By Lauren Sweet My name is Lauren Sweet. I am seventeen and I’m a junior at West Valley High School in Fairbanks, Alaska. In the last seven days there has been a count of 115 COVID cases reported in Fairbanks. COVID became a serious concern for me when it started to cause a decrease in how much food is transported to us and when my whole life got put on hold. I’m more concerned about what it’s causing than the actual sickness itself.
COVID has caused me to lose a pretty decent amount of things. For example, I wasn’t able to fly and see my grandpa for the first time in years this summer due to the planes getting shut down and states closing. It prevented me from getting a job when I really needed one. I wasn’t able to get all the treatment I needed for my kidneys making the process prolonged. Instead of getting it cleared up within a few months, I’m still dealing with it and they can’t do much about it since they don’t want many people in the hospital unless it's an emergency. My dog; my best friend in the entire world got a bad disease that can kill quickly if not treated and almost wasn’t able to be helped. That terrified me the most because I don’t know how to cope without my childhood best friend. I lost that in person talking skill that was really hard for me to gain, as I was always such a quiet child to the point where teachers or family friends would ask if I was mute. Now I have to go back through that whole process again because COVID took school and soccer. Besides everything I’ve lost, I’ve gained quite a bit too. Due to not getting treated very well for my kidneys, I got to get a puppy. I would have never been able to get one if COVID hadn't happened. I gained the ability to focus on myself, especially my mental health, and I’ve been doing so much better than I’ve ever been. I learned to love nature more and the beauty of just getting off your phone and just taking off on a road trip. I can work out more with more free time and I’m now at a weight I’m really happy with. Since I can’t go out to movies or stores as much I’ve been able to save more money for emergencies. I’ve learned to be happy with who I have and what I have, since a lot of people are really struggling. I get to spend more time with my dad since I’m now home at the times he’s off work. I used to have really bad sleep terrors and sleep paralysis from stress and since COVID I haven’t been stressing as much and now I only get them about twice a month. Even if I’ve lost more than I gained, I still prefer the things I have gained. Under the sickness and sadness was a blessing in disguise to make me appreciate everything more and I’m so thankful for that.
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By Tenaya Arzac My name is Tenaya Arzac and I’m 17 years old. I live in Fairbanks, Alaska and I attend West Valley High School through remote learning. In Fairbanks there were 35 cases of Coronavirus yesterday. In total there have been 711 cases within Fairbanks.
Coronavirus became a serious thing to me about mid-March. I didn’t really know much about the virus. Besides some memes I hadn’t really seen serious information on it. Then one day while I was visiting Texas, I was in the middle of shooting a client’s pictures when we got a message that school and church had been cancelled until further notice due to Corona. That day I realized how serious it was. I also found out a few days later that my boyfriend Parker, who was living in Brazil on a mission, had to temporarily come home due to COVID. Every foreign missionary in the world also had to go back to their countries. Within two 2 weeks,Parker had come home. That was a historic first. The church had never sent a worldwide statement for missionaries to come home, and it was a big shock to everyone. Within 2 weeks my life had completely done a 180. Since then I’ve lost countless things. I’ve lost my job, I’ve lost money, I’ve lost once in a lifetime opportunities to travel. I’ve lost my senior year, I’ve lost my last homecoming, prom, sports, extra-curriculars, clubs, service hours, and possibly graduation. I’ve lost the opportunity to experience the last memories of this milestone in my life. I’ve lost the chance to make friends at a brand new school that I just moved to, a school which I’ll never go to again, so this was my only chance to make those friendships. And who knows, some of those could have been life changing friendships. I’ve lost one of the best experiences in the world, being connected to the people of Brazil through my boyfriend. I’ve lost any sense of normalcy. I’ve had to say another crushing mission goodbye. I’ve lost tears, time, and motivation. I’ve lost connection with everything that is unnecessary to my life, and everything that is all too materialistic and short term. Corona stripped my life, made it vulnerable and challenged. But that stripping was also a monumental experience for my personal growth. I’ve gained perception. In the discomfort I’ve been met with endless potential. I’ve gained truth about what’s important, what I can live without, and what the world does and doesn’t need from me. I’ve gained strength through the weathering. I’ve gained memories and I’ve gained life lessons. I’ve gained stronger relationships with those who matter. I gained the beautiful opportunity to see my best friend Parker, after being apart from each other for a year, when we thought we wouldn’t see each other for two years. I gained the ability to see how strong I am, after Parker and I had to say our second difficult and heavy mission goodbye. I gained the opportunity to be connected to not only the people of Brazil, but now also to the people of Pennsylvania, where he now serves. I’ve gained the ability to stop and realize what I really want in life, and with that I’ve gained an unbelievable amount of passion. I’ve gained the desire to act now in pursuing my dreams. I’ve gained the ability to focus on myself and what I need to do to get me to my potential. I’ve gained time for personal improvement in all categories of my life. I’ve grown a stronger relationship with myself and with God. I’ve gained the ability to lose normalcy. I’ve gained authenticity. I’ve gained the opportunity to live like no one else, so that I can live like no one else. |
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