By: Paola Orellana

Over the course of the pandemic, many stressful things happened, but the most impactful was when school closed and students had to transition to virtual learning. This caused students a great deal of additional undue stress.

Students felt stressed because when virtual learning started, it was difficult because of sound tech problems, and keeping up with classes. During this time many people developed emotional disorders (anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, personality disorder  etc.), because of the new realities of this kind of school, or other things going on in their lives.

Some things actually did get better during this time; people took up new hobbies; people could be more “themselves,” and could take time to better themselves. Some even let go of the people that may not have had such a positive impact on their lives. But overall, mental health suffered and affected our self-esteem and how we felt about ourselves. It’s not always the same thing as to why people struggle with mental health issues. Everyone has a different reason — it could be family problems, friends, school, and more. 

During this time, from my own personal experience, I felt stressed and distant. One of the main reasons I felt stressed was because of virtual learning,  I was not focused on doing my school work. I had a lot of missing assignments and it caused me to get stressed. Trying to keep up with school and staying on track was not easy for me and I felt like my mental health wasn’t doing so well at the time.

A way that this lockdown affected my friendships with some people I was close with is that I isolated myself from some of my friends, Since none of us really talked to each other or even talked as much as we use to, we kind of lost those friendships and just drifted away. Letting go of people I wasn’t close with anymore did make me a little sad, but honestly it was for the better. Later on I let go of some people who I just felt there was no connection with, but letting them go overall was better for me. 

I think quarantine affected by own family in some way. With COVID cases breaking out, being under lockdown, and money being tight sometimes, it was hard  to get important needs at the time. Things did get better for us, but some of my family members were going through a tough time with other things going on with them. 

Some people have different ways of coping with their mental health. Some may go to therapy and have a therapist they can talk to who can help the person out with their problems. Some people also talk to a friend or a trusted adult. Others may listen to music, which is a good way to cope with how you are feeling. Personally, I think that the best way to cope with stress and mental health issues resulting from the pandemic by just taking time to work on yourself mentally and physically, as well as talking to someone who you have trust in and feel close to.

.As we come out of this pandemic, my hope is for people to take mental health more serious and people who struggle with mental health to find ways to overcome their problems and get better while removing the mental health stigma. Mental health is a problem that more people need to not only be more aware of, but take seriously. Mental health matters, and I hope the pandemic has taught us that.