Written by: Gurtaaj Jaspal
It was the end of February when everyone was talking about the coronavirus; I heard my friends and my family talking about it, I would see it on social media and thought that it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but I was wrong. After a little bit, March break came and I was excited for some time off of school. I was expecting the March break to be the same length as it has always been. However, I found out that it had gotten extended and I was happy, the same reaction as any other person would in my grade. But it kept getting extended again and again which made it repetitive and all of the extensions were because of coronavirus. Then I saw posts on social media talking about the virus and a lot more information about it than I knew a couple of weeks before. And before I knew it we were in a lockdown.
All the stores, summer camps, and schools were closed. It was like you couldn’t do anything and to sum it up in one statement; COVID-19 has impacted my relationship with nature very negatively. I used to go outside and do a lot of different activities. I would go trekking, rock climbing, swimming, sometimes to the beach and a lot more stuff but now I couldn’t do that anymore because of the deadly virus. Going trekking was fun, I would sometimes go with my family and really be able to connect with nature, I would see water bodies, rocks, hills, flowers, plants and a lot more but now it feels like there is a barrier between me and that feeling. Not being able to go to the beach feels like I am not connecting with nature and feels like I am missing out on so much I could enjoy. I thought by summer the virus would go away on its own and everything would be open again, but I ended up being wrong, the virus stayed and everything was closed. I missed going outside and enjoying myself the way I used to.
After a long time, things slowly started opening up and I started getting the hope again of going outside and enjoying myself doing all the fun stuff I used to. I turned out to be wrong once again. Even though the lockdowns were lifted, there were still restrictions on everything and I didn’t want to go trekking or to the beach like that so I waited and to this day I am still waiting. I don’t want to go knowing that I would be risking myself and increasing the chances of catching the virus. I really hope that the virus goes away because I know that there are many people like me who want to go outside and live their lives to the fullest.
Even though I haven’t been getting a chance to go outside and do a lot of the activities I like, I have begin to adapt to staying indoors and staying healthy and active. I started to work out and do activities like running and different exercises to keep myself in shape. I had more time to read books and keep my sleep schedule in check to stay healthy. I also started eating a lot healthier to maintain my health. I think that since we don’t get to go outside a lot and do all the activities we want to, we can all focus on something that we have been wanting to do. For me it was working out and staying healthy mentally and physically, what would it be for you?
Image used:
https://unsplash.com/photos/p8DjPfqEhW0