2021 — A Year of Uncertainty, Hope & Stronger Human Connection

As we wave goodbye to 2020 and enter to a new decade, it’s for certain that leaving 2020 behind is not the hardest thing to do for most people. Few people will miss the year where humanity got ravaged by a deadly pandemic. A huge portion of our lives changed in the last twelve months, and we’ve entered into a new normal.

2020 taught us a lot of things — digitizing our lifestyle, staying connected without physical interaction, and managing time for all our personal, professional, and family life. It had been a hard year for all of us, while we all fought to stay motivated without being underpinned by all the negativity around us.

We saw how small, insignificant things could spur up massive social media trends, and how people can work towards a better world (like the France Boycott and Black Lives Matter movement). With people uniting, we saw how powerful we truly are.

As we start planning for 2021 and setting up our goals, let’s talk about what the year 2021 holds for us.

A Story of Hope

As we transition to 2021, things don’t seem too bad. It’s true that the coronavirus has mutated and poses a serious threat during the winter, but our doctors have already come up with a working vaccine. Also, we’ve learned how to navigate our lives online and the world is slowly coming back to its previous glory.

The economy has already started to heal, with the hardest times already passed. With most organizations shifting to a remote and flexible working environment, people are getting more opportunities to achieve higher productivity while giving their loved ones more time and attention.

With on-demand video conferencing, we can connect with everyone whenever we want. This enabled people to strengthen ties between people and helped us achieve a human connection with everyone.

While we transition to the new decade, we will soon begin to embrace the new technology-driven lifestyle.

The sudden digital transformation has definitely benefitted traditional parts of our society as well — governments, schools, and banks. These were some of the sectors that needed digitization, and the pandemic has helped accelerate the change.

The new decade brings new possibilities; from the faster M1 Macbooks to massive leaps in 5G technology enhancing healthcare, tech-driven education, human-oriented working environment, among many others.

Humanity is moving to outer planets, and we’re discovering beyond our galaxy. We’ve also been experiencing massive leaps in nanotechnology, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and all other major industries.

Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next — Arundhati Roy

A Year of Uncertainty

With all the bells and whistles comes the obvious uncertainty — how is the coronavirus most likely to affect 2021? Will it even go away?

Apart from this, we need to think about the massive emotional impact that the pandemic is having on people. We’re forced to stay away from friends and family, which eliminates the human connection. This has led to severe depression and anxiety in many.

Moreover, the students are not being able to cope up with the shift in online education. While it’s true that the education mustn’t stop, we also need to think about the impact that it’s having on a child’s mental health. We’re expecting kids from age of 5 to be able to use the internet for attending online classes, and maintain all classwork, attendance, and be sincere at online classes — which is a big ask.

Also, the longevity of the pandemic has a massive toll on the economy. Although the economy is slowly recovering, I’m not totally sure how big of an impact it’s going to have in the long run.

The Bottom Line

A new decade will truly bring forward a new us. Humanity has lived yet another decade, and we’ve seen how massive transformation our lives have gone through for the better half of the last decade.

For the most part, I truly hope that 2021 will be a year where humanity takes huge leaps forward. With everyone accepting the new normal, I’m optimistic about what 2021 holds for us.

With that said, let’s start the new year with a spread of positivity and work hard towards creating the world a better place for all of us.

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.