How's Quarantine Going?

Learning Experience Blog 7

I don’t know how I can express all the feelings I’m currently experiencing during this period of uncertainty. It feels like everything I’ve worked so hard for is sinking sand. 

Just a week prior, I never imagined that all classes for senior year would be cancelled (online can never be the same); I never imagined being offered my dream job and not 24 hours later receiving a phone call that said they had to rescind my offer; I never imagined, weeks before graduation, that I wouldn’t have a plan. I’ve always had a plan.

Now, I sit here alone in my apartment away from family to seemingly start over. I have two weeks to study for the GMAT, write graduate application essays and apply to graduate school in less than a month. Not only do I not feel prepared, I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it all. I’m afraid I’m going to go insane. I need people, I need interaction, I need to stop being overwhelmed. 

Suddenly switching 15 hours of class to an online format, applying to more jobs and now grad school is a lot of change happening all at once. Not to mention I now have to do so while quarantined all alone – no friends, no family, no dog. This has most definitely (and unexpectedly) turned into a period of reflection and learning.

I’m sure I’ll continue to push forward as I always have, but it may take more time than an extra week of spring break for me to become acquainted with this new normal. I’ve learned in the past couple hours that being upset is only going to make things worse for me. I should be proud of my past accomplishments and look to the future as a period of growth. 

Things are never the way I plan – sometimes the new plan is going to show me things I never thought about before. Here’s to hoping I can – calmly, confidently – complete the rest of senior year, and not worry so much about the things I cannot change. To all the college seniors, we can help each other; we can do this.