Questions:

What are things that you actually miss from your old normal?

Here’s a lost of what I miss:

My gym: I used to go to the gym at least 4 times a week, I miss my workout partners and my coach, I miss the feeling of the gym the adrenaline

My friends: I have not been able to see my friends ever since March break, some of them are going through some hardships and difficulties and it pains me not to be able to be there for them.

My school: I miss being or campus, rushing from class to class, getting my coffee before calculus class although I know my teacher would lovingly grill me for being late. I miss that one day a week when i get to de-stress by playing frisbee with my friends and some other friends that I became friends with during the class

My teachers: I consider myself lucky to have had such a luck with all my teachers who have always been there for me. I miss respectfully annoying my history teacher with controversial questions to the point where he asks me to zip it, no pun intended. I miss how miss Viray comes to class every time, full of energy and motivation that radiates positivity even when sometimes I had personal issues, her energy makes me forget and get into the spirit of the game.

My classmates: I miss how my classmates and I used to sit in the library, trying to figure our calculus problems where in fact, our teacher gave us the wrong numbers. Yes, it did seem annoying and painful at the time, but looking back at it, my God how much I miss it.

Socializing: being able to hangout with my neighbor and to have bingo and uno nights with my friends and extended family. I miss the spring barbecue that our neighbors do every year and invite almost everyone who live in out street.

Learning in-class, not online: for a long time, I thought online schooling would be much better since I do not have to attend everyday; however, it is indeed more challenging as I am unable to fully communicate with my teachers and not being able to ask as many questions as I’d like to fully understand a certain concept.

Graduation: well after enduring every hardship at CEGEP, normally people get to graduate with their classmates to move on to the next level, it is a moment of joy where us, students, harvest all these years spent studying. While the circumstances. oblige us to graduate virtually.

What parts of your old normal are you coming to realize that you don’t really miss, or only miss a little?
I do not miss the rush in the public transport as I come to college during my afternoon classes. Other than that. there is no form of a normal life that I do not miss. I do not miss when human activities used to pollute the Earth, as we may notice, the earth seems to be healing after all the activities being done by humans in order to make money and profit while neglecting the ecosystem and the environment. Also, I do not miss eating a lot of fast or junk food. Staying home is an opportunity for me to get to know the kitchen and to prepare more homemade meals.

As things return to normal, how can you bring back the things you do miss with as little of the things you don’t miss as possible?

Going back to normal seems to be a long term goal according to the new, not to be pessimistic, it is what the government call “the new normal”; therefore adapting to this new reality and improving the means to survive is the best way, in my opinion to cope with the situation. By finding an alternative to the things I miss, for example, make a group chat on Skype for all of my friends in order to feel more normal. I think, motivation is the key to adapt to the new reality, not to resist it or get depressed by it is the best way to survive this pandemic. Finding new hobbies could help, for example, I am learning some Spanish through YouTube and improving my guitar skills also using online tutorials.

What can you do right now, in a practical sense, to make those changes into your new normal?

I think, we should learn how to manage our time according to the new reality we have been recently facing. For example, dedicate time for school work, for exercising, for eating healthy, for learning and developing new hobbies. To read more books to broaden our horizon and knowledge. Walk outside daily to have some fresh air, understanding the stress we all are facing and understand that everyone at home has his/her own stress and problems due to this crisis. The key is to stay positive and motivated and to believe better days will come and this storm will go away eventually.