Collected Item: “Last day I was a Coach”
Give your story a title.
Last day I was a Coach
What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?
Photograph
Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.
This is a photo inside the gymnastics gym I used to work at. It was taken shortly before everything started to shut down. I didn't know how long the pandemic would last, I didn't think it would change my life as much as it did. I've worked with these kids and their families for years; we consider ourselves a big family. The strain the pandemic put on our friendship was immense and I fear it may have broken some. The gym re-opened (although at the time all forms of gyms were still forced to stay closed) and this made a dilemma that I didn't think I'd have to face.
My situation was confusing and has caused me a lot of anxiety as families were asking if or when I was coming back. I couldn't give them an answer because my family needed me. My older family members were effected the most by all this. They are all high risk and couldn't do the things they wanted to like go to the store or the movies. I had a choice; leave my family out to dry and go back to coaching or take care of my grandparents and others. I of course chose my family. But I still miss the families and the kids I coach. I deal with that everyday when I see their progress of Instagram. Some of the family's doubt the severity of the pandemic, which makes me even more stressed because they could very well be speaking ill of me for the way I've been handling all this. I fight this inner doubt everyday because I really care for the kids I coach and I want to be apart of their progress, but at the same time with so many family members in the medical field and people that now depend on me I can't justify leaving them by themselves or potentially spreading it to them.
My situation was confusing and has caused me a lot of anxiety as families were asking if or when I was coming back. I couldn't give them an answer because my family needed me. My older family members were effected the most by all this. They are all high risk and couldn't do the things they wanted to like go to the store or the movies. I had a choice; leave my family out to dry and go back to coaching or take care of my grandparents and others. I of course chose my family. But I still miss the families and the kids I coach. I deal with that everyday when I see their progress of Instagram. Some of the family's doubt the severity of the pandemic, which makes me even more stressed because they could very well be speaking ill of me for the way I've been handling all this. I fight this inner doubt everyday because I really care for the kids I coach and I want to be apart of their progress, but at the same time with so many family members in the medical field and people that now depend on me I can't justify leaving them by themselves or potentially spreading it to them.
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#gymnastics, #pandemic, #pressure, #conflict, #coach, #HSE
Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)
Gilbert Lopez
Give this story a date.
2020-03-07