I had everything planned out for the next couple of months.

My internship was going very well. I was soon to start reporting on events on my own. My senior pictures were available and I was in the process of making the invitations for my graduation party. I made calls to the people I cared the most about to make sure they’d be present on my graduation day (many of them were very excited to be part of my special day).

As well as looking into vacation spots for the summer, I was looking at apartments to live in after graduation. Life was blossoming with ideas and new responsibilities, but I had planned accordingly throughout the past months. I was very excited for what was coming, until COVID-19 happened.

It was a colossal setback. I worked very hard to plan for my future. However, maybe a pause was good for a change; a halt on all the planning and a change of focus onto what is important, such as finishing my classes, my health, and spending time with my family during a time like this.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a stressful and scary situation. The number of deaths and infected people have increased. I have been worried about my parents. My father is older and the fear of him contracting this virus has been very frightening. My mother works in the hospital and she comes in contact with several doctors who are taking care of COVID-19 patients. I have faith that my parents will be okay. During times like this, it is good to think positive and have faith because we will get through it.

During this time at home, I have been spending quality time with my parents and my brother. We have been playing card games and cooking traditional recipes. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a traditional plate from my mother’s country. It felt good to have that again because I was living on campus for a while and barely went home. I missed being home until my mother started to bother me for every little thing. However, I can’t complain – that’s how moms are, and it feels good to sleep in my own bed again.

COVID-19 has also helped me rest from my duties as a Resident Assistant. The job was overwhelming, so when the school was shut down it felt relieving. I didn’t think I was going to make it to the end with hectic duties and responsibilities I had. I didn’t feel like myself, which was bad for me. When I didn’t dorm, I was on top of things and practiced lots of self-care, it all got lost when I dormed. After the news of being relieved from the RA position due to the pandemic, I fell back into my self-care routine – it was very much needed. I felt refreshed and started to eat healthier than I did in school, and I also started exercising. Now, I felt like myself again.

Yes, I was doing my best at my internship, work, and as a student, but I was overwhelmed, and this pandemic helped me realize it was time for a break and to focus on what was most important: rebooting myself and staying safe with my love ones.

This pandemic is taking many lives and it’s important to call your loved ones and spent quality time with family. You never know what can happen and when it will be the last time hearing their voices or feeling their hugs. Right now, my family and health is more important than anything else.

I am taking it day by day and I haven’t gone back into planning mode yet. There is too much going on now to plan anything and I really can’t do much until everything is back to normal. Occasionally, I’ll go back into apartment hunting to check the statuses of some places I liked. I have been having a good time apartment hunting, and the fact that I am looking for my own place in a neighborhood that I want to live in, is a huge step in my life.

Once this pandemic is over, my life will go back to moving forward with plans and making them as memorable as possible. I will still be at home, spending the next few months with my parents until I move out on my own.

Cheers to new beginnings, but for now, I’m enjoying yesterday’s comforts as I remember what’s really important in life.