The Beginning:
Before the pandemic my life was on a good trajectory. I was in university working towards a computer science degree, was working 2 jobs to support myself, and was with my girlfriend. Overall, although life was difficult, I still had a positive outlook on where my life was headed.
I remember hearing about the virus from friends and family in early March but never took it seriously. On March 16th, 2020 day of the lockdown I was forced to. I had gotten a call from my job and was laid off immediately, university was forced to go online, and my city was shutdown.
In the beginning, I was alright. It didn’t seem so bad to have a little break and play video games with friends all day. Since I was laid off, I even had extra time to focus on exams. I had the assumption that all of this would be ending soon anyway. Might as well enjoy time off while you can.
Cut forward a few months I find myself locked in my room all day. The leisure time was depressing. The pandemic placed some stresses on my relationship with my girlfriend and we broke up. I was distraught and not sure what I was going. I was praying life would soon return to normal…
The End (SECOND CHANCE): While the pandemic was a dark time, I’m grateful for the lessons I learned from it. When 2021 arrived, I had used the extra time laid off from work to pick up new skills and areas I was actually interested in. While I had lost my job before I’m now able to work somewhere I can truly say I’m proud of the work I do. I moved cities and love where I live now. I used the extra time from the pandemic to reflect on life and was able to mend broken relationships with family and friends. The pandemic taught me that life is short and to always treasure what you have.
While there’s so much I could tell you about. The biggest lesson was facing adversity and realizing you’ll always be ok in the end.
Yousuf Idris