Throughout the pandemic and the couple of lockdowns that have gone into effect as a result, mental health is something that many have been focusing on. The news and world around us can seem bleak and dull, leaving many, including myself, feeling blue and alone. Especially since school has transitioned to completely remote learning, this bleakness can be felt in everyone. Can there be any positives that come out of this?
According to Instagram: not really. In a poll we did on our story, 16 voted that their mental health has been affected positively during COVID, while 107 said it was affected negatively.
“It has made it more difficult for me to maintain the motivation to be invested in my classes and actually gather more. I’m not as receptive and retentive to the information that is taught, it takes me longer to process it and I focus more on getting assignments done,” said Freshman Vinny Anderson.
Junior Grace Amine shares the same sentiment, feeling lonely and stressed as she does school from home.
“It’s difficult being around the same people all the time, so when you can’t see your friends and take a break and eat lunch with them, it’s really draining. When you’re on a call all day for school and you’re expected to do work after school, it makes for such a long day. You have to wake up early because you stayed up late doing homework or studying for tests, and then you go to bed late because you need to stay up and study for tests or do homework,” said Amine.
Another junior, Annie Baker struggles with anxiety, depression, and ADHD. She has had a unique experience compared to others, as mental health is something she’s become familiar with.
“[I feel] negatively on some days and good on others. It depends on what I’m doing. Sometimes I get bored or sad, and there’s nothing to help it,” said Baker.
Although the majority of the people who voted on this poll have seen this experience as negative for their mental health, Sophomore Carlos Hernandez has a different view.
“There has been a benefit to this, and I think this is a very big lesson to everybody. You know, you could focus on the bad stuff but also focus on the good stuff. We’ve learned how to deal with loneliness, we’ve dealt with hard times with each other and not being able to see anyone, which is a huge lesson. It kind of taught everyone to be calm and find new ways to be positive and stay active,” said Hernandez.
In the end, despite their original thoughts, Anderson, Amine, and Baker were all able to look at their situations differently as well, looking at how they’ve coped and the new hobbies they have returned to or picked up.
“Being at home has had some positive effects, it has allowed me to explore my hobbies and interests more and apply for jobs. It’s even allowed me to start a business which I probably wouldn’t have been able to do if I didn’t have the time,” said Anderson.
Although this year can be summed up in many negative ways, this time we’ve had at home has allowed us to discover new things about ourselves and start our own creative passion projects. Many may come out of this year feeling relieved it’s over, but for many they may look back on it with pride, thinking about everything they’ve accomplished by themselves.
