MY 2020: A year of adapting to the new normal

2020 was a year that brought unexpected changes and set a new definition of normal to my life.

Winny Wint Htae Published: 19 December 2020, 9:47 AM | Youth.SG

In this MY 2020 series, Youthopia writers explore everything that happened in the past year – the good, the bad, the ugly – and also share their hopes and dreams for 2021. What’s yours?

On New Year’s Eve last year, I had a list of exciting things planned for 2020. It was supposed to be a year lined with new experiences and fun events, including starting my third year internship semester and a school camp that I had been planning for with my school’s society members.

I had never imagined that none of these plans would come to fruition or that I would have to adapt to a new way of living life during a pandemic.

The year started out seemingly normal before the virus reached our shores. However, as the number of cases in Singapore started rising, my school society was informed that we would not be able to go through with our prom event and school camp due to the risk of having a high number of attendees for the events.

Even though we were told to be mentally prepared for a cancellation, the news was still upsetting for the society members. PHOTO CREDIT: INSTAGRAM/ THEFMSSOCIETY

We were disappointed by the news, but none of us knew that it was the first of many plans that would be cancelled as the year went by. Soon after, my friends who were headed overseas for internships had to cancel their bookings for accommodations and flights.

Looking back on these events, it may have seemed like 2020 was going to be full of nothing but unhappy days because of a global pandemic. However 2020 taught me that I need to look for the silver lining, especially when it feels like nothing good is happening.

Video calls over Zoom became our alternative to keep in touch with one another. PHOTO CREDIT: WINNY WINT HTAE

When the circuit breaker first started, my group of friends found ways to spend time with each other online. Online meeting platforms such as Zoom and Houseparty became our new hangout spots and we had group calls almost every day, which made up for not being able to meet in real life.

I also had to learn to constantly adapt to abrupt changes, such as having to do almost the entirety of my internship from home after only going to the office for about a week. While I had been looking forward to experiencing an office environment, working from home wasn’t bad for me at all. I had the advantage of not having to dress up or waking up early to go to work. Being at home for so long also gave me the chance to grow closer to my family. I think that the pandemic was a blessing in disguise in this sense.

Even though living through a pandemic has taught me some important lessons, I still hope that 2021 will be the year where I can return to my normal life before the pandemic. I have a list of things I want to do in 2021 if the situation gets better, since I was unable to do many things and barely went out to have fun this year.

My post-pandemic bucket list includes attending concerts, travelling overseas and to finally stop wearing a mask in public. Besides these, my biggest wish for 2021 is that the pandemic will be over so that we can get back to our daily lives.