2020 was supposed to be a big year for me, but the coronavirus had other plans! The pandemic canceled my plans and as heartbroken as I was, I have learned many important lessons.
We have all been effected by the COVID-19 pandemic in one way or another. There are the obvious effects from the pandemic such as being required to social distance, quarantine, and wear facial masks. There are less obvious effects such as job furloughs/layoffs, increased anxiety, and canceled plans/important events. Undoubtedly, the consequences of the pandemic has seeped into all areas of life. While none of us have known how to move through this time, it is comforting to know that we truly are all in this together. However, I can only speak to my experience in all of this.
I am a 2020 graduate. Y'all, I got my Master's Degree! I have gone to school for the last five years in pursuit of this degree and I had planned to walk across that stage and do a victory dance. Corona had other plans. I persevered through an institutional merger, two challenging internship experiences, and a global pandemic to get this degree. I could not be more proud of this accomplishment! That is something the pandemic could not take away.
While I so wish I could have enjoyed "Senior Week" festivities, walked across the stage, gotten to be aware of experiencing my "last" activities, and gotten closure for this huge part of my life, I have learned so much because I didn't have that opportunity.
When this pandemic is over, these are the things I hope I never forget.
Don't push things off until "later", you never know if later will come
All fall semester and spring semester, I postponed things that I wanted to do. I kept telling myself "I have time" thinking I had the whole rest of the semester to get around to hanging with that friend, or going to the club, or going to that museum. I would tell myself "I can do it when it gets warmer outside". In the fall, I spent my weekends just trying to keep afloat with assignments, preparing for the next week, and resting so that I could get through each week of my intense internship. I was doing the bare minimum to survive being a student. In the spring, I only had six weeks of my last semester of school ever and I didn't know it. I spent that time working every Friday and Saturday night trying to make money for my trip to Portugal. Spoiler alert: Corona had other plans... I couldn't go to Portugal. Actually, as I write this, I should be somewhere in Porto, Portugal but instead I am sitting in my childhood bedroom in rural Pennsylvania.
Don't take the "little" things for granted
I will be the first to admit that I take a lot in my life for granted. And sadly, it takes huge, life altering events like the death of a loved one or a global pandemic to realize it. I can so easily get caught up in my phone while someone is talking to me. I never realized before this pandemic that it is a privilege to be able to hang out with my best friends or hug my grandparents. Now that my state is slowly reopening, the simple act of shopping in Target and TJMaxx has filled me with so much joy. It is my hope that when the "new normal" does arrive, and we can go back to somewhat usual living, I hope I don't take for granted a sold out movie theater, a wait-time to be seated at my favorite restaurant, or a room full of my friends and family.
Remember you are exactly where you are supposed to be
I'm going to be very candid. My mental health has suffered throughout the course of this COVID-19 pandemic. I know I'm not alone, but at times it felt like I was because I didn't know if anyone else who was feeling the way I was. I mourned the loss of the last seven weeks of my semester. I mourned not getting to say proper goodbyes to my professors, mentors, and friends. I mourned not getting a graduation ceremony. I also mourned all of my trips that got canceled. I was supposed to go to Vermont for the first time to enjoy Maple Syrup Season and a Ben & Jerry's factory tour. I was supposed to go to Portugal to celebrate graduating. And I was supposed to go to Disney (my happy place). I had A LOT of losses. On top of it all, I had to move back home with my parents. I love my parents to death, but as a 23 year old who has been living on her own for the last five years, moving home with the parental figures is...challenging to say the least. I don't want to be back in little old Greenville and to say I love and miss Boston is an understatement. I truly feel like I left a piece of my soul in that city when I was forced to move out. And guys, searching for a job in a global pandemic is hard. BUT. I am trying to remember and embrace that I am exactly where I am supposed to be right now. I've been away for the majority of my family's events over the last five years. But now that I'm home, I've had the opportunity to see my grandma on her birthday (from a distance) and celebrate Mother's Day. I've been able to have family dinners, snuggle with my dogs, go get coffee with my best friend, and simply enjoy being around my family. I am where I am supposed to be because I am with my biggest support system during one of the most difficult times in everyone's lives.
You need to be intentional about practicing self care
Y'all, this is so important. Self care is so important and we all need to learn that it is not selfish to practice it. Self care by definition is any activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health (I googled it). With a lot of uncertainty, stress, loss of normalcy and change in routine self care became very important during this pandemic and then as I searched for jobs. I will admit, I suck at practicing self care. It's easy to sit and watch a Netflix episode or two...or five...and call it self care and that's exactly what I was doing. But when that really wasn't helping me, I was still feeling irritable or withdrawn I realized that I need to be intentional about self care. Ways to become more intentional about it is to carve out 30 minutes a day for any self care activity or write it in a planner or on your to do list so you can check it off at the end of the day. Also, think of different self care activities that you will look forward to and feel rejuvenated by. I have been enjoying filling out a book called The Positivity Kit by Lisa Currie because it forces me to think about things that make me happy or feel good. I also have enjoyed spending time with loved ones or treating myself to my favorite Starbucks drink. It's all about adding elements into our daily routine that bring joy and fulfill ourselves.
We are still going through this unprecedented time, all just trying to do our best, but I think we would be remiss if we don't take this opportunity to learn from this time and these challenges. I hope that for anyone reading this, you stay healthy and safe and find these lessons to be helpful or relevant. I also hope you know that you are not alone if you have found this time to be challenging or find yourself struggling or angry or sad that 2020 canceled your plans too. Your feelings are valid, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Sending all my best,
xoxo
the Blue Eyed Bostonian
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