12 things that inspired us in 2020
Thank you, 2020! We know it has been a challenging year, but also a one-of-a-kind one. We saw people coming together globally to help each other. We saw people from all backgrounds come together to amplify the voices of those who have been silenced for centuries. We saw health care professionals, deliverymen and women, producers and factory workers take the lead and keep the world running while many industries had to stop. We even saw space missions with rockets returning to Earth and planet conjunctions. We saw hope, and we experienced the value of community.
We also lost many souls and had friends struggle with their health. But we stayed strong. And our promise to those who left should be to become better humans!
This year might be almost over, but the battle continues. Above the pandemic, racial injustices, wildfires, stock market crashes, invasive insects, massive explosions, and politics, we still have an ever-present challenge to tackle. Climate change should not be overlooked or ignored. Thanks to 2020, we now know for a fact that we can work in collaboration for the greater good. Now more than ever, we need governments and citizens to leave our differences aside and heal our Mother. If not for our generation, at least for the next. We're not asking for perfection. Instead, we look for the willingness to learn and try to do better. We are aware that everything we do has an impact, and there's no escape from it; even living in caves and hunting had consequences. It is all about balance, being a little more conscious and adding little habits that eventually will make a big difference.
This list is for those who enjoy long reads and love dedicating time to indulge in audiovisuals. If that sounds like you, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy! Also, please share with your friends and invite them to subscribe to our newsletter! We genuinely appreciate it!! Happy New Year!
Documentary
David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet. This one is a keeper and a wake-up call. We should watch at least once a year to remember how stunning our home is and how we can turn destruction into regrowth by making the right choices. A Life On Our Planet is a "witness statement" where David shares an overview of his career as an environmentalist and documentalist. In his 93 years, he had visited all continents and watched many species extinguish. While humanity seems to be pushing the planet towards sixth mass extinction, David shares his devastating predictions and hopes for a different future if we take action.
Short Film
Alone together by JJ Sereday. This one came out early on. It captivated us right at the beginning of the lockdown with its exceptional visuals and storytelling. It was shocking yet peaceful to watch. We still can't believe this wasn't part of a suspense movie, but we can't help but wonder what happened to that calm and sublime rhythm. As we come into a second lockdown, we'll have time to reflect once again and understand how our collective actions made the second one happen. Being more conscious of how our individual behaviours can affect the collective in the future.
For a complete change of mood, Happy Without a Home by Dylan Werner inspired us to live simply while making it an epic journey! To travel the world, meet new people, share knowledge and collect memories through photos instead of things.
Podcast
Crusading against the mundane with Chris Burkard on The Rich Roll podcast. Chris is a world-class photographer, filmmaker, explorer, endurance athlete, author, storyteller, environmentalist and much more. He has been a big inspiration throughout our journey, and this episode came in at a turning point–giving us the final push to continue pursuing our dreamed lifestyle. We have great admiration for Chris; his work is magnificent, and his attitude is still humble and down to Earth; above all, his determination to leave a positive mark and help others along the way is a guiding star. He seems to check all the boxes of the kind of role models we look for, along with the interviewer Rich Roll, who we also look up to! Thank you both!
Vlog
Just a YouTuber by Peter McKinnon. Short, sweet, to the point. We watched this one a day before releasing this list and felt like it was an excellent way to wrap up 2020. Let's call it the cherry on top that you MUST watch! It touched on many things that we often think about and gave us goosebumps.
Labels shouldn't define who we are. We're on a journey of exploration, learning, growing and experimenting. Peter got us at, "It's a lot easier to criticize than it is to create." As creators, we all struggle with that thought. What matters is leaving the doubts aside and continuing to create. Because like he said, "Our only limit is our imagination and the willingness to put in the work. It desn't matter what anyone thinks about us because the work will speak for itself."
Song
We got a Beatles fever in the last quarter of the year and listened to Hey Jude on repeat, amongst many other. The story says it was written by Paul McCartney to comfort John Lennon's son Julian during his parents' divorce.
We found it fitting as we all went through different kinds of separation this year—some by losing loved ones, some by just being apart for months. We also experienced separation from our jobs, favourite activities, coffee shops and chance encounters. But we're still here, we're ok, and we "took a sad song and made it better."
