Pandemic Perspectives

By Ruhama Sahle

The global crisis that the year 2020 has proven itself to be is today a recognized fact. It has undoubtedly turned into a time of much sorrow and various unanticipated events. That being said, to the many who had the privilege of experiencing isolation as the worst side to this global condition, it has afforded us something we've been missing: the time to breathe.

As college students, the transition from semester to semester and from one academic year to the other comes with an extended break. It reminds us of the other life that we run tangentially to that of a college student. More often than not, our winter holidays and summer breaks are peppered with various engagements that we organize in order to improve this skill or learn that new thing.

While the necessity of productivity and improvement remains as is, this pandemic has unveiled that it took a major break in this cycle to help a lot of us realize that perhaps we haven’t been engaging in the right conversations with ourselves and perhaps all the strives to achieve success were building a version of ourselves that we didn’t recognize.

With the majority of the world forced to stay at home, these global conditions enabled us to pragmatize the fantasy of time that we have all spoke eloquently of before, “if I just had more time, I would get my life together.”

Ironically, for many of us, there we were, given so much time and still were incapable of understanding how to navigate isolation. So ironic that it became a running joke. Yet it seems, ultimately, we managed to figure it out.

During the past few months, many have testified to enjoying the time of isolation as it provided them a time to understand who they are. Under the enforced conditions, we had no choice but to treat our boredom in a way that didn’t render the days and nights indistinguishable, as one can argue is the byproduct of binge-watching tv shows.

Perhaps it was once we progressed past spending hours gazing at the tv and even more hours on Tik Tok that we felt compelled to internalize the potential this time can give us to explore our real desires.

So it began, the waking up early, the working out, the journaling, the eating healthy. People even picked up new hobbies or revisited the old ones that their hearts had silently yearned for all along. We began to re-evaluate the actions we are currently taking- be it in school or with our careers, to ask whether those actions adhere to the individual we are and, more fundamentally, to inquire about who that individual is.

It appears, in a time of unprecedented chaos, many were lucky enough to create a corner of peace. As many college students now recognize, one enters college as a mere teenager and leaves college as an adult. This stresses the profound levels of changes that one undergoes during the years of college. For that reason, we must acknowledge and be thankful for the introspection that we experienced during this past year, which has enabled us to realize a better sense of self.