As one of the ordinary people living through the pandemic, I spent a few months trapped at home with my family. It was a hard time for me to overcome the changes. I did a lot of thinking while temporarily retreating from the rest of the world. This is the first time for generation z or even the older generations to experience such a historical event. A lot of things changed because of social distancing, and most of the changes are permanent. As humans strive to fight against the pandemic and making big changes, let's take a moment to look at ourselves. Of course, we changed, but how?

Living through the pandemic is a process of mind maturing or a process of accepting reality.

Early March when I first received the school email about changing all in-person classes online because of the pandemic in the U.S., I had a hard time processing it. It was not shocking news to me, but I never expected to be impacted by it at that time. I was confused because I got used to being the bystander when it first happened in China. Or maybe in another way, I felt mad because I didn't do anything wrong, but I got punished anyway.

"How come I am a part of the pandemic now?"
"How am I suppose to live a normal life if I can't go outside anymore?"

Did you ask yourself these questions when the quarantine started? At that time, I tried to be positive, so I told myself that this will be over very soon. But the reality is a dead-end tunnel. I got very depressed over time as the pandemic in the U.S. got worse because, back then, ALL I wanted and could think of is to have my old, fun life back. The life that I can go out with my friends on Friday nights; the life that I can rush with big crowds to my classes; the life that I can freely go anywhere at any time. I felt like I was sentenced to a beautiful, warm prison called home. And every day I picture what I will do when the quarantine is over. But the worse the pandemic became, the more it seemed like COVID-19 is going to change my life forever. After a lot of thinking, crying, and praying, I finally accepted the reality that I can't expect the virus to go away one day and then go back to my old life and live happily ever after. I have to live with this pandemic and making myself happy from living THIS new life.

When things that are out of our control happened, the mature way to deal with it is to do whatever you can to accept it and live with it. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a lot of damages to our society, but at the same time, it is an opportunity for us to grow and get stronger. Take your time to think about your own experience since the beginning of the quarantine. Did you think it through and decided to move forward?

The pandemic let us see who is there for you.

Most people believe that having a distance can make your connection with others grow stronger. That is true. But when a pandemic made us apart, distance can also make us stay away from unnecessary friendships and relationships.

If you think about this idea, it is frankly funny that the pandemic can help you to see who you care about and who cares about you. Before the pandemic, I hang out with some friends a few times a week. We go out to eat, party, and have fun. But when the pandemic hits and self-isolation became a norm, this kind of casual socialization became hard. We no longer have the opportunity to hang out with those people. And then you might notice that some friends are becoming very very quiet. They don't text you anymore because besides celebrating the happy moments of life, they don't want to do and obviously can't do anything else with you. You see, this mandatory distance is a ruler. It measures the real distance between hearts to hearts.

Party friends only text you when they want to party. Real friends walk through hardships with you.

I appreciate that the pandemic gave me some time to isolate myself from the rest of the world and let me see who is really there for me. Without this vision, I might never have the determination to walk away from my previous relationship. And I will never see how much my best friends cared about me. Let's all pause for a moment and think about the past few months. Who was there for you? Were you there for them?

"People aren't born strong. People grow stronger little by little, encountering difficult situations, learning not to run from them." —Christina Grimmie

We were all vulnerable once, and we may still are, but we have each other. We can go through this together.