Full Speed into Hell
2020 was supposed to be the best year yet, the outlooks were good, plans were in place for some amazing adventures. I had made a commitment to myself, to my academics, and to my friends, and prospects were looking positive as we entered the new year. Within the first few days of 2020, it became very apparent, this my assumptions of good fortune soon were dead wrong. January almost started World War 3, Kobe Bryant and his daughter tragically died, and by the second week of March the Corona Virus had become a global pandemic killing millions and causing entire countries to be shut down. 2020 was deemed the year of disappointment from the very start.
The Corona virus started in China, after someone ate a bat in their soup. At first it was a minor thing, not really on anyone’s mind. And then it got released into our world like a wildfire, it spread across much of Europe hitting Italy the worst. I remember thinking to myself that it would never come to America, and then by the end of that same week I was forced to evacuate my college dorm. It was traumatic to say the least, I had no idea how my classes were going to go, I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my friends. It was a very sad time, but I had not worried them as much. I knew that we would still talk over the phone and that the friendships that mattered would persist through and I was correct in my assumption. I talked daily with my closest friend groups and our connection staid strong. We planned online study sessions and kept in touch through facetime. I learned more about myself in the people I prioritized to keep up with during this time, and the people who prioritized me. Me and my friends were able to push through this hard time and remain close to each other. This also showed me people who I could live without and allowed me to release the people that were not adding anything to my life and live more peacefully.
Living at home was a new struggle. I knew myself and my learning style, and there was a reason why I had left for college in the first place. Having to combine my personal life with my school life was a nightmare I never anticipated. The initial struggles of having to unpack all my things and find a space I could use to study. I still had no idea how my classes were going to work and me and my family were stressed out trying to adjust to this new way of living. Once we were able to fall back into our weekly schedule’s things went smoothly, but sometimes we had a hard time understanding that this was not a break and we all still had responsibilities to school and work. We argued a lot over house chores and things of that nature. I learned more about my personal boundaries and the boundaries of my family members. Adjusting to other people’s schedules were also very difficult. My parents were at their peak productivity early in the morning, while I worked better late into the night and it was a struggle get navigate these different schedules with each other. But these times taught my family a valuable lesson about communication and showed us that we needed to up our game in this department of getting along.
My state had issued a state of emergency and demanded that people self -distance to stop the spread of infection and ‘flatten the curve’, but with no strict enforcement, no one was listening to this. It was springtime, people wanted to go out. Young people are still hanging out with their friends, families are still going to restaurants to get food, and people were swarming grocery stores and pharmacies like they were concert halls. They were buying products in bulk like milk and eggs. Toilet paper was the first thing to run out, along with hand sanitizer and any hygiene cleaning products and medical masks. It really showed how selfish people were being. Seniors were left with nothing because they could not go to the store before things sold out as they were more at risk, people were only thinking of themselves. I was shocked by how unreasonable and reckless people were acting. There were people buying milk 10 cartons at a time, not thinking at all. In some cases communities were coming together to give ideas on how to keep kids occupied, donating materials to the hospitals and workers that were going for weeks on end to try and stop this virus.
