• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, October 7, 2020

We are less than 30 days from the election.  We are less than 90 days from Christmas.  The fourth quarter is upon us and so much of this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year is behind us.  

Many of us have been looking to the future as a way to deal with it all. That future is almost upon us.  Regardless of what happens the first week in November, a critical date will have passed, and it is interesting to think about what comes next.  What will the remainder of 2020 look like?

It's certainly far too early for predictions about 2021, but I do imagine the final 60 days of 2020 will seem similar to the beginning of 2021, with talk about vaccines and legal action to challenge the election.  

The middle of this year has seen rampant ad spending to promote the messages of the presidential candidates, but that spending will evaporate come Nov. 3.   It will leave a massive hole in the ad landscape that can only be filled by holiday advertising.  

The news will be filled with debates and arguments about ideologies and fraudulent elections.  There will be daily conjecture about vaccines and COVID cures and when they will be available to the masses.  Most of this conversation will be veiled in information that is false, but it will be covered, nonetheless.  Within this coverage will be some nuggets of true information, but it will take a forensic team to uncover where and how it manifests.  

From my personal perspective, and for what it’s worth, I sincerely hope we can have two months of positive dialogue and healing while we go into the winter and what could be one of the most stressful periods of American history.  I think we all agree we could use it.

As the winter months progress, people are going to be indoors more, which does not bode well for stopping the spread of the coronavirus.  We are social animals and people are going to want to be together and celebrate the holidays.  These celebrations will have an impact on our health, and I am not talking about an eggnog hangover.  

The virus will see an uptick, but hopefully one that is measured and can be managed.  In the meantime, people will be watching TV and eating, and this will likely result in a post-COVID health crisis of  mild to drastic obesity and a national push for physical fitness once we have critical mass of the vaccines (probably mid-to-late 2021). 

I like to analyze and predict the zeitgeist, and I do think that post-COVID we will see a renewed focus on health, both physical and mental.  I look forward to the collective consciousness intent on healing our social wounds and creating a better way forward.  

Maybe, just maybe, the seething hate that has consumed us these last few years will lead to a brighter future where the stories we tell are about equality and fairness to everyone.  Maybe, just maybe, some good will come from all of this.

I'm hoping the rest of this year can look like the beginning of the rest of the decade, and that the remainder of the decade will rest on the shoulders of positivity.  Of course, that positivity can only come if it reflects the collective consciousness I mentioned last paragraph.  

The collective consciousness can only be surfaced if you go out and vote, so get out and vote.  Without your voice, none of this matters at all.