2020 will go down in the history books as a year we won’t forget. Who could have foreseen, a year ago, that we’d be in the situation we are now in? I’ve travelled in the far east, where mask wearing is common, but I never imagined I would see that here! The idea that pubs, restaurants, schools and shops would all shut for prolonged periods would have been unthinkable. Even though, this time last year, Coronavirus was already in the news, it felt like something happening a long way away, that wouldn’t come here…

Friday was the first day back at Maggie’s and we spent some time reflecting on the year just gone and exploring our hopes and fears for the future.

Traditionally, the passing of the year is a time that some people find exciting and full of promise, a cause for celebration and hope, a chance to wipe the slate clean and start again with good intentions. For others, it’s an occasion for gloom or regret and an unwelcome reminder of the passing of time. This year, of course, is different. Many of us looked forward to 2021 as the year when everything would return to ‘normal’ – as though at midnight on new year’s eve the virus would somehow get the message and leave. This may now seem like a false dawn as the UK is once again plunged into strict lockdown.

Writing exercises

This week’s two-part exercise explores some of the emotions we may be feeling at this time. Here’s what you do:

Part 1. Ring out the Old:

Write a letter to the year just past (or if you prefer, choose another year in your life. You might want to pick a year where momentous things happened, or one that stands out in your memory for whatever reason). Notice your emotions as you think about the year. The letter you write could be a letter of complaint, a thank you letter, an angry letter, or even a love letter!. Given the year we’ve had, you may well be glad to see the back of it, but there may be personal reasons to look back with fondness on 2020. If nothing else, the year may have given you time to pause, to reflect, to re-evaluate those things in life you value.

When we did this exercise on Friday, someone suggested that instead signalling the passing of the year with bells, it could be more appropriate to wring it out like a cloth. I like that idea! Play around with it in your writing if you like.

Part two: Ring in the New:

Now think about the year to come. Are you approaching it with hope, or trepidation? What do you wish for? Again, note your emotions. Write a similar piece addressed to 2021

For both of these pieces, if you’d rather not write about yourself, you can write from the perspective of somebody else, real or fictional.

The penultimate paragraph of F Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece sums up the optimism I usually feel at the start of a new year. Whatever has gone before, I begin each year believing ‘tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…’

None more so than this year. Whatever else 2021 brings, more people will be vaccinated and immunity will grow, so we can realistically hope to see a return to something that looks a little bit like ‘normal.’ And hopefully we can step forward wiser, having learned some valuable lessons from the year the world stopped.

What are your thoughts on the passing of the year? Let me know in the comments below!