There’s no doubt that 2020 won’t be a year we forget in a hurry!  We are living through history right now - not just political or economic history, but social history that it affecting each and every one of us no matter our age or state of health. This is something that will define the way we live well beyond self isolation.

There have been and continue to be some heartbreaking stories from around the world and I know I’m not the only one who has to stop listening to the news sometimes when it becomes a bit too much.

What I try to remind myself is that, whilst I wish it wasn’t happening, there are a lot of little silver linings to this global health crisis and we need to notice and pay attention to them. There are the biggies, such as the reduction in carbon emissions, and the re-evalution of who’s jobs are actually important in life (let’s hope neither of these are forgotten as we get back to our old kind of normality). There are also the smaller things that go on at a much more local level, be that at home or in our local communities.

I know that as a family, we have found that the enforced period at home has made us slow down a bit and really explore our immediate surroundings in a way we hadn’t done before.  Whereas before we would have jumped in the car and gone to the beach or the moors on a sunny weekend, we are now exploring the fields and lanes nearby and have even discovered wildflowers in the wood and tadpoles in a tiny stream within 1/4 mile of home.  

Within the confines of the house, we’ve done more baking than before and tackled home schooling which has given us a better understand of how our son learns (and a redoubling of our appreciation for the job teachers do!).  We’ve met wonderful new neighbours and discovered the delights of Joe Wicks to start our mornings off. We’re attempting to grow flowers and veg from seed and build Lego towns.  We’ve created rainbows to go in the windows and learned to draw cartoon animals; we’ve done science experiments in the kitchen, ‘camped’ in the spare room and had barbecues in the garden.  We’ve also become masters at Teams, Zoom and WhatsApp video to name but a few. After numerous failed attempts, I’ve even successfully made bread!

We are never going to forget 2020, ‘coronavirus’ or ‘lockdown’ but, just like watching a baby grow up, it’s amazing how time does diminish some of the little details. Maybe therefore, it’s worth documenting some of the little things as they happen so that we can look back on it in years to come and remember all the details.  But how’s best to do this?

Facebook Memories

I’ve seen a lot of Facebook posts detailing some of the significant things that have happened and designed to reappear as memories that pop up in future years. This would be a good way to get a little nudge about how precious life and freedom are in the years to come;

Journal Writing

Maybe you want something more personal though? A lot of people are writing journals to record their day-to-day activities either for personal use or for something wider.  This would be a great way to share your experience with future grand- or great grandchildren. If you feel like your writing should get a wider audience maybe something like the Mass Observation Project could benefit? They are looking for memories to add to a bigger resource for future generations. If the prospect of a regular diary seems too much to commit to, how about just participating for a day and join their 12th May Diary Project?

Bucket Jar

We have started a ‘bucket jar’ so that whenever we say ‘I wish we could….’, we write it on a piece of paper and pop it in the jar. It might not be a big historical document, but the intention is that when life returns to some kind of normality, we will be able to read through the things we missed and make sure we really appreciate our freedom to do them in future.

Photobook

If words aren’t your thing then try your camera in your pocket.  Take some time to capture the new daily routines that you are all developing - whatever they may be.  They might seem insignificant and boring right now but will serve as a reminder in the years to come. Maybe you could even make up a photobook afterwards and use it as a visual record of the period.

Choosing your medium will be very personal to you but whichever you choose, do something so that when 2020 comes up in conversation in the years to come and whatever the emotion, you have something tangible to look back on and remember it by.