David H., Northmont Middle School
How the Pandemic Changed my Life
Without warning, the threat of a pandemic disrupted my life, eliminated everything I knew as normal, and induced stress and anxiety. My new normal isn’t all bad. I miss my friends, I miss school, but slowing down with family and focusing on a more active lifestyle are positive and healthy changes. Life as you know it can change in an instant and while the disruption feels catastrophic, it can bring positive and healthy changes.
School had just let out in mid-March, my seventh-grade year. I was in my kitchen grabbing an afternoon snack when my mom called me. “I hope you grabbed everything from your locker today. It looks like we won’t be going back anytime soon,” she said. At first, I was excited to not have school. The governor of our state called it “extended spring break.” My excitement faded as the extra days at home and social distancing from life as I knew it became weeks, then months. Isolated from my friends, from my activities, from regular coming and going to and from restaurants, and haircuts and all things normal started to take a toll on me. No one left our house and things felt tight and secluded.
Not having opportunities to be social is tough for a teenager. Transitioning unexpectedly to online classes caused struggles. Missing church and youth group created empty feelings. Google meets and Zoom took over everything, from school, to visits with extended family, to production of live television like Saturday Night Live. We celebrated Easter sunrise service at home on our own back patio. Milestones and field trips were missed. Amusement parks and movie theaters closed. Nothing felt normal anymore, leaving me upside down and stressed. Life marched on, but more slowly and with so many restrictions
A normal day for me doesn’t look like it did six months ago and that isn’t all bad. Together with my family, I found creative ways to spend my time. I found a new interest in biking and scootering and spent many days outdoors together exercising. I connected with neighbors building friendships and worked on projects in our community that assisted elderly homeowners. Without a busy schedule and an overextended to-do list, my family bonded in these activities with me and over game nights and weekend bonfires.
In conclusion, I learned that life can change in the blink of an eye. You never know what is going to happen in the next ten seconds, let alone the next ten years. Change can bring good, and bad. This year, we have all experienced negative change, with COVID-19 shutting down the nation, protests and riots happening this summer, and all of us getting put into a new “normal” world. However, we all had good changes in our lives. We all had the opportunity to get outside more, and get exercise. Some of us learned new skills, some of us learned new things about
