There is a vaccine. The answer to the year that changed everything for much of the world arrived in record time. And the world exhales. There is that light at the end of the 2020 tunnel, one that is dimmed by the losses of loved ones, worries about incomes, and the fears of years of economic instability. But what COVID has taught us is when needed, we can adapt and redefine.
Vaccines normally take 10 to 15 years to be developed, let alone approved. Yet here we are. It took two days for this vaccine to be designed. TWO DAYS. On January 11, 2020, Chinese scientists released the genetic sequence of COVID-19. Then on January 13th, the design was completed.* 3 weeks later, the first batch of vaccines was manufactured, and then 4 weeks after that, the first trial began. That was in March. 8 months later it was announced there is a vaccine that is 95% effective against the novel coronavirus.
Bottom line, there was the crucial need for there to be a solution to a crisis that brought the world to a standstill. What was once deemed impossible was made possible. Where once we were told it couldn't be done, it was done. And there are so many other examples of how this year we saw the need to quickly adapt. For years, campaigners have asked for flexible working hours and conditions, to be able to work from home, to balance the need to be at home and to be at work. To restructure the 40hr 9-5 week. To have a life. For years, employers have said it couldn't be done because that's not how things were always done. And yet, here we are.
It made me think how not only do we find ways to save ourselves, we are also the ones to hold ourselves back. And we do so with mindsets that refuse to evolve or adapt; mindsets that aren't open to change. It is what psychologists call "cognitive dissonance" which is "the mental discomfort experienced by a person who simultaneously holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values. The discomfort is triggered by a situation in which a person’s belief clashes with new evidence introduced to that person."
So much of what dictates our behaviour and our choices stems from our ego. The need to be right, the need to stand firm, the need to hold on to control/power, the need to prove we are something or someone, the need to feel that we are here for a reason. But what would happen if we didn't hold on to those things? What would happen if we let it all go? I asked myself that question and that's when I came across Jim Carrey's story.
The man who has made us laugh for years had an awakening after playing his comedic idol Andy Kauffman in Man on the Moon. Carrey not only lost himself in that role, he found an understanding that would change him forever. He said in an interview at the time, "It was just nakedness...I was looking back at myself and going, ‘What the hell do I believe?’" He would go on to add, "“The process over time has been, ‘Oh, even that is not real. Even that is not solid. ’It’s disconcerting at first because it’s a death...None of this is who I am. None of this matters. That’s liberation.” In other words, what doesn't matter is what value we place on how we see ourselves, how others see us.
It's how Buddhists would say is the start of our journey to true freedom and enlightenment. We are here to evolve, to learn, to appreciate, to enjoy every moment, to find that which brings us genuine joy, to acknowledge that we are part of something greater than our physical existence: that we are here literally for each other. Nature understands this perfectly. But most human beings don't. And if you were to Google Jim Carrey, what would come up is a slew of videos and articles as