It’s almost 2021. Cool. Now what?

If you’re feeling exhausted from what is arguably the worst year in modern times, then I would say you are having the absolute correct emotional response. 2020 has been a year of trauma, stress, and only occasional hope. The few wins have been important, but they’ve also been spread out a bit much for anyone to be properly relaxing into the festive season.

For Kiwis there’s a certain bittersweetness to this time of year. December is normally when our isolated island nation is filled up by ex-pats returning to visit home and see if their tolerance for their relatives has improved. While some have been fortunate to make it back, for many it will be a Zoom Christmas.

It’s unclear as yet whether we’re about to experience “New year, new you” or “same s**t, different digit” but, regardless, here’s some simple things to keep in mind going forward:

Your Mental Health has taken a hit

Your temper might be shorter, you might struggle to remember what day of the week it is, or your sleep cycle is a mess. It’s not simply that 2020 has been a rough year, it’s been an unprecedented one. A combination of lockdowns, politics, protests (about lockdown / politics), and constant death will ramp up anyone’s anxiety. If your daily routine now involves checking death tolls and infection rates, that’s a giant red flag the world is a bit sideways.

So maybe try switching off a bit…

One thing you can try for 2021 is disengaging yourself from American politics. We’ve spent four years slowly driving past the car crash of the Trump Presidency, next to the bin fire that is American politics, on the trash heap of Twitter. A Biden presidency won’t fix a lot but it does provide a space to breathe, and allow kiwis to reflect on our toxic relationship with the United States.

I understand many RNZ readers can’t help themselves, so if you absolutely must invest your political curiosity in a colonised country beginning with ‘A’, our Australian neighbours across the ditch have a whole soap opera waiting for you to jump in. It’s time you knew more about the politics of Melbourne than Summer Bay. And if you thought Donald Trump was out there, wait till you discover the panto-villain-like antics of billionaire Gina Rineheart.

You’re surrounded by nature and it’s time to embrace that

Walk, run, ride, swim (if the water is safe), glide, skate, bike, or just lie in the sun, but get out and about. There’s nothing like enforced lockdowns to make you realise how little you leave the house, and New Zealand still remains one of the most spaced-out countries (in several ways) around the world. Take a book, a portable speaker, or something that highlights your referendum choice, and go enjoy some kiwi green.

Study up on vaccines… because yours is coming for you

And it’s not going to be just one. With companies like Qantas announcing unvaccinated passengers will not be allowed to fly, Kiwis are going to be forced to engage with this.

There are several vaccines in development and each has their own way of being effectively delivered. So school up. There’s no reason that book you read in the sun can’t be a medical one.

For the record, I absolutely hate needles. But I also hate people using cotton buds to try to find Narnia at the back of my nose. Turns out neither are as bad as I imagined. Amazing how a little knowledge quells a lot of fears.