2020 Vision

2020 is a great set of eyes for vision.

The year 2020 hasn’t been that great.

But has it really not been? Ok, before you stare aghast at me and remind me of the deadly virus and the implications it has had on us as a species, I want to try and be positive. Maybe look at everything that has happened as a glass half full situation.

We may be isolated but for many of us, we’ve become closer because we need and want the interaction and also, for some of us at least, we have more time. Yes it is true that some relationships may not be the same – but let’s stay on the positive side here. Even at the best of times, it isn’t easy to maintain a relationship but these are the worst of times and I think that we’ve actually done a pretty good job.

In a previous post I did talk about not pressurising ourselves into learning a new skill and I still stand by it. But sometimes through extenuating circumstances we actually may have learnt something new or become better at something. I for one have started meditating and despite my cynacsism behind it in the past, I am so grateful that I’ve taken it on and made it a part of my daily routine. Writing is another medium that has been opened up to me and it is something I truly enjoy.

My circle of friends have shown me just how much they have embraced training when it would have been a lot easier to just been a couch potato for the last 6 weeks. We are adapting and when we adapt, we grow. Sometimes we have to adapt to pain and that can mean for greater things. Some of the greatest inventions and thinkers have come from a time of great strife. This era is no exception.

Besides the heroes in the front line in hospitals and clinics around the world, another area that has far surpassed what some thought possible is education. And I don’t just mean the online school classes. I am talking about the huge volume of free material that has become available to us by those who want to teach and now have a captivating audience to do so.

I had a conversation with a friend of mine who holds a senior position in a local school and he is very excited about the possibilities of what this current situation may produce. Online classes could serve as an impetus that would allow students and teachers alike to rub out and redraw the borders of what education is and can be. Will the era of a university still continue? Or will it be replaced by vocational and more modular segments that help the next generation be more prepared for a very different future. Will age still remain a factor as to how much or when you will have access to studying material? Will you now be in a class of 30 or in a class of thousands? These answers aren’t immediately available nor will it as readily addressed but the fact of the matter is, we are living through a time where we have the research and the data to make a compelling case study.

Even the workplace could potentially take on an even more agile and fluid environment. Understanding that sometimes the lack of physical boundaries makes for a more efficient workplace. This of course has to be done right and thankfully countries in the west have already adopted this model, well before the lockdowns took place.

Our vision for this situation can be 2020 if we look hard enough and are willing to be open to allowing for such dramatic changes. In the words of many, we are living in unprecedented times. I hope that the vision of what these times have in store don’t get forgotten in our urgent need for life to go back to normal.