what worked for me. The first half of this year came with a lot of let downs, losses, and lows. I spent most of my time sulking in isolation, so I was not able to realize that there were actually positives to all of this. The most important positive was having more time on my hands and taking advantage of doing what I enjoy doing. It took me an entire year,  but I finally realized this. Of course, before ,  I could not see that because my depression was  fogging any sort of clarity . 

How did the fog lift? I got help. I went to therapy and it was extremely helpful. I started journaling again, writing and drawing what I felt. I reached out to loved ones and friends; they helped me expand my appreciation for life, the beauty of living, and ability to spread love, kindness, and empathy. 

I am sincerely sorry to those who lost a loved one this year under any of the circumstances. I am sincerely sorry to those who felt more oppressed and ashamed than ever. We cannot control what happens around us which sucks. It really, really sucks. And that’s just simply the bad and the ugly of life. But the good news is that we can control how we move forward. We can learn accept the things we cannot change (the bad and the ugly) and celebrate the good. 

 

 

 

Works Cited

“Herstory.”  Black Lives Matter , 7 Sept. 2019, blacklivesmatter.com/herstory/. 

“Provisional Death Counts for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).”  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 7 Dec. 2020, www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/index.htm.