Items

• 2020-12-14T14:22

  The Beginning of COVID-19

  I honestly can't remember a time without the virus. A time when things felt normal or ordinary. Life before the pandemic, it wasn't perfect, not even close, but I didn't ever feel like I was being strangled, gasping for air. The month of February, only 10 months ago, but feels more like a lifetime since then. I was a 7th grader then, thinking about things like schoolwork and friends and soccer; normal things. I remember I was so happy, so happy that I had such amazing friends, and such a normal life. But, I wanted school to end. I mean, what 13 year old doesn't? Now, I realize how much that wish has effected my life. The day I found out about COVID was a day like any other; I was at school that day, you know, normal things. After school, I checked TikTok and saw all these random videos about some virus that had popped up. At first, I thought nothing of it. When the district announced that school was shutting down, I was told it would only be 2 weeks; just 2 weeks! I thought it would be like a short break from the day-to-day school life, so if anything, I was happy. As the weeks went by, though, I started to panic. What was this coronavirus and why was it ruining my life? I thought eventually it would end, but then we got the alert we were out for the rest of the school year, then the alert that COVID cases were rising once again, then we got the alert that there was no chance of us going back to school in the Fall, and during all of this, as you can imagine, I was going crazy, wondering if life would ever go back to normal. Life right now is bizarre, but we just have to keep pushing because nothing lasts forever. When I think back to February, oh so long ago, I realize how much has happened throughout this pandemic; the rallies, BLM, the election, and above all, change. I have changed as a person, everyone has. Now if that change is good or bad is questionable, but whatever the case, we need to embrace it because we can't change reality; all we can do is hope for the best and keep pushing on.