We asked teens to share how Coronavirus has impacted their daily lives. Islay Grace Morrison, a student at Corondelet High School in Concord, California shares her take.
Wake up at 7:15. Stay in sweats. Keep my hair in a bun. Apply some mascara for the incoming Zoom calls. Make my iced coffee and breakfast. No matter what: stay inside.
I carry on with the normal day, every hour and a half jumping from class to class, with a small break at 11:30, for lunch. After school I take a small break to clean my room and zone out to Netflix. Then I do my few hours of homework. After, I put on some workout clothes and power through a workout designed to energize and distract my mind. Then, I hop on another Zoom call with my awaiting dance class.
Although this all seems good, fun, chill, relaxing, this monotonous routine begins to wear down on my mind, body, and spirit. It’s not the routine, but the unknown. The unanswerable questions like “How long will this last?” “When will I hug my friends again?” “When can I sit in a classroom community surrounded by other students?”
Instead of constantly focusing on the unknown, I distract my mind with the good. There’s finally sea life in the canals in Venice and clean air in the Bay Area. All this is good and happy, and it helps to surround myself with the positives. But then the news: more cases of the Coronavirus in Contra Costa County, the president calling COVID-19 the “Chinese virus” or falsely claiming the FDA has approved a drug, and more stories of the escalating situation. The things that we used to take for granted are becoming more yearned. Sitting in a coffee shop, listening to music, and working diligently on homework surrounded by other hard workers. Walking to dance class surrounded by others who share similar passions.