The Wider Image: Scarred by 2020, Gen Z looks to a COVID-free future
Galina Akselrod-Golikova, 23, poses for a photograph by the gates to the courtyard of her apartment block in Moscow, Russia, December 14, 2020. In early 2020, Akselrod-Golikova was preparing to travel from Moscow to Italy for a marketing and PR job at the Venice biennale's Russian pavilion. She couldn't wait to start. The dream never happened: the whole event was postponed, the job disappeared and, instead of travelling abroad, she ended up isolated from her friends and family in an apartment in Moscow as a tough lockdown suddenly began in April. The shock upset her deeply. She fretted so much that she developed stress-induced health issues. In time though, she said she was relieved to have a chance to refocus her life and have time to think. She said she slowed down for the first time and put her energy into decorating the apartment where she lives with her boyfriend with stylish ornaments, antique furniture and flower arrangements. "This year was the first time I started to devote so much time to my home, to buying some little things, and to stay there and to think about my space and to express myself through it," she said. She has not rushed to get a new job, and with time to reflect she has realised that she wants to enrol for a masters degree in food studies in Rome next year. Despite the upheaval, Akselrod-Golikova believes that the pandemic has brought many positive things into her life, though she acknowledges it was easier for younger people to adjust quickly. "I've started to appreciate my time as a resource and to devote it to my family, to my friends and to spend more time with them, including getting to know my parents and friends in new ways," she said. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov SEARCH "GEN-Z COVID-19" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES