How COVID-19 Has Impacted My Life

I woke up one morning and I was afraid to be Chinese. I remember looking on Instagram and seeing all the violent and racist acts directed towards Asians and wondering what I should do if I was ever in a similar situation. Although I was born in Canada with a Chinese background, for the first time in my life, I was cautious about going outside, something I never thought I would worry about. 

In these unprecedented times, there have many reports of increased acts of racism towards Asians in North America and globally, so that only increased my worries.

When the virus hit Toronto, the phrase that I said the most at home was, “Wash your hands!” to all my family members. I was no doubt extremely paranoid and worried about everyone. 

One evening, my mom asked me about what she should say if someone acted racist towards her and I remember carefully teaching her certain English phrases that would get her out of harm’s way. I suggested walking away, calling 911, and responding in a peaceful manner. I only hoped that she would never experience anything like that. 

Fortunately, that’s never happened but I felt a glimpse of the lives of those that are marginalized and discriminated in society. It’s allowed me to better appreciate those that are able to thrive in these situations and better appreciate my everyday life before the virus. 

Luckily, as a student with many hobbies but never enough time to do them, COVID-19 has provided me with all the time in the world to do the painting and piano playing that I desire.

I often find myself wondering about what my next activity should be, something that was impossible before this. As an International Baccalaureate (IB) student, I’m constantly drowned in homework and completing my Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) activity hours. 

For those that don’t know, CAS is a mandatory requirement in the International Baccalaureate program where the students must complete 50 hours in each of the 3 strands, Community, Activity and Service over an 18-month period. Due to the large workload that I was receiving, I would often spend hours and hours completing homework and keeping up with my CAS activities. 

Now, I have the entire day at home to attend to my online classes and instead of problems with the workload, I struggled initially with getting myself to maintain the same productivity and motivation to complete my assignments without the pressure of physically attending school.

To overcome this problem, I found that setting an overall goal really helps me to keep up my motivation to do all my homework. For example, my goal during this break is to learn as much as I can with my online classes so I can be best prepared for my grade 12 year.

Now my weekdays consist of online classes almost every day, at varying times, using platforms such as Google Meets and Zoom, which allows my teachers to assign and teach coursework. I try to wake up and complete all my assignments as if it’s a regular 9:00 AM – 3:15 PM school day and so far, it’s been really helpful in helping me stay on top of all my tasks. 

I’m fortunate that many of my hobbies can be done indoors so I’m rarely bored, but there are times during the week where I experience extreme boredom. To overcome this new plight, I’ve been able to try out new activities such as playing ping pong on my kitchen table and following online meditation exercises on YouTube. 

COVID-19 has impacted my life in subtle and profound ways. This entire stuck-at- home experience has helped me work on my strengths and weaknesses and helped me become stronger mentally.  

On this note, I want to mention that it’s ok if your day isn’t as productive as you hoped or if you weren’t feeling as good as you wanted. Everyone is coping with this situation differently, but I suggest using this time for some self-care and love. Use this time to try new things and make good memories that you’ll be able to look back upon with a smile.