My Resilience during COVID-19
COVID-19 has been a real eye opener for people across the world. I do not believe that anyone could have expected this to have happened. When quarantine began back in March of last year, I had no idea it would turn out the way it did. When we first learned about COVID, I originally thought that it would go away within a few weeks. That we would have an extended spring break, and everything would be back to normal in a few weeks. However, that was not the case. Little did we know that it would only get worse and not get even remotely better for a long time.
Personal Sphere Considerations
As everyone quarantined, there was a lot of time to be with my family and focus on myself and self-care, accountability and self-efficacy. Being able to spend time at home and do my schoolwork, when I wanted to and on my own time was very hard for me. I am a person who likes to have a structured schedule, and not having this during the spring semester in 2020 was a real challenge for me. Accountability and self-efficacy became something that I needed to work on. Most of my classes during that semester were not on zoom, but were pre recorded and we had to watch the lectures on our own time. This was a struggle for me. I had a hard time prioritizing what needed to be done first and how to organize a schedule that would work for both me and my schoolwork. However, I eventually got myself into a routine and was able to make myself a schedule that I was able to follow and helped me to succeed in my classes that semester. I take my schoolwork seriously, which is good but that can lead to problems, such as not taking care of yourself properly. I struggle with balancing my school work and taking care of myself almost everyday. If I am not doing my school work, I feel guilty for not doing anything even if we do not have anything that is due. Fortunately, over the course of this pandemic, I was able to find ways to balance this and have been able to be better about taking time for myself. This was not an easy task for me. I had to keep telling myself that it was okay for me to take a break from my work and spend time with friends and family. Being stuck at home for months gave me the opportunity to go outside and just enjoy the outdoors with the people that I care about most. That is what is really important. I learned that my school work could wait. I will always get my work done on time, but spending that quality time with my family for those few months is something that I will cherish forever.
Professional Sphere Considerations
Health care was hit the hardest during this pandemic, especially with nurses. Most people do not understand how important nurses are in healthcare. They are always taken for granted and underappreciated. As a nursing student, I have gained a new appreciation for all of the work that nurses do. Going to clinical and being more exposed to a nurse’s daily life has helped me to understand that. Throughout this whole pandemic, many people have been in and out of the hospital with various types of illnesses, COVID probably being the most common. Nurses are always there for the patients no matter what. We still had to go into work and take care of patients, even when every other business was closed, as it was too unsafe to leave your house and go anywhere. Nurses were on the frontline and are the backbone of the healthcare field. When no one else was able to visit the patients in the hospital, the nurses were the patients constant. It made me realize how important us nurses actually are, especially to the patients and their recovery.
This pandemic has been a curse and a blessing all in one for us nursing students. Learning has been very difficult for us, students this past year. With all of the online classes on zoom, masks, PPE, not being able to work in groups since we have to socially distance has really taken a toll on our education. Learning online has been a big struggle for me and it is something that I have thankfully adjusted to, for the most part, but it definitely has its challenges. Nursing requires hands-on education. It is crucial for us to have that in order for us to become good nurses. You can lecture us about everything in the world, but it is the hand-on experience that really helps us to grasp the concepts that we are learning about. Not having the in-person learning for even a little bit was detrimental to our education. Even now with the in-person learning, it is still difficult for the students because we don’t get the same experiences that everyone else has had in the past. Our professors are doing everything in their power to help us get through these hard times, but it just isn’t the same. However, I believe that this pandemic has helped this future generation of nurses to be more open-minded and have better critical thinking skills, which are an important part of nursing.
Community/Global Sphere Considerations
This pandemic has changed the way our community functions forever. I have caught myself thinking so many times while I am out in public about our “past” and how crazy it was that we did certain things, like going out to the store without a mask on or eating from buffets. It is so crazy to think that we used to live such a care-free life and never even had to think twice about germs or getting sick. Everyone has become more cautious about everything and it will stay forever changed in the hospital. I think that the way the hospital goes about their protocols about various things will be changed forever. This pandemic has really taught us the importance of staying clean, sanitizing objects and not sharing certain things. I also believe that the concept of masks will stay around forever. In certain Asian countries, it is common to see people wearing masks even before this pandemic started. Even with the country slowly starting to open back up again, I think that masks will continue to be a thing that people wear for a long time after the mandates have been lifted. This could be seen as a good and a bad thing. It will help less people become sick, but it will also make their immune systems weak. Not being exposed to germs, can weaken the immune system, which causes people to get sick easier. I think that this could be the only downfall to the communities as we return back to normal. Since people have been isolating themselves for so long, we have not been exposed to germs and once people start venturing outside again, I think that they are going to start getting sick. This could impact the community’s future wellness needs, as everyone will be getting sick and there will be a higher demand for healthcare professionals to be seeing patients.
Furthermore, I believe that this pandemic has really changed my perspective of how I view certain things. I used to take for granted how easy life had been. We never had to think twice about anything. Even leaving the house to go out with friends. Now everything has changed, and everything is virtual. It is even rare that I see my own family. We, as a community, are not nearly as social as we used to be and everyone has become weary to see other people, especially strangers. I hope that one day we are able to get back to a new “normal” once that everyone has become vaccinated. Until then, we have to keep our heads up and try to get through this pandemic as a community.
