It seems like only yesterday that we were saying goodbye to 2019 and excited to welcome 2020, a new decade, a new us! That excitement quickly faded away. 

We could go on and on about the lows of 2020, but were flipping the script! In the middle of all the negatives and craziness, it’s easy to forget the highs of this year and all the good things that happened to us individually and as a global community.

  • $5.1 billion dollars was sold on Shopify over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend! Making it a huge success for all independent businesses and merchants. That's a 76% growth from 2019. A huge win for entrepreneurs. 
  • Drive-in movie theaters made a comeback!
  • Pollution levels dropped significantly! In the UK, pollution fell 60 percent after the lockdown. Similarly a nationwide lockdown in India revealed skylines and mountain views that hadn’t been seen for years! The world took a breather and now we can all benefit from a healthier environment.
  • We might have gained a little weight, but we found love in new hobbies like baking and gardening.
  • Companies stepped up to the plate! Many traditional distilleries quickly pivoted their business models  to produce desperately needed hand sanitizer. Major companies changed their production lines to create safe protection gear for our nurses and doctors and many people started creating masks and donating them to their local hospitals
  • The world came together to recognize our real heroes, the essential workers from nurses to doctors, to grocery store workers to truck drivers and last mile delivery workers making everything run.
  • Did anyone say Zoom parties? We came up with creative ways to celebrate big milestones like drive-by graduations and Zoom parties.
  • Despite January's wildfires destroying 18 million acres of Australian wilderness, the Australian people came together for relief efforts. Months later, new greenery is starting to sprout.
  • The rise in curbside pickup, click and collect and contactless delivery offered a new life line that helped save many small businesses.

In the end this year taught us what truly matters, our health, our family and loved ones. Our point in writing this blog is to remind us all that there will be sunnier days ahead. We can’t wait to see all the amazing things 2021 has in store for all of us.

Jonathan Roque
Chief Positivity Officer at Zapiet

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