Lockdown two seems to be doing strange things to us all.
I don't know about the rest of you, but my sleep pattern is all over the show, when I do sleep my dreams are apocalyptic.
I had a dream Donald Trump won the election and I was tasked with reporting on a presidential visit to Belfast. I woke up and looked at Twitter and realised Donald Trump was having the same dreams.
2020 started off badly, with a mental health crisis, a crumbling NHS and an assembly forced together out of rising public anger.
Little did we know they were the glory days of 2020, worse beyond our imagination was yet to come.
Is it any wonder people started putting their Christmas trees up in October, anything to break up the day and bring a bit of joy to our lives.
So many people are going through this alone, separated from their loved ones through fear of a virus that has changed the world forever.
Families with parents and grandparents in nursing homes breaking their hearts, due to the separation in what is the very last months and years of a loved one's life.
The rituals we associate with death, the bedside vigils, the prayers (whether religious or not), the tea and chat about happier times, the wake, the funeral and the gatherings afterwards when laughter and tears form part of the healing process are all now restricted due to Covid.
The elderly spoken about like they're newborn babies with no ability to think for themselves.
Before making a decision on whether or not to visit an elderly relative this Christmas, maybe ask them what they want, depriving someone of family contact against their wishes in the last year or two of their life seems to me unnecessarily cruel.
With so much economic hardship, poverty and despair, children who have missed so much education and are not having those normal childhood experiences in play and sport, who knows what the long term damage will be.
The threat to extracurricular learning caused by Covid-19 risks accelerating a youth mental health crisis, it was warned this week after research by the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.
The events of this year are so unusual we've no idea what the impact will be in the future, but I've a feeling we'll be repairing the harm done for many years to come.
The news this week that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was proving effective in trials brought some hope to this terrible year.
That the elderly, the vulnerable and front line workers can be protected seems the only way to escape this damaging cycle of lockdown.
That the Oxford vaccine is being made and distributed at cost is also a positive. Other vaccines being developed around the world are already being snapped up by the richest countries with huge spending power, before they've even been certified as safe.
This virus adversely impacts on the poorest communities, people likely to find themselves at the back of the queue for a vaccination if those who can afford to pay are allowed to buy their way to the front.
There's something immoral about companies making billions of pounds on the back of a global pandemic, while the rest of the economy tanks.
The Oxford jab is expected to be rolled out from December, with the bulk of vaccination in 2021.
Northern Ireland is expected to receive 2.85 million doses once it receives official authorisation, the Department of Health has said.
I'm not sure our world will ever be the same again but this does present light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.
What it also does is show the importance of science, we have all relied heavily on scientists and experts to guide us through this crisis.
It used to be said, "be nice to the nerd in your class, one day they'll be your boss", that's now changed to, be nice to the nerd because one day they could save your life.
I hope this encourages young people to consider studying Stem subjects now that those careers have been elevated from geek to hero in the space of less than a year.
In other good news the executive announced a £95m scheme providing high street vouchers to boost local retail in the New Year.
I can understand the wish to give the economy a much needed boost at a time when hopefully the vaccination programme is well underway, but I'd rather the money went to those in most need rather than every household.
But I trust many of those who don't need the money will donate it to charities working with struggling families.
That really would be a fitting way to turn a negative into a positive.
