{"id":2661,"date":"2020-03-17T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T19:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=2661"},"modified":"2020-03-17T19:39:41","modified_gmt":"2020-03-18T02:39:41","slug":"how-the-coronavirus-is-impacting-my-life-the-perspective-of-a-high-school-senior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=2661","title":{"rendered":"How the Coronavirus is Impacting My Life: The Perspective of a High School Senior"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Ilona van der Linden<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the end of the world\u2026 I guess.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve seen it in the news, heard it on the radio, watched it on TV. It\u2019s evident in the empty streets, crowded grocery stores, abandoned malls, and closed schools\u2014humanity itself seems to be shutting down.<\/span><\/p>\n

To many, it feels like we\u2019re living in an apocalypse film. They wouldn\u2019t be far off from the truth. Toilet paper is being panic-bought in bulk, and people are fighting over basic necessities. Entire cities are being quarantined. Hospitals are forced to choose who gets life support. We\u2019re locked in our homes, only leaving to scavenge for food or get a little bit of sunlight.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for me? Strangely enough, I\u2019m happy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s a misnomer. Perhaps a more accurate way to describe my current state of being would be \u201crelentlessly optimistic, despite dire circumstances.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m acutely aware of the fact that this virus can\u2019t be taken lightly. I\u2019ve locked myself in my home and upped my already neat-freak hygiene levels to meticulous. My prom and graduation are hanging in the balance\u2014it\u2019s very possible both will get canceled or postponed. I may never attend an admitted students day if I get accepted to college. My office and school are both closed until April at the earliest, my swim practices have been canceled until further notice, and my friends are all getting the same response when they ask to hang out: \u201cSorry, I can\u2019t. I\u2019m self quarantined. Maybe some other time :)\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

I miss life as usual, and all the guarantees that came with it. But that doesn\u2019t mean that I can\u2019t create a new usual, even if it\u2019s only for a few weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m an awfully busy person, usually. I\u2019ve got an internship, a job, school, and a sport. I go out with my friends and family almost every weekend. Having a day to myself, much less two weeks, is a luxury.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the past four days, I\u2019ve done a lot of the things that I\u2019ve always wanted to do, but never had the time to. I sewed up a shirt I\u2019ve been meaning to alter, read a few Shakespeare plays, worked on a few short stories, played video games with friends, redecorated my room, and made a puzzle with my sister. I cooked meals for my family, did the dishes daily, cleaned the kitchen, and went grocery shopping. I\u2019ve designed daily workouts in lieu of swim practice, and made sure to squeeze a little bit of calculus review in there too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And surprisingly, I\u2019ve never been happier.<\/span><\/p>\n

I operate in a perpetual state of stress, so waking up with almost none is better than therapy. Being able to take time for myself has been incredibly healing. Overall, I\u2019m trying to make the most of this time I have with myself and my family. I hope that everyone will try to do the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

But outside of my happy little microcosm, the world is in a panic. We\u2019re rushing to find a vaccine, and to prevent as many deaths as possible. Fearmongering in the media is only getting worse. There\u2019s just so much information out there that it\u2019s difficult to know what to believe. On one hand, you\u2019ve got the alarmists buying a year\u2019s worth of toilet paper and canned food. On the other hand, you\u2019ve got the overconfident, saying that coronavirus is less deadly than the flu and is nothing to worry about.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I think both of those extremes have a grain of truth to them, but it\u2019s important that we\u00a0\u2014 as a society\u00a0\u2014 decide to take the middle ground. We need to be cautious, but that doesn\u2019t mean that we need to panic. Taking precautions such as self-isolation and practicing disease prevention hygiene are vitally important to flattening out the curve and preventing COVID-19\u2019s spread. It\u2019s the least we can do to help protect ourselves, our families, and our communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

In my opinion, COVID-19 is this generation\u2019s world war. It\u2019s no regular battle. It won\u2019t be fought with guns and steel. For the first time in human history, we won\u2019t be fighting each other, but a common enemy: a pandemic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The battle won\u2019t be easy. We\u2019ll lose many lives [and already have], and make difficult sacrifices. However, there\u2019s no doubt that this war will end. When that end comes, we\u2019ll find relief, unity, and most importantly, a renewed sense of hope.\u00a0<\/span>Hope in the generation that united across political lines to pass emergency legislation for the sake of the people. Hope in the generation that spanned continents and nations, all working together to find a cure. Hope in the generation that protected each other, that was selfless and kind, that defeated a pandemic and became better because of it.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Ilona van der Linden It\u2019s the end of the world\u2026 I guess. You\u2019ve seen it in the news, heard it on the radio, watched it on TV. It\u2019s evident in the empty streets, crowded grocery stores, abandoned malls, and closed schools\u2014humanity itself seems to be shutting down. To many, it feels like we\u2019re…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2005,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nHow the Coronavirus is Impacting My Life: The Perspective of a High School Senior - San Diego News Desk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=2661\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How the Coronavirus is Impacting My Life: The Perspective of a High School Senior - San Diego News Desk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Written by Ilona van der Linden It\u2019s the end of the world\u2026 I guess. 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