The year 2020 has been full of challenges for all of us. We all have gone through a massive amount of ordeals during this epoch. But one more thing that is common to all is the experiences and learnings that we have gained during this period of hardship. We all have our own set of things that we learned during this pandemic, that we could even make a story out of. I want to share my part of the pandemic story, so stay put.
Let me take you to the very beginning. I was reading my newspaper in January, on winter’s eve, and suddenly I spotted an article which read “New Chinese Virus”. I just read the basic headline and gave a sigh, paid no more heed to it, and flipped through the rest of the pages. Little did I know that this little headline would take over the whole newspaper, in no time.
I was to enter class 12 when all this began. I had planned this year to be full of amusement since this was my last year and a significant one as well, but then who knew what the actual arena would be. My planning for 12th grade was at a peak when suddenly, I heard about the”lockdown”. All my dreams were on the verge of extinction, but I thought it’ll be over soon.
Later when the lockdown continued, I realised that “okay now it’s serious”. I was already in class 12 by now, and our school had started taking classes online. Since this was a completely new thing to us, at first, it was onerous to manage. Also, there wasn’t any video conference happening at the very start, so all we had in hand were some written explanations and voice-over summaries sent to us on WhatsApp by our teachers since this was all of a sudden.
I used to ignore my pends at the beginning, but as the time was moving, I realised the permanency of this change and I started taking it on a serious note.
Things were changing as time did. After a month of the trial of teaching on WhatsApp groups, our school finally took the initiative and moved to video conferencing on G-suit. It was much more comfortable then. We could see each other face to face. It started feeling like a school. It was quite stimulating. But it was still hard to stay motivated and the only thing I was going through was procrastination. I wasn’t able to stop procrastinating and ended up collecting a pile of pending workload on my teeny-tiny head (chuckles).
I was going through an enormous amount of stress and anxiety. I was asking for ways and tips from different people to cope with my studies. But every time the result was just the same, no improvements. I felt like I’ll lack behind this time.
One thing that I now can make out is that the mental impact of the lockdown on students is quite immense. And I believe every one of us is going through the same. We all are going through lots of self-doubts and remorses at this moment. This is pulling us away from doing things and we end up quitting.
Well, it has not been monotonous all the time. For many, it has been beneficial too. Plus we all have got to learn so much of life experience. We can now relate to the fact that “life has to keep going, no matter what”.
If I talk about how much I benefited from it, I would say a lot. I now have started looking at life from a very different perspective. I have started giving importance to everything and everyone now, more than before. I have turned into an extrovert from an introvert. I’m now more open and understanding of people. I have become more jolly. I now have more cramps for knowledge.
If I sum up in a single line, I can notice “spiritual growth” in myself. Now I know the art of dealing with situations. And it’s now consistent. I’m growing day by day.
I would sincerely like to thank my school and teachers for being dedicated to us. They did and are still doing their part to make the best available to us. It’s not only us who are worried about our studies but our teachers also.
This is one amongst a vast list of things that I have learned and it is that I now respect teaching more than any other profession in the world. They are working selflessly to shape our future and this is enough motivation to keep us going.
I would say this lockdown has been a blend of spices for me. I learned, fell, grew, spent, used and whatnot. I have summoned enough strength that I can deal with all sorts of issues single-handedly now.