I, as an introvert, found the idea of two weeks of not going anywhere quite appealing. When America went into lockdown I was rather excited. All of my friends were bored and done after the first week, and really, I just didn’t understand. Nowhere to go, nothing to do, no one to see. A wonderful life. But as the time stretched on I realized it was not such a good way to live, and I gradually grew to hate the name of ‘Covid-19’. 

I did have a better experience than many others, though. I had been homeschooled all my life, and did not have much deviation from my normal schedule when the lockdown started. The kids who were unexpectedly dropped into it, though, were in for a nasty ride. Lots of things homeschoolers take for granted were unavailable to the new home-bound students. The most obvious difference was that it was a completely new experience for most of them, with new systems to figure out, a different schedule, and less accountability. For another difference, they had less access to teachers, and less help, rather than a caring teacher available all day at almost any time. They also often lacked personal desks or even a dedicated school area, which is unimaginable to me as an experienced homeschooler. Being able to move is a great aspect of homeschooling, but you need a home base to do your primary work at. 

So I had many of the things that they lacked. Most of my life did stay the same. I was used to spending most of the week in the same house, and to being surrounded all day by my noisy siblings. But the few outside interactions that did have to get canceled were hard to adjust to. Trapped in the complete monotony of daily life, the days began to blur together. I became much less productive, struggling to complete anything in a reasonable amount of time. 

Never really finishing my school affected the way I spent my free time. Most people started to read more during the Covid-19 lockdown, because they had more time, but I had the opposite reaction. I had been a huge reader before the pandemic, but throughout the spring and summer of the lockdown, I picked up almost no books. The days sped by too fast for me to take the time to find a good book, so it just did not happen.

But I did not feel upset about that at the time. As I said, it all blurred by. It was only later, after we were back to doing all of our normal activities that I really felt upset about the change Covid-19 had brought. Most of all, the disagreements. I remember a conversation between my dad and a Chinese friend before America was doing anything. COVID-19 had just made an entrance in her country, and China was starting to lock down. She was worried and my dad was trying to convince her that it was not as bad as all that. Lots of references to ‘the data’ were made, but both sides could use them to push their point, and neither trusted the other’s use. In the end, no one changed opinions, and everyone was less happy. Over the course of the next couple years there were many more arguments of the same nature with similar results.

That is what I most disliked about what Covid-19 brought. Disagreements, disagreements, disagreements. No one knew very much. Everyone read the same events differently. Everyone was tense, and uncertain, and worried. And whenever anyone talked with anyone else, all they could think of was COVID-19. It did not take long before I was done with listening to all the depressing, and sometimes angry, discussions. 

I still feel upset about some of the changes the lockdown caused. Some of the immediate effects have gone away. I am back to reading more books (though still not as many as I would like!). But I am still a slower worker than before. And other things hurt more now. We had to stop seeing family we had been close to, they have since moved away, so we can not go back to how it was before. Friendships grew further apart because we could do less together. The hardest part is still listening to the arguments. I wish people would learn to get along. Sure, we all have different viewpoints. We won’t necessarily agree. But if more people were willing to argue in a more reasonable manner, without the certainess that the other side has no solid arguments, everyone would probably get along much better.