Coronavirus and the Reasons Why Even the Solution Is a Problem

There are a lot of things in life that I’m really used to and think of as a certainty. Before this year, going to school and seeing my friends was something that I always counted on happening. When things are changing as much they are right now, nobody’s sure what to be certain of anymore.

I have never really been dissatisfied with the pattern of my life. I enjoy school as long as I have a good teacher. I love reading, writing, and thinking of stories, rock climbing, and being with my friends, so there’s always something to keep me busy. Now, many of the things I usually like to do are gone and I can’t regularly see a lot of important people in my life.

If this was just vacation, we would be able to visit friends and family. We would be able to go to public places. If it was just regular school and work time, we would see our teachers and friends. But instead, everybody has to stay inside and away from others. We’re having all of the bad parts of a vacation and none of the good parts, and we also have all of the bad parts about school or work and none of the good parts. It’s like having winter with mosquitos but without any good snow and no holiday.

When the quarantine first started, I expected it to be over soon. Since I didn’t have a regular schedule of school and recess anymore, my parents started encouraging me to go outside or exercise. Sometimes I saw my friends if we went on distanced walks. But the limited amount of things I could do quickly got boring.

The quarantine was extended, then extended again, and then again. I learned that we weren’t having a graduation trip, which we usually do at my school, and maybe not even a grad. My class wrote a version of a Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and now we won’t properly get to perform it. Things like this are happening to everyone and nobody knows how long we are going to be living like this.

Also, I see firsthand that it’s not just people my age. My parents are both teachers and neither of them are prepared to do online schooling. All of the teachers that I have talked to aren’t sure how to teach when they can’t look at their students’ faces and figure out what everyone needs. I haven’t talked to a single person that enjoys online schooling and constant isolation. Maybe it should be a comfort that we really are in this together. But I and most others just want it to end.

I started to have a lot of trouble with being motivated to actually do schoolwork. I care a lot about doing well in school and, if I have good teachers, I always want to please them. Now I can’t see them anymore, so most of my motivation is gone. Since I’m only at home, school doesn’t seem as real.

Maybe it would be okay to do one course online, if the rest of the time I got to be at school but overall, online classes aren’t working well for me or for anyone I know. Also, now I understand how people feel when they don’t like school because right now there’s hardly anything I like about it.

All I can do, and all anyone can do right now, is try not to think like that. I just try to take pleasure in little things, like talking to my friends and my teacher. And some people have it worse than others. Some people are alone or with people that they don’t want to be with. But that doesn’t make any of my problems or the things I’m upset about irrelevant. Everyone can be upset about what’s changing for them right now. And I try not to think too much about the future. If I do think about the future a lot, I get more upset and worried about everything that is and isn’t happening. The best thing to do is live in the moment.

This quarantine is the solution. It may also be a problem for a lot of people, what with having to get used to online school or not being able to work. I know it’s a big problem for me. It’s hard to realize that self-isolation is helping us, even if it’s difficult. It’s the solution to the bigger problem. So no matter how badly it’s going, we have to deal with it. It is a problem. But it’s a much better problem than the problem of Coronavirus. Saying “it could be worse” hardly helps. But it’s the best we can do.