My COVID-19 Experience

COVID-19 has impacted everyone differently, but for me it has been a hell of a ride. I remember when it was March and I had the entire semester planned out. I did not imagine how much it was going to change my life, but it has been a blessing in disguise. The biggest thing that affected my perspective of a global pandemic was working at a local restaurant in town. I had noticed the hygiene habits of other servers and the lack of cleanliness in the restaurant, but during the shutdown everything really stood out. It made me hyper vigilant when it came to eating out myself because I was sickened at the thought of how staff could overlook cleanliness in exchange for business. My family had also gotten evicted in the middle of it due to my dad losing his job, so I have been taking care of my siblings since then. I ended up getting evicted myself (because the landlord did not want kids in the house) and was staying with my girlfriend for a little while. The mask mandate and anti-maskers that I personally encountered really upset me as well. I had a huge awakening with how our government really is and the lack of proper infrastructure when it comes to our people. I had noticed how other countries (New Zealand, Finland, etc) handled the pandemic and how their governments had eradicated COVID completely. The pandemic has changed my life completely.... now it's waiting to see the lasting damages and finding our new sense of normalcy.