Isolated: Lockdown Through A Teen's Eyes

The answer is within this very story. The answer to all my problems. Of course, you may not know me, you may be the only person to read this. That is not the point, this is my outlet, my perspective on the world - it may seem weird (I understand that), but it doesn't to me. For the past couple of years, my life has drastically changed.

Divorce, not my own of course but my parents. Then the pandemic came along and threw another spanner in the works. I have slowly become an outcast. Maybe I haven't (the self-doubt is evidently splurging through). My interests and dreams have flown afar from what is my generation's norm, and I have no interest in becoming a public figure. I simply want to help myself and others if at all possible. Monetary gain is not the point of this. It's a community. We as humans are social beings; this is the focal point of the 21st century.

Social media is my generation's drug. We are addicted to apps that were created with good intentions but have only had its detrimental consequences. It is perspective that matters. It is such a norm that we do not realise this, my friends would not accept this opinion, but this is the hard truth we have all grown blind to. Since this pandemic has grown the need for social interaction, it has fed the beast that is social media. My generation is slowly losing touch with the real world, it is being replaced with a falsified version of a utopian society created by "influencers" that only show their best side, no hardship, no struggle. Just perfection.

This is worrying for my generation. Maybe my friends just haven't matured along with me, that I will never know I have grown apart from them - but rather I have begun to realise they may not actually be my friends, that no one cares about my problems. It's yet another harsh reality where such realisation initially caused a slight breakdown, though it's safe to say I have managed to overcome this feeling. Despite all this, there is still a bigger issue that begs to be addressed.

Isolated, we currently all are. It is deeply terrifying that we as a species have to be forced to save our own, but even then people still don't listen. The struggle is getting to all of us at this point. I am a student, struggling to keep up with schoolwork; I have managed to cut down on distractions* but I somehow still feel distracted. Education is an institution of society. In this pandemic, education has been taken out of education. It no longer feels like learning, rather it feels more of an obligation at this point. It is done alone without that feeling.

*follow to see a later story I will be releasing regarding tackling distractions

Friendship is that feeling. The sense of being with others is being lost in a medical and political sandstorm. It is hard for all of us but I beg of you to stay away from others for the greater good of the planet. I feel worse for children looking towards screens day after day for education and entertainment - Lord only knows what impact this will have on their developing bodies. We're losing nature. No longer appreciated by man or woman, the world has stopped, but the damage towards earth has not. We have the free time to change, yet destruction dwindles on. Take a step back, actually look at what is happening and try to find clarity in this mess. This mess has been created by one thing. One sense.

A sense of drowning in a sea of empty work and procrastination. The flow of life within me is beginning to slow. Not to social media or work or procrastination but to anxiety. I am losing the will power to cope, my life would be better used to create something; that being said, such something is this community. You, the reader, are part of this. I hope to create a comfortable one, one open with each other like a soulmate to the other. one that is not lost in times of hardship. That's the aim.

Endless work from school is hindering this potentiality. I want to devote my mind to this good cause, yet I am trapped in society's weighing expectations. Dedication will prevail, I will not stand for wasted hours. The greater good is my purpose, I'm a naturally helping person, anyone who knows me will confirm that. This is my way of helping a community for anyone to join. This is one half of a whole for me however, for a story can never be completed without love.

Love is everywhere, romantics linger of course. Love is more than that; love, no matter how far away or what barriers stand between it, is always there within yourself, within your very soul. You may not have a partner on this experience but I in fact trust that love is still there deep within you. It just has to be found, like a puzzle you may have to search hard for the missing piece but it is thereby the end. Love takes time (the process is not meant to be easy) it helps create you as a person, fabricates the much needed character development before you fatefully stumble into the love of your life's- well, life. At this moment in time, I wait for the return of this very feeling, which I so believe with unwavering faith that it will prevail. That is what she is for, the distance to me does not matter - the love and connection is all that is needed for a major change that it created in my life.

The very sense of love has been lost in society. Now more than ever, discrimination and hatred between supposed 'different' groups has become so effortlessly clear in modern culture, maintained from its deep roots in history. As it has been highlighted in the past year, the change appears to just be coming over the horizon, though not to me. I do not see it. We are creatures of habit and these groups have created hostility and hatred. They appear set in their ways. I try to be optimistic at the best of times but especially in these worst of times, I struggle to do so at this very moment. Do not hate, try to help. We are all the same at the end of the day. We are all human, we all experience struggle and hardship at some point, no matter race, religion or age. We are all human. Any troubles we all collectively go through can be broken through by family, compassion and love. Dissatisfaction is created when seeking what you do not have. It's hard no matter what you choose to do, it's just rather a choice of what type of hardship you want in life. Despite in my position where I have been forced into my afflictions rather than being able to choose, like many others, I'm trying to create the best out of a bad situation

This is my creation, a manifesto if you will. Though as you may find my following projects may seem unrelated and jump to all places, they are pieces that I believe deserve to be voiced for me and for you. For you and any others, I strive to create a welcoming community that allows for comfort in holding (what may seem like to the public eye) too out-there, too controversial opinions. This project is the first of many, the tip of the iceberg. I hope you have enjoyed this read and I appreciate it if you have read this far. It truly means the world to me right now. It is truly a pleasure to welcome you into the concoctions of my mind.

Thank you for reading, Jonathon Larkins