What You Need to Hear Before 2021 Ends

This is meant to be a brief reflection on the year gone by and a wish that 2022 will be even better–despite what everyone says.

Last night, while scrolling through LinkedIn, I saw the preview of an article by Politico, titled “WHO forecasts coronavirus pandemic will end in 2022.” Honestly, I hadn’t read such positive opinions in a while. Well, it wasn’t breaking news along the lines of “Hear ye, hear ye: the coronavirus pandemic has finally ENDED and we’re finally free to go back to our old habits and activities,” but still.

To me, it was what I needed to hear. And I think many other people need to hear that as well: COVID will end soon, our efforts to be safe will be repaid, and we’re going to enjoy a brand-new period of euphoria and prosperity when that finally happens.

Every morning, when I wake up, I check my phone to see all the catastrophic news that has accumulated in my notification center overnight–which, now that I think of it, isn’t the healthiest thing in the world for my brain.

Instead, everyone should have a morning dose of positivity each day, as opposed to the crazy negativity we’re bombarded with all the time. Even about something as ground-breaking and seemingly unpredictable as COVID.

Instead of joking about how the pandemic will never go away, and how we will be wasting our lives away, we should keep realistic, yes, but help each other deal with this post-traumatic stress every day.

Hold on a second, though: let us not confuse this positive outlook towards life with toxic positivity, which really does more harm than negativity at times. Saying “don’t look so sad and just try to be more positive” has not and will not help absolutely anyone in the whole wide world. It is part of the problem itself.

Instead of saying that, why not simply reassure one another, like one does–or at least should do–with people with anxiety. As someone with anxiety myself, reassurance has always helped me a big deal. Even a simple “don’t worry, I’m sure that will not happen” or “that is all on your head, everything will be alright,” said with compassion and empathy can really change someone’s day.

Although empathy and compassion are not always easy to find, let us at least keep that in mind as we approach the inevitable end of the pandemic, and the return to a real normal, a normal that feels and looks better than what it used to be before normalcy disappeared.

I also recommend you to check out this article by CNN on how to ease the anxiety caused by Omicron.

And lastly, instead of wishing you “joy and happiness” for the New Year, which really means almost nothing to me, I wish you this:

May you get back everything COVID has taken away from you, and even more. May you receive everything you’ve always worked and wished for.

A year from now, I will be reading my first blog post (again), looking back at how much 2022 has enriched us to make us better human beings.

May 2022 be your year. Happy Holidays.