Time for new goals!

The first weeks of 2021 are already over and a familiar ritual is repeating itself. Well, around this time gym registrations usually skyrocket….

But didn’t we also have the more or less usual resolutions at the beginning of 2020? It wasn’t meant to be – and you can, I think, clearly pinpoint one culprit in 2020. @Harlekin Rüdiger: did you have viruses in your series on the art of blaming?

Anyway, in my outraged citizen’s article on the “new normality”, I also promised in the commentary to shed light on fresh opportunities and perspectives. So, fasten your seatbelts and let’s start the journey.

1. 2020 has massively changed the way we all spend our free time. E-bikes, running equipment and anything in the field of outdoor and individual sports went well. When you consider what is still happening on field and forest paths and the wear and tear this is causing on them, it is clear that the construction industry will soon experience a boom. So no slacking, get outdoors! After all, I would like to walk on freshly paved paths one day…

2. Working environments and habits have changed radically in the last year. Home office seems to work for many (whether you like it or not) and what that means for real estate companies, landlords etc. will become clear in 2021 at the earliest, because that’s when the market will start to budge. WIll this form of work will bring us closer together (globally, because distances have now become even less important), or will we all become lone wolves because the socialisation in the office and in the communal kitchen is missing? I strongly believe in the former, because I would hardly have gained so many private insights without video conferencing (e.g. live child-minding or marauding pets). Despite all the mishaps, I think it’s great because it makes us approachable and (more) sensitive. For example, it really does me good to see I’m not the only one for whom home office with kids in home schooling is a challenge.

3. Our relationships: with friends, with family, with neighbours… Corona and government restrictions have reduced the number of our contacts, forcing us to focus. In times of countless Facebook “friends” or Insta-followers, face-to-face meetings are in a completely different league and their value has perhaps been re-established  – if only because more time seems to be available per face-to-face meeting. Who can seriously take care of 200 “friends”?

So my dear readers, that was my Top 3. There are positive and negative sides to each – for me, however, the positive aspects predominate and I hope we can keep them in 2021. Not everything was better in the past, just different. What does your list look like and what do you hope for in 2021? I’m optimistic so I think it’s going to be a great year, and if not, we’ll manage somehow. Because no matter what happens, most people can adapt far better than we all previously thought….

And if things do get “difficult” again, we should sometimes take our cue from the children who have such a wonderfully carefree view of the world. My highlight of 2020: one of my children (age approx. 5), when asked which symbol he recognised during an eye-test (the doctor pointed to the fir tree). The answer came promptly and as a matter of course: turd! 💩

With this in mind: Happy New Year and cheer up!