A journey through my Covid-19 experience

It was the 11^th of March when everything began. A simple phone call would be able to cause me a string of emotions. Fear, panic, worry and anxiety took a hold on me. A simple phone call would manage to turn my life upside down. It feels just like yesterday when everything happened, a new stage was beginning in my life, a stage caused by some really non-favorable circumstances. From then on my lifestyle would completely change and I would continuously struggle on how to handle and manage it.

It was around 9 pm and I was rehearsing my tomorrow’s group presentation, when suddenly my phone rang. It was my mom. I opened the phone and an urgent tone met my ear, there were no hellos and how are you doing, instead what met me were those words “Quick! Pack your stuff and I will come and get you as early as I can tomorrow”. I was disorientated, I did not know what was going on. Finally I got to understand that Covid-19 was spreading in our neighbouring countries, therefore the government had decided to take precaution. Schools were closing down and all public activity would be limited.

In the following week anxiety was my best companion. Sometimes I would spend the entire day standing before the television, or following news sites in order to know what was going on. The situation was getting worse, people were dying all over the world, and there were reported cases of Covid-19 even here in Kosovo. The situation was escalating, and the comments made by individuals I know only worsened the manner on how I was handling it. People were talking, saying irrelevant things, making hypothesis as if they really knew what and why this was happening, and this really angered me.

Anyway after a week or so it was decided that schools and universities would start functioning again, but this time in a completely new manner. By this manner, I mean online classes. E-learning since then has become a huge part of our lives and I came to quite enjoy it. Now I was able to enjoy my studies from the commodity of my own house. Since studying and online classes occupied a large amount of time from me, I became quite distracted with them and did not have that much time to worry with what was going on.

Unfortunately this distraction of mine was short lived. Quarantine happened. I would stay isolated at home, all by myself for hours and hours. It was very lonely and depressing. I would envy my friends who were spending this tough time with their loved ones while my parents had to work all the time and I was stuck at home. It is in times like this when you really understand the importance of human relationships and communication. I would talk to my friends all the time, but I missed being in their presence, I missed physical contact with people. As a saying goes ‘You don’t know what you have until it’s gone’.

In the end Covid-19 has become a reality which continues to be present. Covid-19 is a ruthless virus which took the lives of millions of people, but I have learned how to live with it and I will never succumb to it. It is because of Covid-19 that I got reminded on how beautiful life actually is, on how important people around me actually are and how much they really mean. So live your lives to the fullest and do not become prisoners to regret.