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My experience with the coronavirus pandemic

The good, the bad and the ugly

By Elysia LaidlawPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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This is me, a 20 year old third year Uni student

Before coronavirus became a worldwide phenomenon, I was the kind of individual who would take all my privileges for granted without even realizing it. Being able to go to people houses, or go to the pub; at first I just thought that it was just a normal part of everyday life but after lockdown happened, it opened my eyes to a million other things.

In March 2020, when the pandemic first began, two people close to me tested positive for it; my mother and my dear friend. Seeing them suffer and feel ill from the disease helped me see that I need to change how I live my life and spend less time in social settings.

I’m not going to lie and pretend it was easy, because it wasn’t. For the first few months I felt like a prisoner, only worse; at least they can social with one another and I was furloughed from work. Going from seeing my friends every other day to only seeing them through FaceTime or Zoom was a blessing in disguise!

I never thought of myself as somebody who could enjoy my own company but I was pleasantly surprised. You see, as a Uni student I live in student accommodation, and the majority of my household went back to their hometown but I decided to stay and get my money worth. By doing that I taught myself how to live alone and enjoy living alone and I learned to love my own company. It was great. I wasn’t depending on anyone nor was I putting anyone else at risk by being around anyone.

There was a few downsides to being alone though: I did feel my mental health decline the longer it went on and I noticed my eating habits get worse. My diet was now consisting of pizza, cake, alcohol, anything with a high percentage of sugar and salt. Not only was I lonely as hell, but I was fat as hell too!

In July, when lockdown rules eased up a bit it did help me because I was able to see my Uni “squad” as I call them and I did help lift my mood A LOT! I was also able to go home for summer and see my family and my mom and my best friend and it was honestly the greatest thing ever.

Fast forward to September; back to Uni; new house; monthly bills etc; it was going to be tough but at least I was back at work so I could earn some extra money. Only this time, lockdown rules were back and were stricter than ever. Pubs were shutting at 10, so we had to be home by 10; couldn’t socialize, same as before really so I was pretty much living life like I was before.

During lockdown I found myself talking to a guy and that was the only thing getting me through lockdown.

Right now it’s October 2020 and it looks as though Halloween AND Christmas are canceled this year and my 21st might also be off the cards at this rate. But it has to be done if we’re going to fight this.

Even though coronavirus has had a downer on life, it has taught me that I’m okay being on own and I should spend more time at home, not constantly being out and socializing. It also taught me to do more things I love; like starting my makeup page on Instagram (@elysialaidlawmakeup) and falling back in love with fitness.

In a nutshell, the pandemic was the best and worst thing to happen in 2020; not just for me, but fit the world. We’ve all had time to reflect and reevaluate and learn that being at home in our own presence is not the be all and end all and it’s probably for the better.

That was my experience with the pandemic. I hope you enjoyed the read.

Bye x

healing
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About the Creator

Elysia Laidlaw

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