While Covid-19 might is the biggest story of 2020, the struggles that COVID has caused are just as important.

It’s been almost a year that we have dealt with COVID. In March 2020, we all went on the bus, car, sidewalk, or even bike to go home for Spring Break, not knowing that would be the last time we would see our friends or teachers before things took a big turn. 

Next thing we know, it is August and we login on to our computers for the first day of school. No one would have thought this would be our new normal. While staying home would have me jumping for joy, it’s not all so shiny. Sometimes there’s those days that I have no motivation to do my work, and stay in bed for an hour before getting up and starting. I just keep telling myself the more I get done, the more time I get to do things I want to do, like watch movies, going on social media, or even sleep. Sleeping is a perk to being online, I get to sleep late and take naps in the day.

December 2020– the week before midterms, has always been stressful, for online or face to face. Now I can’t speak for others, but for me it has been the busiest time of the year.

Study guide after study guide, I feel as if there is not enough time in the day for the things I want to get done. As my mom says, “There’s a pile of things on top of the cracked foundation that I have been fixing every day for 5 months. And all I keep saying is just add that to my pile.” 

While most days are stressful, there are those days where I just take a breath and say to myself, “ I can do this!” I go to my assignment and hop on a zoom call. Kyden Wiley, a journalism student says, “I feel like the easiest thing, is just hopping on a zoom and talking. My teachers are right there and can help me.”

Being alone most of the day gets sad at times. I don’t get to laugh with my friends at lunch, or sit next to them in the classroom. I have to wait until they are out of school to talk to them. In the beginning of the year it was easier to talk to them, because we were all at home. But now I am on my own most of the time. For my parents, they have sacrificed so much. I can’t see my mom or step dad, during the week, for they are essential workers. My Dad and Stepmom are teachers and are exposed. I’ve been staying with my grandparents to try to keep everyone as safe as possible.

COVID-19 has changed many people’s lives. It has caused struggles no one could ever imagine. Who would have thought to get in your car and turn back around for a mask, I sure haven’t. In conclusion, school has changed, lives have changed, and the world will never be the same. We will all remember this year in some way. For me, it has been a wild and crazy learning experience. 

My experience isn’t unique. A lot of students are having the same and similar struggles and learning how to deal with our new normal. Below is a column that my fellow journalism student Madeline Langrehr wrote.

COVID-19 completely and utterly sucks

By Madeline Langrehr

If I’m being completely honest, Covid-19 has completely and utterly sucked. It’s something new and scary and dangerous, so of course it’s frightening. However, it isn’t just changing our personal lives, it’s affecting our entire being, school, work, friends, everything.

None of us expected this. It happened early winter and schools got shut down late March. Almost everyone was scared. I know I was. I was looking forward to staying home all day everyday, like most teens were, but now I want nothing more than to leave this house and go to school. 

Covid really put my mental health to the test. It’s been horrible. I’ve lost almost all of my friends, and those who I haven’t are also struggling. I thrive off of human connection, so for there to be a pandemic to separate me from my friends was horrible.

I’ve met up with a few of my friends over quarantine, and it was wonderful, I miss them a lot. I rely on them to be there for me and to make me laugh and smile. My friend Gissel for example, we know how to make each other laugh and smile even when we’re both sad, we don’t like talking about our feelings and emotions and we respect each other, to the point where I don’t know what I’d do without her.

I never really imagined what this would be like, I’ve had daydreams about a zombie outbreak, but this isn’t quite there. This is like the edge, right before, where everyone is infected but they haven’t transformed yet. I think this may be worse. People being forced to separate from their family to keep them safe, buildings shutting down, it’s crazy. 

A zombie apocalypse and this seems kind of even. COVID is testing people’s mental strength everywhere, and a Zombie outbreak just kind of tests everyone in general. 

I’ve had a rough COVID. I’ve gotten really close to just giving up on everything, giving up on friends, school, my mental health, that all seems so much easier than putting up with all of this.  It’s difficult to not give up. Sometimes I think I should.

I’ve learned a lot throughout this pandemic though. I’ve learned more about myself, like I love taking showers and doing face care way more than I remember, and that I can’t sleep without some sort of sound playing in the background. I’ve also learned that my mental strength is crumbling though. 

So when my mental strength begins to crumble, I remember to take a step back and focus on that. No matter what I’m doing, I will always prioritize my mental health above all else, and I believe everyone else should too. 

Take moments to relax and unwind, eat food, drink water, take baths, all the stuff you need to do to relax and de-stress yourself because that’s what’s really important especially now. We all have to remember that it’s okay to break-down and cry sometimes. That’s normal, just take your time and relax. That’s honestly what’s most important right now.