I recently saw a meme for us '80s babies, which succinctly wraps up the times we live in.
The year 2020 may be just a number (a very nice number), but it is a number of significance - after all, interesting numbers are memorable, which is why we often use them as milestones in our lives. The second decade of the second millennia is now beginning. Organisations, governments, individuals; we all had lofty goals and ideals for this landmark year.
We were only in primary school when we talked about "Wawasan 2020" in Malaysia as a mysterious, technologically advanced era with flying cars and hoverboards ala the movie Back to the Future (I'm disappointed about the lack of hoverboards...)
In some ways, none of that has come to pass.
In other ways, all of our expectations back then have been completely surpassed.
The past two decades have been a time of great change. Three major generations are in play in the workforce, technology has changed the world almost beyond recognition, the world has less boundaries than ever before, yet the barriers of the mind are still present and finding freer voices than ever before using technology.
"There is a Chinese curse which says 'May he live in interesting times.' Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind."
- Robert F. Kennedy, 1966
Change, as always, is both exciting and fearful at the same time. The need to evolve is ever pressing, and we have to keep learning, keep ourselves up to date in order to stay relevant.
This is a time of uncertainty, but the brilliant, amazing truth of change, is that change brings opportunity, pressure brings out creativity. It is in these "interesting times" that we can produce great things.
In the end, how we experience this new century is going to be down to the perspective we can bring to witness, experience, and celebrate change.
I'm excited for 2020 - are you?