I’ve been intrigued, and slightly saddened, by the number of posts and comments on the socials from people saying things to the effect that the end of 2020 can’t come soon enough.
Now: I’d be the first to agree that 2020 hasn’t been the greatest of years, for nearly everyone. Jeff Bezos has done quite well out of it, but the rest of us have suffered in different ways. Lots of people found themselves out of work. Some of them subsequently went for the same jobs I did, and were better at interviews than I am.
Some of us lost family or friends, and then found we couldn’t attend their funeral service. And as for Christmas…
But the end of 2020 also sees me one year older than at the end of 2019, and thus 366 days closer to my death. Scary. I might not be at my happiest right now, and I might not particularly have much to live for – but I also don’t want to wish my life away.
Do-over
We all know that the first half of 2021 will bear a strong resemblance to the last half of 2020, just with more injections. What would be nice, however, would be to wake up on 1 January 2021 and find it’s 1 January 2020 instead. Think of all the things you’d do differently!
I’d make sure I gave more depth to my interview answers – that way I might actually get a job. Or, I’d make sure I chose the correct date to head up to Edinburgh and see a friend I’ve barely spoken to since Covid hit, instead of accidentally choosing Burns Night when she wasn’t around. In fact I’d travel as far and as wide as I could, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to do either for most of the year.
I’d arrange to visit the friend who died before he died while he was still well enough to see people. Or stockpile loo roll in February, and get ahead of the game. Or not buy the facemask that doesn’t fit properly, and buy two of the Borussia Dortmund ones instead of just the one (£4 each but £8.50 postage from Germany. Ouch).
Our leaders could order PPE in good time, lock down the country in good time and reduce the cases of infection and death. Although, they probably wouldn’t.
But even if I didn’t do too much differently I’d still rather have those 366 days back. Youth, as they say, is wasted on the young; while it isn’t much of a life at the moment it is my life, and I’d quite like to keep living it, even if I did exactly the same things again.
What would you do with 2020, if you could live it again?