Pick three words to describe this past year…
Unsettled, uncertain, unknown
What were the best books you read this year? Or the best movie you saw?
Sadly books have been taking a backseat for me for a while, not just for 2020, but I’ve certainly watched a lot of TV movies over the past few months. Old movies, modern movies, old favourites, new favourites, family movies, chick-flicks, murder mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, superhero movies, coming-of-age movies… You name it, I’ve probably watched it at some point during 2020.
Because there was lots of time for looking inwards, what is one big personal lesson you learned this year?
This year I’ve learned that I’m a lot stronger emotionally than I think. In spite of this global pandemic in all honesty my overall mental health this year has been not much different than usual – in general being at home a lot is not a problem for me, not socialising a lot is not a problem for me, so in some ways this has actually all been relatively easy for me compared to some. It seems that being a depressive means I’m pretty much made for pandemics – insular, introverted, insignificant. Blending quietly into the background and sitting tight for the duration surprisingly suits my DNA.
Do you think Covid has strengthened or weakened societal bonds?
Strengthened, here in the UK anyway. On the whole we’ve followed more than fought what is asked of us restriction-wise, most of us have sacrificed and suffered and shared what we have and social distanced as best we can. There are always going to be doubters and nay-sayers amongst a population, but we haven’t quite had the extreme political bifurcation of believers vs deriders that seems to be so prevalent in the USA. Having said that, our infection rates and death rates are still sky-high, but we still keep on doing whatever we’re supposed to, trying to do our bit.
What is a New Year’s wish you would like to share with the world?
What I’d like for 2021 is for a new world order where humanity as a species remembers that the planet does not belong to us – we belong to the planet. We have to look after our environment, stop destroying the climate, the oceans, the atmosphere. We are not supreme beings, nature is still in charge. We destroy nature through our grasping greed, and ultimately we destroy ourselves. Learn the long-term lesson Covid is teaching us. Be grateful we still have time to repair what we have broken, before it’s too late.