Let’s face it. This year kind of sucked, but amidst it all, there were still some highs. Here are the nine best things that came out of 2020. 

9. Sleep

Starting off a little more specific, all students this year had to attend their classes virtually. Doing so definitely has its downfalls, but the silver lining can be seen in the lack of need to commute anymore. The time saved from having to drive to school, along with new schedules for this school year, has allowed students to get a little extra sleep in the morning. Without the need to drive home, there’s also now time to have a short nap after school, if one still feels a bit drowsy. Before this year, students used to have to wake up at the crack of dawn to catch the bus or prepare for their classes. Now that everyone is at home, students get that little extra bit of rest that they most definitely need. 

8. Manifestation

While the theory of manifestation has been around since the 1800s, the practice of manifesting has taken off this year. Perhaps due to TikTok, ‘manifesting’ something isn’t always used in a serious context. In true Gen Z nature, it has conformed to our sarcastically exaggerated humor. For instance, students will ‘manifest’ an A on a chemistry test that they barely studied for or collaborations between their dream artists like Beyonce x Dixie D’amelio (this is a joke). Though it is not serious, the idea of ‘thinking something into existence’ is both a good coping mechanism and motivator.

7. Being The Main Character 

With over 1.2 billion related videos, another TikTok trend that took off this year is being the main character. Essentially, it is the idea that you are the star of your own life and that you should live life with that mindset. This goes with the idea of romanticizing life and appreciating the beauty of the people and things that are around you. It might be a little self-absorbed to believe that you are always the star, but this idea more so is a reminder of what one can be capable of. There are many things in this world that we cannot change, but the one thing we can change is ourselves and the mindset of ‘being the main character’ is simply the confidence boost needed to understand that. 

6. Voter Turnout

This year was an election year and a tense one at that. Voting is a right that many of our ancestors had to fight for. Yet nowadays, there is still a large number of eligible people that do not vote with the excuses such as how one vote doesn’t matter or how neither candidate is  worthy of being elected. This year, we had the largest voter turnout in over a century. 66.2% of eligible Americans cast ballots in this election, 6.1% more than that of the previous election year. Best said by Sharon Salzberg, “Voting is not just a civic responsibility but an expression of our dignity, and evidence that what we do matters in this world.”

5. Health 

With social distancing and gym closures, many of us have gotten to set up a home gym or had the time to focus more on our health. Especially near the beginning of quarantine, with trends like Chloe Ting workouts and having a quarantine ‘glo-up’, working out became an activity that many felt more motivated to do. Even if that willpower only lasted a week or two, the overall looming threat of the virus has made everyone more health conscious; little things such as how often we should wash our hands or how many times we touch our face, etc. Whether you’re bouncing on an exercise ball during class or just wearing your mask, health has achieved a new priority level in our lives this year.

4. Among Us

Among Us was launched June 2018, but blew  up this year. The game has an adorable old-school feel with main characters being baby astronauts that all complete tasks aboard a spaceship, except one, who is an imposter. Characters can be customized with tiny hats and different colors, giving players the ability to uniquely express themselves. The game is similar to that of Mafia and seems to allow for endless gameplay without boredom. With everyone required to socially distance, this game is the perfect way to still connect with friends and family that are far away. 

3. A Break

At least for the beginning of quarantine, when the world first slowed down, everyone got a little time to stop and breathe. In the middle of everyone’s hectic lives, the pandemic made everyone  give up what they were doing. All projects and plans came to a halt. With that pause, many people got to use it as time to themselves. In the midst of the pre-quarantine rat race, it was hard to see what was lacking or what was being ignored, but now became the time to confront those issues. Whether it is how much you’ve been neglecting your family or how much you’ve been overworking yourself, this pandemic has forcefully allowed us to stop ignoring these problems and actually address them. 

2. BLM

The Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013, but with the death of George Floyd this May, the movement regained traction through the outrage of many Americans. Making national headlines and international news, this movement made many aware of the adversites still faced by African Americans today and prompted hard, but necessary conversations between the friends and family on equality. The movement is one of the largest in US history with over 25 million people participating in the protests and even more supporting through other methods. The global impact of this movement resulted in proposals to decrease the amount of funds given to the police (i.e. New York took away $1 billion of their 2021 police budget to redistribute to mental services and homeless) and the removal of several Confederate statues, along with company acknowledgment of past discrimaintion and racism. Progress has been made, but this is only the start for our generation’s fight for equality. 

1. Hope

Perhaps this year was the worst one ever for some of us, but as its finally ending, we’ve all gained a little hope. There aren’t a lot of instances where everyone in the world feels similarly about something, but especially after the elections and through the holidays, while everything is technically still the same (there is still a pandemic, masks still have to be worn anytime you step outside), it somehow feels like things are looking up. After four long years of having a president that did not quite know what he was doing, Donald Trump is finally going to be leaving White House. The COVID-19 virus finally has a vaccine and is already being distributed to health care workers. School is getting ready to be in-person again.  We still do not know what will happen next year, but at least there’s hope. Hope that it will be different and hope that it will be better.