Well Damn, 2020 Really Just Did That.
My last newsletter of the year!
You're reading J’Nae Writes a newsletter created by yours truly J’Nae Phillips. To get the latest editions delivered straight to your inbox, make sure you subscribe here.
For my final newsletter of the year, I’m making the effort to write something slightly longer. So sit back, relax, and have a cup of tea at the ready...
It would be an understatement to say that this year has been rough. We’ve battled wildfires like no other seen in California and Australia, a lethal chemical explosion that hit the port of Beirut killing hundreds of people and causing untold costly damage, and protests against police brutality that threw us back into what seemed like the dark times...
A lot of this occurred before the year even really got going, and before the real effects of the pandemic began to take shape.
2020 has been full of novel, one-off, ludicrous experiences we couldn’t ever have imagined - nor would we have wanted to. Who would’ve thought we’d have to sanitise our groceries before stepping through our front doors, who would’ve thought we’d have to quarantine and isolate ourselves from our loved ones for months on end, who would’ve thought we’d have to attend funerals of our nearest and dearest over Zoom?
As Marisa Bate from Refinery29 put it, “Welcome to 2020: the year of lost opportunities, cancelled plans, trampled hopes and a daily run-in with the ghost of all that could have been.”
This has been a lost year for many in more ways than one. We’ve suffered an enormous loss of human life, we’ve been unable to celebrate big life milestones and accomplishments, our career goals and aspirations have been put on hold indefinitely, and our family life has suffered tremendously.
2020 has warped our sense of time and being.
Those of us who have experienced and lived through 2020 will most likely carry this period of suffering and loss with us for the rest of our lives. We mourn the year we didn’t get to have, and all that could've been. We feel cheated out of plans made, hope and dreams left unfulfilled. And most of all we yearn for a return to some sense of normality.
One thing we can take away from this year is that so many others out there are experiencing the same kind of disappointment and uncertainty that we’re going through, whether in public or in private. 2020 has taught us to be more appreciative and grateful for the smaller things in life, and more aware of what we used to take for granted.
Years from now, historians will look back on this time and have a wealth of material to account for what went down in 2020. But for those of us who have had to live through it, we’ll reflect and find a gaping hole where 2020 should have been. I hope that our futures look a little more vivid.
This is my 25th newsletter of the year (can you believe it?!), and my last newsletter of 2020. Thank you for your support and readership throughout this trying and testing year, it means the world to me. I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on J’Nae Writes, and I can’t wait to share more exciting content with you in 2021.
Have a safe and festive holiday season, I’ll see you on the other side!
Catch you soon,
J’Nae
WHAT I’VE BEEN READING:
- I love this article from Refinery29 that challenges our perceptions on what pregnancy ‘should’ look like.
WHAT I’VE BEEN WATCHING:
- The Surgeons Cut is a great new Netflix docu-series following the lives of some of the world's most groundbreaking and pioneering surgeons who are at the top of their game in their respective fields.
WHAT I’VE BEEN LISTENING TO:
- I know I've mentioned this podcast before, but this particular episode of In Good Company with Othega Uwagba interviews journalist Zing Tsjeng, the UK editor of Broadly (VICE’s female-focused channel). As a budding writer, and for anyone else out there who's particularly interested in writing and/or journalism, this episode has a ton of good takeaways.
WHAT’S CAUGHT MY EYE:
- @maggieontherocks is another swoon worthy Instagram account I've quickly become addicted to.