Things are beginning to unwind and as we approach Christmas, so at Holgate HR we’ve been taking a little bit of time to reflect on the madness of 2020. It has been a difficult year in so many ways, but it has also been an opportunity to make positive changes in our lives and appreciate the little things.

Caroline, Andy, Hannah and Joe give their thoughts on the year and the impact it has had on their lives, both personally and professionally.

Caroline and Andy, Directors

When as a team we agreed to share our personal reflections on how 2020 has been for us, our first thoughts were, ‘where to begin’?

The year started brilliantly with a business trip to the UAE and India.  This mind-blowing experience also nearly had us trapped in the UAE when the coronavirus pandemic hit but we were lucky to get back just in time to deal with the chaos that followed.  We don’t think we will ever forget the first few weeks of lockdown in March/April as we have never been as busy trying to support clients (old and new) whilst they dealt with their own sheer panic.

Plus of course we had our own stress to deal with, with 80% of our booked work disappearing by the hour, and us having to adapt to new ways of working as a team. Luckily, we were able to slowly but surely build our pipeline back up, and praise to Hannah and Joe for how they’ve adapted to remote working.

Maybe we’ve aged a few years in the process but whoever said self-employment was easy was, let’s just say, not being entirely honest!

Then, how do you even put into words how we are feeling about the impact on our personal lives?  Not seeing family and friends, households divided, rules to obey, exercising (or not), endless Teams/Zoom calls, eating in and definitely not going out, tuning in to Boris for his 5 pm updates in the spring months, being worried about this horrendous virus – it has been a challenge for us all.  What has been interesting is realising how content we can be at home – dashing around a little less and enjoying those occasional moments of peace and quiet that have been wonderful to experience.

Let’s all raise a glass over the Christmas break to celebrate health, survival, resilience and reminding ourselves that holidays and special times with family and friends will be a feature of 2021.

Hannah, HR Administrator

2020 for me has been a year of realisation; a wake-up call I suppose. It has been a year to realise what is really important and to become aware of all of the things I have taken for granted throughout my life.

In a time where life stood still, it was of course an anxious and uncertain period, however it was the perfect time to be grateful for what I already had instead of constantly chasing something better.

I came to realise that it is not the fancy holidays that are important or showing off a fancy social life on social media but instead I felt gratitude for my health, my families health, grateful to have a warm house to stay safe in and plenty of free time to spend with my dog in her last weeks on this earth.

This year in some ways has been the best year of my life, whilst also being the worst too!

Yes it was a shame that my holiday to Mexico was cancelled and that I haven’t been able to drink too much with my friends, but in the grand scheme of things, I feel like it would be silly to class that as a bad year when I’m here looking forward to Christmas with my family, and planning for the years ahead.

2020 for me has been what I needed to change my perspective, it has taught me to be more grateful for the ‘little things’ which are in fact the big things, the most important things.

Joe, Marketing and Business Development Assistant

2020 has brought many things: anxiety, isolation and uncertainty to name just a few. But it has also been a unique opportunity to find joy in things I’ve previously overlooked, or not even realised were around me.

Echoing the sentiment of Hannah’s reflections, the last 8 or 9 months has been a period of realisations. Since finding ourselves confined to our houses and surrounding area, I’ve discovered walks, parks and beautiful nooks and crannies that have been on my doorstep without me even realising.

I’ve spent so much more time cooking, walking, cycling and I’ve definitely perfected my barbeque; who knew you could barbeque so many different things? Just like everyone else, there was also a brief period of breadmaking and a vegetable patch, the latter of which ended up with mouldy unripe tomatoes on the ground in October.

Although we’re all sick of Zoom, I reconnected with friends around the world and brushed up my quizzing in the early days. In the window of summer where we could see each other, I saw friends and family in different ways.

For all of us, it’s been a time of realising what really matters most. For me that’s connection – whether that be with family, friends, the crowd at a live gig or people in the pub.

It’s definitely been a rollercoaster, but I feel hopeful for the new year and there are so many things that I won’t take for granted when we’re out the other side.