2020, the year of... well, a lot. With the year that we’ve had, it’s been very easy to get caught up in all the negatives. During the first lockdown I wrote a post called 5 Positives to Come from Lockdown. So, I thought to finish the year off I would revisit this idea and look at all the positive things that this mess if a year has created!
Medical advances
A obvious first one. This is the fastest a vaccine has ever been created. While that worries many, it has proved how quick this can be done without money restrictions and trying to get approvals. Surely this vaccine can help future projects as well? Not to mention just the general appreciation that this year has given us for modern science, medicine and the NHS.Sir Captain Tom Moore
It feels like a lifetime ago that Sir Captain Tom Moore was on the news for his charity walk! By his hundredth (!) birthday he had raised over £32 Million for NHS Charities Together.The rise of Tik Tok
I'll admit, it's not quite as important or impressive as raising over 30 million pounds for charity, but the popularity increase of Tik Tok definitely helped my sanity through the first lockdown! It's funny and unbelievably addictive! Something that we definitely needed to distract us this year.Everyone’s creativity
I get that this could be seen as a negative - the fact that this had to happen - but honestly I have been loving the creativity that has come out this year. From the uptake in hobbies to businesses advertising and selling in new ways. For example, my hairdresser began making and selling wigs because she couldn't open her shop. I saw nail techs selling and posting out false nails, restaurants operating as takeaways and so many more.Joe wicks - the nations PE teacher
I really think Joe wicks thought he would only be doing P.E. lessons for a couple weeks and not 4 and a half months, but he did and it helped so may people.BLM
It shouldn't have needed to happen, but the BLM protests brought forward some important conversations and brought so many issues up that we all needed to take notice of and work against.Zoom fails
They’re just always funny! Especially if it's on the news. There have been so many videos of kids interrupting interviews and I love it. The nosey side in me is also just enjoying seeing everyone's zoom home set up.Pollution reduction.
This one might not have lasted as long as it needed to, but the reduction in pollution was such a great thing to happen during the first lockdown! It’s showed how much of a difference we really can make - and that’s when we weren’t even trying!Tesco, McDonalds and others reducing their single use plastic
This year all of Tesco's Christmas crackers are plastic free which is huge for a brand of their size. McDonalds also started reducing their plastic a while ago (I feel like every time I go there's some sort of new packing) but this year they decided to expand this into their happy meal toys as well.Marcus Rashford
Footballers often get a bad rep but Marcus Rashford campaigning for free school meals and inevitably making the government u turn on their decision was amazing. He's also made it clear that this was just the first step and is planning on continuing to campaign against child hunger.There's obviously been so many more great things that happened in this bad year as well.
What would you include on this list?
Bethan ROR xx
