By Patricia M. Ramon | The Rider
When this new way of life began back in March, I was sighing with relief because I suffer from depression and severe anxiety, so having some time to rest and not interact directly with other people sounded nice. Now, after spending almost half a year in quarantine, I’m sad that I won’t get to spend my last fall semester on campus with my friends.
I wanted to go to the different events on campus, like the farmers market and get lunch with my friends at the Student Union. I pictured Halloween would be spent with my friends seeing “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” at Cine El Rey. My desk at The Rider’s office would be decorated and I wouldn’t be meeting my coworkers through a screen. My favorite professor would catch up with me in the hallways of the Liberal Arts Building South and we’d talk about my new job.
I miss staying on campus super late editing stories and having to walk back to my car that’s parked all the way by the baseball field because my 9 a.m. class was five minutes from starting … and trust me I never thought I’d miss that, but I do.
I had always dreamed about what my last year of college would be like. I dreamed of who I’d grow to be, what I’d have accomplished and the fun I’d have. You would think that now I’m dreaming of life after quarantine, but I’m not. This pandemic has taught me to stop romanticizing the future so much and focus on the life I’m living now because it’s never guaranteed that you’ll have tomorrow and if you do, there are no promises that it will be just like today.
On the bright side, we have more time to spend with ourselves. We have these precious extra moments with our families that we need to cherish because there’s no telling where life will take us after graduation. Who knows, if this pandemic never happened maybe we’d be wishing we had spent more time with our loved ones.
Before this quarantine, I often asked myself, “Why can’t the world stop for just one moment so I can have a chance to rest?” Turns out the world can stop; sometimes for a little too long. This moment, though it may seem like it will, won’t last forever, so for right now do what you won’t be able to do when the world starts again.
