The Year of Quarantine

I think my dad jinxed all of us after he played “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It” by R.E.M. while picking me up from school on Friday, March 13, 2020. Two weeks off from school? Great! I get to go to bed late, sleep in, watch Netflix, and just relax. Didn’t exactly plan for that to be my daily routine for the next 6 months. 

Going to the same school my entire life, you would think that I had enough time at that school. Well, I did not. My eighth grade year was taken away from me in an instant. No D.C. trip, no formal, and no normal graduation. 

Online school was very easy at the start, mostly because my teachers didn’t know how to use it. The workload was easy and I had a lot of time to myself. Maybe too much time. I wasn’t able to see my friends or live out the rest of my normal year. Leaving this class was going to be hard either way, but with a pandemic, I never got a real opportunity to say goodbye. 

The month before we were quarantined, I had surgery on my wrist. It was a long process of casts and physical therapy. So, staying home was a good thing and a bad thing. 

Staying home meant that I didn’t use my wrist too much so it was able to heal. However, I was barely allowed to see my doctor and physical therapist. Wrist exercises at home were not easy. It was a long and very painful experience that damaged my physical health. But, squeezing stress balls and stretching my wrist out occupied my time. 

Even in a cast, I still managed to get my daily workout in. When I say “daily,” I really mean “daily.” From March 14- the middle of July, I would work out every single day to stay in shape. I had always known about the intensity that Padua sports have and the requirements it takes to belong to the program. Because of these requirements, I was inspired to work hard all summer to be able to make the volleyball team in the fall. It paid off because I was placed on the JV volleyball team for the season of 2020. 

Not only did my physical body change, but my mental state changed too. Being with only myself and my family for that amount of time made me focus on myself and helped me be more independent and confident. 

Social media had a huge impact on me for the past year. It helped influence my interests, appearance, personality, etc. Before covid, I only cared about what other people thought, and it is still in progress, but I am learning to do what makes me happy.

Staying in touch with old friends was hard. Facetime, texting, and other platforms like that were not enough. When quarantine started, it was almost like a trial run of who would stay in touch in highschool and who wouldn’t. This summer gave me a heads up of who my real friends were. 

I have also made new friends over the past year that I can safely say I probably would not have been friends with if COVID-19 never happened. I am so glad that they are in my life now because they have helped me shape myself into a new person compared to myself a year ago.

If I could end Covid right now I would, but I wouldn’t go back to change my past year because I would not be who I am today without it. COVID has been hard, but I am thankful for the experience and ready to move onto a regular high school career.