Covid-19: We Are In This Together!

"We are all in this together" a quote I hear everywhere I turn. But as a teenager, I sit here and wonder how true this actually is?

Covid-19 has sprung a large burden on students. Online classes, staying attentive and interested, zoom fatigue, piles of work and then some more work, and most of all isolation and loneliness. It almost seems endless! Ever since school has started, students seem to be constantly repeating the same cycle: school, classwork, homework...repeat. Oftentimes, seeing friends as we pass them in the school hallways, grabbing lunch with them, going to the mall with them, or just being around them would be a much needed break from a stressful day or week. These simple tasks now feel like mere memories from the past. Now all we, teenagers, do is stay in our rooms, scrolling through apps like Instagram and Tik Tok, binge on Netflix shows, and sink further into our mattress. And we do it alone! What is this doing to our mental health, I fear.

March 10th 2020 changed everything for me and my friends. I attend a magnet high school and up until March 10th, my usual complaints were about a teacher who gave me a bad grade, my cells dying in the lab overnight, or why we aren't getting snow days already. Planning for junior prom or other social events were the highlight of our chats. How easy was life! For the last 9 months all we seem to do is migrate from our bed to the desk and spend countless hours staring at screens, seeing our friends through small zoom windows, and trying to stay awake, alert, connected and maybe happy. I constantly hear my parents tell me how blessed we are. They have jobs, we are all healthy, we have a home, wifi, heat, and every basic necessity. But as a teenager, as much as I try to feel happy and blessed I feel alone and scared. I fear for my parents who go to work as frontline workers. I feel for my sister who missed her senior prom, high school graduation and is now trying to have some normalcy as a freshman in college, despite having so many restrictions on campus. I worry about my brother who now plays video games for longer hours than he would have if he were in school. I miss my core group of friends who are so close on that zoom screen yet so far away. Are they feeling the same fears and worries that I am? Are they waking up every morning pushing to feel optimistic as we hear about a vaccine? Are they trying to avoid listening to the news that talks about more deaths and more cases? Are they silently praying for life to go back to normal while making a promise that they wouldn't take their ‘normal lives’ for granted?

If we are in this together, are we sharing these fears with each other? Are we taking a moment to ask our friends how they are doing with ‘our new normal’? I just want to hear another 16 year old tell me they have the same worries so I don't feel like the odd one out? If each of us takes on the responsibility to let go of the stigma surrounding mental health and take the responsibility to check on, talk with, and share with just one peer our fears and anxiety, then we will truly be in this TOGETHER!