Throughout the last few months, there have been many challenges that I have faced as a student as well as an individual.

For example, being restricted from going out and socializing as often has made it difficult to maintain certain friendships and relationships, and just as many people have been, I found myself often feeling isolated or alone. Although contact through social media is not hindered, not being able to see people as often has changed the way I view socializing. From seeing it as a very rewarding and fun time when meeting with close friends, to seeming rather taxing in energy. Moreover, I started not being able to go out to the gym and do exercise as I usually would have, hence making me often feel lethargic or weak.

Even when we are in school, the masks have made it hard for me to be heard. I am generally someone who does not speak as loudly or smoothly, so I often stutter or speak quieter than I intend to. There is a lot of value in wearing a mask since it keeps everyone safe, but it has also sometimes made me feel unheard since the mask muffles my words often.

However, the largest challenge during these times was learning more about the harsh conditions that were awaiting me. Ever since quarantine began, there has been a lot of news that came out about discrimination against people of colour, and there was suddenly an increase in media coverage. I have always been someone who cares a lot about human rights since I have come into contact with all kinds of people around the world. Though it made me feel somewhat relieved that more people were being educated on these matters, I also felt that their concern felt ingenuine, and I was also worried for people’s well-being, especially since these are hard topics to discuss, and we are in a difficult time nevertheless.

I too was affected by the constant bombarding of news stories and the frustration of seeing people echo ‘politically correct’ beliefs just for the sake of seeming educated. Personally, I have always felt like it was hard for me to voice opinions and have arguments disguised as discussions with people who did not value the well-being of other living beings. This is because such people generally are not as open to hearing other opinions, and I also got swept away with emotion while talking about these topics.

Other than covid-19, the exams were also a huge challenge for me as an individual. Since I was young I always set very high expectations on myself, causing me to be very anxious about getting my school work, social life, health, even my music work in line. Sometimes I find myself stressing overwork more than actually doing it, either that or I would be working on an assignment for hours when I was only meant to spend thirty minutes on it. The fact that we had exams, as well as the pandemic to worry about, was a huge overwhelming wave of stress for me, which lead to some physical symptoms like not being able to see very clearly, or not getting enough sleep.

However, I believe that all of these challenges were very valuable. Some of them I have worked through by now, some I am still learning to work through it.