Albums
Jungle For Ever. Another legendary English band for a little pick me up. The funk-soul album was released in 2018 and will get you dancing with a big smile on your face. More so, when you listen to the song title as such, "Smile." It's also a must to watch their official videos cause their dance crew is fantastic.
Camo and Krooked with the Red Bull Symphonic. They are a legendary duo that always pushes boundaries in the electronic music scene, specifically in the Drum and Bass genre. This latest collaboration with Red Bull and the Max Steiner Orchestra brings together emotions and colours that enhance both genres, classical and electronic, in an outstanding live performance.
Illustrations
When searching for design inspiration, we often turn to Collective Arts Brewing, who always surprises us with their designs. They do a fantastic job finding talent all over the world, and we genuinely appreciate their efforts, along with their brewing mastery. Some of our favourites are The Nature of Things Cider, designed by Emily Kourin. The Hazy States by Adam States, which includes elements of nature and pop culture. Stranger than Fiction Porter with the Eyes of the Tiger Art by Ethan Li. Rhubarb and Hibiscus Gin, designed by Nate Williams, which we might add, was so flavourful.
Poetry
Slow-brewed life by Sez Kristiansen. Our friend Krista from Revel in The Mess shared this poem with us, and it resonated with our lifestyle–a constant reminder to slow down. There's magic in the little details, and once we acknowledge them, we begin to live happier lives. We believe there's more to life than trying to squeeze every second of our day into "being productive," sometimes, we just need to stay still and listen, observe, breathe, taste and feel. We don't read a lot of poetry, and we're starting to think that we should!
Book
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. It was originally published in 2011, but we finally got to read it. We found ourselves stopping and re-reading chapters to fully absorb the information. It was spectacular how Yuval made it possible to add so much information in such a condensed version. We felt doomed at times and still can't believe how much damage we've done in mere 2000 years, compared to the 2.4 million years since humans exist, or the 150,000 years since Homo Sapiens exist. And we also felt optimistic about discovering how to use our capabilities for good. We believe this book is a desperate call to action.
Outdoors
We walked a lot this year, like most of us did during the first lockdown. The ones that stood out the most were at the Fanshawe Conservation Area. It has been our top spot for trail running for a few years; even though we've run the entire 23km loop countless times, there was something special about taking it slow and walk the trail in its entirety. It also involved plenty of conversations and zero screen time for about 4 hours every time!
It is free to enter during the Winter season, and we must add, it is the most beautiful place to be after a fresh snowfall.
Articles
Your Questions About Food and Climate Change, Answered by The New York Times. The article states that the world's food system is responsible for about one-quarter of the greenhouse gases that humans generate each year, with meat and dairy livestock accounting for around 14.5 percent. What we eat matters a lot more than whether it's local or organic. Even smaller shifts, like eating less meat and more plants, or switching from beef to chicken, can reduce your climate footprint. Another simple way to cut your food-related emissions is to waste less. That means that the energy used to produce your food has been spent efficiently."
We've been primarily plantbased for close to 10 years, and before that, we had minimal meat consumption. We understand that each of us crave different flavours and digest food differently, but we believe it is worth trying new foods for the greater good.
Another great article by The New York Times we appreciated was In the search for lost screen time. It was published in 2018 but remains highly relevant. It is not news that we've become a society addicted to screens, not only by choice but also by need. As things continue to move towards the digital world, more so with the current pandemic, we've had no other choice but to adapt and at least open an email account. The most significant problem lies in addictive platforms and software, which rob us of our most precious possession, time. The NY Times put together a list of things that we can be doing instead of scrolling down endless feeds.
Process
We might be a little biased with this last one, but we got inspired by our rebranding journey as well. It was a long process, but something we've wanted to do for a long time. Our triathlon training had taught us to enjoy the journey more than the destination, and our rebranding was no different. We enjoyed the research phase, thinking about words, looking at colour palettes, testing out typefaces, making drafts on paper napkins and studying other brands' logos. And we're happy to see it come full-cycle and inspire us back, so we created a little summary in a three-part blog post to serve as an anchor as we move forward as Hamaka Creativity Lab.
“There are 4 types of wealth: Financial wealth (money), Social wealth (status), Time wealth (freedom) and Physical wealth (health). Be wary of jobs that lure you in with 1 and 2, but rob you of 3 and 4” – JamesClear author of Atomic Habits, another book we’d like to read.