Going Back to Reality

By: M. Bitran

 Many times, I catch myself wondering how my life and those of people around me would be different if four years ago we hadn’t gone through a worldwide pandemic. If it weren’t for the pandemic, my life would probably have followed a very predictable path. For those two years I would have gone to school, seen the same people, and followed the same routines. However, suddenly everything changed, the world shut down and our lives transformed completely.
 
We all had to adapt to a completely new life, a life so different, no one had ever experienced anything like it. This life brought us many challenges and difficulties we had to face. Most of us were very young, and for the first time, had to figure things out on our own. And most importantly, these problems brought us opportunities and new beginnings.
 
Some people had to close their businesses, some closed their restaurants and others were unable to work their corporate jobs, but overcoming all of this is what gave them these opportunities and what made them who they are today.
 
The pandemic taught me to figure things out by myself, it taught me that I didn’t need someone explaining things to me. And even though we all think of the pandemic as a time of isolation and separation, spending all day long in video calls with my friends brought me even more close to them.
 
Now, going back, although I do many times wonder how my life could be different, I can’t help but appreciate the new beginnings it brought me. Going back might have been strange and even somewhat difficult. It might have seemed as if we had gone back to our lives as it was before, but we all know that this wasn’t really how it worked. For a long time, we had to take tests before seeing each other, we had to wear masks and we couldn’t be close to others either. But with all of this, I am sure, that this “new life” we had to get through is what made me who I am today, and I am sure that Covid brought out a version of myself that I definitely would not have seen if things remained the way they were.