In a perfect world, COVID would not exist. But it does, and now we all must adjust to living a life with COVID, even if we are not personally dealing with the illness ourselves.
Do you remember when back to school consisted of the simple worries “I wonder who my homeroom teacher is”, “what should I wear on the first day of school”, “who will I sit and have lunch with”. That has all changed. In fact, most of us have not entered a school building for over a year. Gosh, how I miss the smell of brand-new textbooks, or sweeping the dust mites that lay under the classroom heater, walking the busy halls as we exchanged classrooms, dress down day at school. I’ll admit, I have no idea what in person school will be like, especially for those that had no choice but be homeschooled the first year of the pandemic, like myself. I’ll be a 10th grader in a new school, new city… woah! It’s scary, right? I mean, before I would worry about the normal back to school stuff, but now I worry about being the new kid and COVID too. I am sure like me, you’ve signed up for sports, extracurricular activities. Will they be canceled? Will we have to wear masks? What about school dances and field trips? So many questions…
Let’s agree on this, life since COVID hasn’t been easy. We’ve had to adjust to a different life without warning. Sure, we come up with ways to live a “normal life”, but what is normal anymore. Life is about experiences, having fun, being a teen, going to school without a mask, not having to worry about facemask breakouts and honestly, just doing the simple things we love without so many restrictions.
Optimism is what we should rely on now. Life changes every day. Hopefully, COVID has taught us all not to take anything for granted, not people or things. Looking ahead will give us all anxiety, it’s normal, it’s the fear of the unknown. Safety is 100% #1. I’d say, go with the flow, create a plan, stay in touch with your friends, shop for cute facemasks (if you suffer from facemask acne, change it often and use oil sheets). We have proven we could make it through the first COVID lockdown. We celebrated birthdays and graduation with drive by parades, we facetimed with friends and made endless tiktoks. Together we can get through anything, be kind to everyone, we are all in this together.
Xo,
Penelope Bellerjeau
www.penelopeb.net
Insta: Penelope Bellerjeau
