What Have I Learned From 2020?
- I’m more inclined towards my Islamic year for it is important for me as a Muslim and as a Muslim, we shall go with the Hijri or Islamic Calendar, not the Georgian Calendar but I wanted to mention this year 2020 as everybody talks about how different and weird it was and how this year significantly changed lives to the worst or the best, so would like to remind you that ALLAH (God) is in control of everything and time is in his hands so it is not 2020 that did this but it’s our fate and destiny written by ALLAH and handled by the lord of the worlds so let us not treat 2020 as the murderer or any of that stuff. Although it is kind of late for me to post this, Let’s just get on with it.
2020 has been a hard year for all of us but in times of darkness, we were lightened with many new aspects and many new ideas that have widened our perspective of this world and life in general. We shall not complain about what happened but rather learn from our experiences.
Covid-19 played the main role in this. With the deaths of many and the crash in the economy and the mental illnesses it caused or triggered and the rise of poverty and much more as well. Although a few of my far relatives have died of this virus and some were able to survive and I watched people struggle and in pain as each day passes and many were anxious and traumatized. In the beginning, I felt scared but, I remembered that there is a powerful glorious God, ALLAH, that I know is aware of all that’s happening, and he for sure is testing us and most importantly reminding us of returning to him because as the world entered a new decade with new advancements in technology and in our society, We have been caught by this massive upgrade in our lives and got ourselves attached to materialism and forgot the main purpose of this life and preferred this world. The change is real as we saw people during this lockdown (or quarantine) that contributed to uplifting humanity during it’s hardest times and we saw the huge protests around the world for different categories whether it’s religion, race, political issues, and more.
I believe as ALLAH says in the Quran chapter 94 verse no.5–6:
So, surely with hardship comes ease, Surely with ˹that˺ hardship comes ˹more˺ ease.
I know that after every tough situation we get stronger, and the stronger we get, the more we are enhanced in our human nature, and of course, I mean the perspective of a mature understanding human being not a childish closed mind person. I, unfortunately, consider myself tilted to a closed mind thinking, which I believe is childish but as I research and try to open my heart and mature myself, I begin to discover new corners of my personality and how to interact with all people. This is something I’ve learned to develop throughout the lockdown. I have started to not freak out about what’s outside but about what’s on the inside?, This question throws me off every time I think about it because as I mentioned in one of my stories that we need to self-reflect on our internal wounds and heal them a best as we could for it could hold dangers against you that I INSHA ALLAH (if god wills) will be talking about it in another post.
(Internal Reflections 1: https://medium.com/themuslimahpost/internal-reflection-1-998d54794d93)
2020 also taught me to take care of my physical body and also due to the pandemic, better my hygiene. Exercising was something I did on and off but 2020 had me get more into it, not perfectly, but still manageable.
One thing that I regret the most during 2020 was procrastinating and missing out on so much time where I could have done something worth much more and beneficial but we cannot change the past but we can change the future right now in the present with what we have. I also started writing on medium in 2020, More like at the end, because I always wanted to write topics involving our inner self, justice, and social problems that we face today and so I had the opportunity during this quarantine and so decided to go for it!.
During 2020, I was able to look at myself from angles I’ve never did before and so did a lot of people of my faith such as Halima Aden, Sana Khan, and more, including celebrities and people I met in my everyday life.
The change is up to you and it’s your life so don’t waste it and if you’re guilty of not making progress or not doing it good enough, remember as I mentioned, we cannot change the past so learn from it and change the future by acting in the present because it’s in your hands right now so make it or break it. 2 choices in your hands, So what do you choose?
Just wanted to share something so wise our beloved Prophet Muhammed peace and blessings be upon him said:
