My Pandemic Experience
Covid-19 has been around for about a year now and it has been affecting the lives of millions of people around the world. It hit everyone like a surprise as people were so caught up with their lives, but the past year gave us a wake-up call that we shouldn’t take the world around us for granted and just get lost in our lives. Here is my experience of the pandemic.
I was a college student when I first heard the news about a virus that appeared in China and was contagious. To me it was just another piece of news that I’d ignore as it didn’t concern me. I remember my final exams were coming near everyday and that was the only thing on my mind. When the cases started to appear in Pakistan and everything was shutting down including the institutions, I got confused that why are we fearing a small virus. I guess I was being a little selfish at that time because I didn’t want to change my life in anyway.
When the virus reached its peak in the world, every day I kept hearing about lives being lost to this virus, that was the moment I got scared. We started to follow the SOPs recommended by the government. All my family members avoided going out of the house. Staying in the house and looking at the news about how much messed up the world was really started to affect my mental health as well.
There was one thing that really helped me through this difficult time and that was online gaming with my friends. As technology and social media helped people to cope with this isolation by keeping them busy and in touch with their loved ones, it provided me with a way to keep my mind away from all the tensions in the world. I was an introvert and did not have a lot of friends. Online gaming allowed me to interact with people from my city and country and with people from different parts of world. We became good friends. It helped me improve my communication skills and interact with people in an efficient way and later to interact and make new friends when I got admission in university. Although I was never in physical contact with my friends, the fact that I was able to talk to them and have fun was one of the most important things.
This pandemic has affected the education sector in the whole world. I got admission in my favorite field in university but as the mode of education was online during this pandemic, I like many other students suffered a lot in understanding the courses. As this type of medium was new, it had some problems in it for both teachers and students. It was hard for me to focus at times and thus, this situation had an adverse effect on my overall studies
It was during this whole time in the lockdown, I came to realize that books, studies, movies are not the only important thing in life. I was so focused on pursuing my goals that I forgot to spare time for my family and friends. It was the first time in a long time that I got time to sit and have a proper chat with my parents. I believe I have become a better person during this lockdown and certain practices have groomed me a lot.
I hope to work on myself and become an even better person in future. Hope this pandemic ends soon so we can resume our normal lives and revive different things that have been badly affected in this pandemic.
By Taha Ilyas
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Aero-19-B