Ever since the Coronavirus pandemic began, everyone has been wanting to “back to normal,” but is that really a good thing? In my opinion, although challenging in countless ways, quarantine has, no doubt, improved people. I feel that pre-pandemic, everyone was so worried and occupied about their own lives and their problems. With the pandemic, everyone’s life was put on pause. So many eye-opening incidents happened in 2020, showing us what really is happening in the world and the community around us. I learned a lot during quarantine, and here are what I think are the four most important:
There’s always someone having a harder time than me.
We all have bad days, and we all can sometimes think that the smallest of problems is the end of the world. When situations don’t go according to plan, we immediately assume that we are living a hard life. When in truth, it was just that one day that was bad. It’s always good to remind ourselves that there are other people in the world that are living a harder life than us and that one bad day isn’t the end of the world.
Don’t take small things for granted.
It’s crazy to grasp the idea of hugging a friend or family member or simply sitting in a coffee shop right now. We would do these things without even thinking about what could possibly happen; it just happened on a daily basis. This pandemic has made even going to the grocery store seem like such a luxury.
Doing nothing is okay.
In pre-pandemic life, I would be so busy that the thought of doing nothing scared and confused me. I would wake up early, study, go to school, come back home, study some more, go to sleep, and repeat that for five days in a row. And on the weekends, there is always something happening. Whether it be even more studying or going out with friends. Quarantine has introduced a new lifestyle to us all. I would get up whenever I wanted and do my school work whenever I felt like it; there weren’t any rules. Spending some time indoors and by myself, I realized how badly I needed a day where I did absolutely nothing - no chores, no homework, nothing - which seemed odd and strange at the beginning because it wasn’t something I was used to, but I knew that for the sake of my mental health, it needed to happen.
I can’t control everything.
Quarantine, and the past year in general, seemed so beyond our control. Everything happened so suddenly and quickly, not to mention that it was new as well, that even understanding and grasping the situation needed some time. I had a hard time learning that I couldn’t control all the problems that were happening, but I could control my reaction and what I was going to do to fight it.
Needless to say, 2020 was really a year of growth and change in perspective on what’s really important for all of us. All matters considered I can honestly say that 2020 showed us that we need to do better and that there is constantly so much happening in the world. Although not wanted, it was definitely the year we needed; we were too comfortable. We have to take all the lessons we learned, and use them with good intentions in order to move forward and do better.
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