Five Reasons to Stay Positive in Lockdown

With 2020 in the rear view mirror, many of us were looking towards 2021 in the hope we would start to see some normalcy in our day-to-day lives. Unfortunately, a mutated strain of COVID-19 is currently making its way across the country, increasing the number of cases each day. While it’s not how any of us wanted to start the new year, a new national lockdown is the best way to contain this new variant while the vaccines are rolled out across the country.

As tough as this lockdown will be, there are still plenty of reasons to stay positive. Here are just a few!

Not one, but two vaccines

There are no two different vaccines in circulation, meaning the most vulnerable and our front-line workers have even better access to the immunising vaccine when we need it most. Working together, over the next few months as more individuals are immunized, we can likely expect to see a general drop in cases and transmission between people. While the vaccines are not going to change life for everyone overnight, they offer a glimpse of normalcy sooner than we all potentially expected.

Adversity breeds greatness

Adversity often brings out the best in humans, and we’ve seen that in spades over the past year. Whether it’s a weekly clap on the doorstep to thank our healthcare heroes, or Sir Tom Moore walking 100 laps of his garden, the endless optimism and perseverance of those around us has made this past year slightly more bearable. We’re sure to see even more positivity in the coming months, starting with the return of the weekly clap to thank everyone who has worked throughout the pandemic.

A new way of working

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that our work lives don’t have to be tied to a physical office space. More employers are now open to the possibilities of working from home, giving employees more freedom to work in a way that they feel most productive. Some will certainly always crave the structure of office working, but we all work in different ways and businesses are now far more aware of that.

Events, events & more events

Depending on how the pandemic pans out internationally, 2021 is a really busy year for events. Whether you’re into sports or musical competitions, there should be plenty of entertainment for everyone this year.

At the current time of writing 2021 will include:

• The Tokyo Olympics
• Eurovision Song Contest
• UEFA Euro Championship
• T20 Cricket World Cup

Climate Awareness

We are going into 2021 with an even keener awareness of the climate and the problems we face. Fortunately, our time spent indoors throughout 2020 gave the earth a much needed break. Heading into 2021, there are plenty of reasons to feel optimistic about the future of the earth, including the development of climate friendly rice, a new type of solar panel built in Oxford which converts up to 30-40% more energy and a plan to reintroduce grazing animals to parts of the arctic in order to limit it cooling down. There’s plenty of reasons to be optimistic in 2021 and our efforts towards climate change are one of them.

2020 was a hard year, and 2021 is already off to a tough start, but there are plenty of reasons to stay optimistic. Even throughout the toughest months of 2020, there was so much positivity on show from every corner of the UK and the world, we’re nearing the end now so let’s keep going!

As the self-help author Napoleon Hill once wrote, “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.”