November 21, 2021: Series 02
"Our world looked like a dystopian movie and it was a culture shock to a lot of people because everything changed so quickly, the whole situation was so surreal."
What has changed in your life for you and your family during this pandemic?
It caused my family to be wary of large group gatherings and we still get overwhelmed at times from seeing a large group of maskless people. We learned to be more cautious of what we touch and who we interact with. We also learned to make sure that we are always washing or sanitizing our hands in order to prevent spreading and catching any diseases. COVID definitely caused us to be grateful for group gatherings and enclosed places such as restaurants and stores.
How do you think COVID has changed the world as a whole?
COVID has changed the world by making it more aware of how easily life can be turned upside down. People everywhere took group gatherings and parties for granted and COVID has shown us how dangerous they could be. It also made people realize how easily something can spread due to the lack of sanitary practices. COVID has also made the world realize how fragile our whole world is and interconnected everything is. When COVID happened, the whole world shut down and everything was closed. Our world looked like a dystopian movie and it was a culture shock to a lot of people because everything changed so quickly and the whole situation was so surreal.
How have you been taking care of your mental and overall health?
I have been taking care of my mental health by making sure to connect with friends and reach out to them. Honestly, talking to friends and even seeing friends has really helped my mental health because it feels great to talk to people who you know. During quarantine, I would often run to peoples' houses and say hi from the sidewalk just to have some human interaction from someone else besides my family. Another way that I take care of my health is by making sure to exercise either by walking, running, or even pushups. I made sure to try to keep active and to keep myself busy in order to make the time go by faster.
How do you think this pandemic will affect your future?
This pandemic will affect my future because it messes with my school experience. COVID made my sophomore and junior year harder because we had less time to learn everything and we often had to skip out on fun activities. Since we had less practice with the school material, it will make my senior year much harder since we were in such a rush to learn everything. Also, it makes connections with teachers a lot harder since we had less time with them in person. Teacher connections are especially important because a letter of recommendation is required for most colleges. Another way it affects my future is that everything during quarantine seems like such a blur that it makes me feel unprepared for college because it feels like I lost a year of high school. Furthermore, nothing will ever be the same after this and there might be more health restrictions in the future in order to prevent another pandemic like this one.
Why do you think it's important to have human interactions with each other?
Human interaction is super important in my opinion. It helps people learn how to communicate with other people which is a very useful skill. Communication is essential to every living thing and it can aid people in growing. Once, I had a coach that said, "There are going to be some weird kids that come out of this." His reasoning was that kids won't build the same social skills as they normally would and so they might become socially awkward. In order to fight this, I made sure to always keep in touch with friends and to see them in person because talking to someone in person is way better than talking to someone through a phone.
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