New Year renews Brazilians’ hope

As we turn the calendar page, we see the hope for better days. We have 365 new days more to make our dreams come true, to reach our goals. After nearly two years of the pandemic, Brazilians are beginning to open their eyes to new times. At the same time, there is a feeling of uncertainty about what lies ahead.This is what Agência Brasil observed by inerviewing people in one of the busiest train and subway stations in downtown São Paulo: the Brás Station, located in the neighborhood with the same name.

On those days just before Christmas, Agência Brasil reporter heard four Brazilians who spoke about their difficulties caused by the pandemic, but also about their hopes for 2022.

Alexssandro Gonçalves 21-year-old young man has been working for the construction industry for six months. Before the pandemic, he used to work in a market and was fired during the lockdown period. He has good expectations for 2022. “I mainly hope the pandemic ends, everything will be alright!”. He also hopes to keep his job. “I want to continue working in the construction industry, I like it, I want it that way”. A little shy, he says he also has a lot of dreams.

Maria Rosiene Nascimento Silva 46-year-old freelancer has more life experience. She says she always thinks positively and doesn’t get discouraged. Despite having lost her job at the beginning of the pandemic, she has reinvented herself and today she sells lingerie articles she buys in Brás stores. “I used to work as a parking lot cashier, but then they fired 99% of the employees. My husband who also worked there was fired too”.

She also would like the country’s economy to improve. Among the dreams interrupted during the pandemic, what she most wants is to hit the road and go to her birthplace, Garanhuns, in Pernambuco state.

She also says she believes 2022 will be better than 2021. “I expect improvements, that’s why you have to think positively, not get discouraged and move on”. She also says that she really wants vaccination to move forward in the country. “I hope people become aware, continue getting their shots correctly, so we can get rid of this ‘plague’, so that we go back to our normal lives as before, because this situation isn´t easy!”.

Reinventing the present

Just like Maria Rosiene, the 35-year-old pedagogue Patrícia Nogueira is now a freelancer too: she currently sells clothes over the Internet. She graduated in Pedagogy during the pandemic, but she does not work in her field yet.

“My expectation is that it will get better. During the pandemic my company went bankrupt, it was a difficult time. But today, with the sales, I manage to earn more than what I used to with the printing company. The pandemic has taken me out of my comfort zone, however it was better than keeping the printing company, so I plan to continue with sales. But, if I succeed as a pedagogue, I do intend to work in this field”.

As for the pandemic, she hopes vaccination will move forward around the world, but she still doesn’t see an end. “I think that if vaccination moves on, the situation will get better. Actually it has already gotten better, stores have been reopened and we see this crazy rush here in Brazil again. But it´s not over yet. I don´t believe stores will close again as it happened before. We are learning to deal with it. Even with these new variants, I still believe that the stores will remain open. I’m very hopeful, I always think it will get better, I never expect the worst.”

This confidence in a better year is very common during the holiday season, explains Anchieta Hospital psychologist in Brasília, Stela de Lemos. “The New Year represents the beginning of a new cycle. The closing of a year is the closing of a 365-day period in which people organize themselves around events, rituals and traditions that give rhythm to our current story and lifestyle. The end of a year leads to reflection and (re)planning on one´s personal and even social life, searching for the improvement of processes and relationships”.

But after nearly two years of pandemic, people’s relationship with expectations may even be overestimated, says the psychologist. “In ordinary times, expectations for the new year are overwhelmingly positive. During a pandemic, it wouldn´t be different. The expectation continues to be based on the improvement of processes and human relationships. Most people are even viscerally looking forward so seeing this period of public calamity and physical and mental illness go Away, so that we can thrive again. The hope for better days is reinforced in the transition period from one year to another, enhancing the perseverance to continue our struggles”.

Fabrício Ferreira 40-year-old wall painter continues his struggle to get a job. For next year he has little hope: “The pandemic has been giving signs that it`s getting better. But I have no idea what 2022 will be like. Will there be enough jobs? I don’t know, I’m here, thinking what I`m going to do. I don’t know what to do. But, I hope there are a lot of jobs. He believes, the pandemic will not end in 2022. “I don’t think so, some variants are still popping in, I don’t think it´s over yet”, deplores Fabrício.

Recession economy, high inflation and the presidential election this year certainly influence Brazilians´ emotional condition, points out psychologist Stela de Lemos.

“Certainly social aspects influence the emotional conditions of the population. A large part of the Brazilian people has not been enjoying prosperity and wealth, especially after the beginning of the new coronavirus pandemic. This leads to several and often severe consequences to people’s emotional health”, says she.

For the psychologist, the time, however, is to overcome fear. “We have been living in a time when love needs, more than ever, to make a fierce opposition to fear. May we continue together in this new year in the fight against hopelessness, always motivated by the desire of and belief in better days”, she concludes.