What 2020 Had in Store for the World
This essay was submitted as part of the FCSS-FESC’s Beyond the Page Essay Contest. As such, it represents the opinions of Elaine Nie and is not representative of the official stance of the FCSS-FESC.
COVID-19 changed everything the world had planned for 2020. For Canada, the virus started to impact the country around the middle of March. It has already been nearly a year now, and it still affects our lives significantly. Over this past year, individuals, schools, and families have all started to adjust to this new normal. Families are only able to connect and conversate over glitchy images of their loved ones, hoping that they are staying safe during these hard times. Schools have different learning systems, teaching strategies and protocols to ensure that students can get their proper education safely. However, due to these new changes, all students have adjusted their lifestyles accordingly and I was no exception.
Learning strategies, was a huge adjustment that I had to make. Whether it was online learning, or the new quarter system that was introduced in some secondary schools, I lost the routine that kept me working throughout the year. There was no longer a certain period that I had to stay at school, or a time in the morning that I had to wake up to get ready for a school day. Many times, I found it challenging to be motivated to learn and complete the schoolwork, and I am sure many students felt similar emotions. Students all lost a place and time to talk to friends, teachers, and other members of the community. Eventually, I found ways to motivate myself to learn by setting achievable goals everyday to make sure that I am getting all my homework completed. By doing this, I also found time to spend with family and friends, but everything still felt extremely different and new.
Less time spent at school translated to an increased amount of time spent with family that I lived with. At first, this was a nice contrast to what life was like before; I could have conversations with my parents/siblings throughout the day instead of only at dinner. However, as we spent more time together, arguments quickly arose. Some of my friends that I contacted during lockdown said that it just seemed like their parents were constantly in their rooms reminding them of the pile of homework that they procrastinated on during lockdown and online learning. Many students thought that their parents were too controlling and did not like them staring at a computer screen all day. Later, I found that my relationship with my family improved significantly after starting to play card games together on weekends. I suggest other families try to have family-wide activities so that their relationship does not get too stale or boring.
Having a positive relationship with my parents allowed the atmosphere in my house to be cheerful and filled with laughter. This helped me with my emotional health because my mood was very reflective of the environment that I lived in, even though at that time the world was filled with uncertainty and worry. Another contributing factor that helped me with my mental wellbeing was my improved sleep schedule. During times where school started at around eight in the morning, I had to get up very early to eat breakfast, pack my bag and walk twenty minutes to arrive at school. This made it very difficult for me to get the eight to ten hours of sleep that was recommended for teenagers, due to homework and other extracurricular activities that took place in the evenings. Being in lockdown and online learning made it possible for me to gain more hours of sleep because most extracurricular activities were either cancelled or moved online, which spared me lots of extra hours to put into my homework, resulting in an earlier sleep time. Overall, COVID-19 has impacted our lives very significantly, but we have been able to come up with solutions and alternatives to continue connecting with family and learning in school. I am very grateful that most of my friends and family have been able to stay safe and healthy, both mentally and physically. I hope that soon, I will be able to see the smiles on everyone’s faces again and not just the curves of their eyes.
This essay was submitted as part of the FCSS-FESC’s Beyond the Page Essay Contest. As such, it represents the opinions of Elaine Nie and is not representative of the official stance of the FCSS-FESC.
Originally published on April 13, 2021.
