My Life Durning COVID-19
may 2020
COVID has affected many of us all around the world so I thought I would take a minute to share how my life has changed these past few months. This has been a time of adjustment for all of us and has been a time of struggle for many. This is just my way of being an open book with all of you and sharing how my life has changed during this time.
Most of you know that I live in Fresno where Jon and I attend Fresno State. On May 12th we got an email from the school saying that school would continue online until the end of April and labs would continue on campus as usual. By the following Thursday we received a follow-up email saying that labs would continue online and all classes would be online through the end of the semester. Now for some this was exciting news and they were relieved to not have to go back to school. I was excited at first, but i don’t perform well in online courses because I always feel like I’m not getting all the information and I lack the drive to plan a school routine while at home. For Jon this was great news because it allowed him to work full time and do all his schoolwork in the evening, it’s his ideal schedule. This meant that Jon was at work 10-12 hours a day 5-6 days a week and I was left home with nothing to do. With this being the case, we decided to spend some time in Bakersfield with our families. Since Jon works half-way between Bakersfield and Fresno it wasn’t a huge change for him. The biggest change was that we were spending a lot of time staying with my parents (which isn’t the ideal situation for newlyweds).
With all the free time I decided to take up a little hobby. Recently someone told me that people in our generation are the least likely to have hobbies because they are so focused on what they can do to make a dollar so everything is either work or a side hustle. I decided that this would be the perfect time to try something new, so I ordered some beads and shares from Amazon and started making bracelets. Bracelet stacks have become very popular and trendy this year so instead of spending money on beaded bracelets I decided to fill my time with something fun and start making them myself for my friends and family.
Although the semester went differently than I expected, I actually got a lot of hands on teaching experience helping with my brother’s school work and helping my mom with distance teaching her students. I got to help teach my brother math that I had just learned how to teach, I got to explain common core word problems to my mom’s students, and lots of other little tasks. Honestly I probably learned more about teaching from home than I would have at school. That being said, I struggled a lot this semester. I struggled to get on a schedule, I constantly felt like I wasn’t fully grasping material, I felt like I was always missing something. I wasn’t on top of my assignments and it was hard to contact some of my professors for help. Overall it worked out and I know it had to be this way for a reason. It is looking like classes will continue to be online for the fall semester so it will continue to be a time of adapting.
This has been a hard time financially for many people, but Jon and I have been very blessed that with school being online he was able to work full time hours for half of the semester and jump start his summer schedule. With this in addition to the stimulus check, we were able to save the money we needed to for Jon to get a new car (which is much needed) so overall we have been very blessed. My heart goes out to all of those who have been going through financial hardship through this time. I have been doing my best to shop from small businesses and do everything I can to support others in this time.
Another big change my family has faced was the fact that my little sister lost the second half of her senior year. She missed out on her senior year FFA contests, celebrating her time as FFA President, her grad night, her prom, and her graduation. It’s been really hard to think back to what I enjoyed most about my senior year and know that she isn’t going to have all of those experiences. Her senior year looked different than any of us could have imagined, but we were able to still honor her in different ways. Her school had a drive through banquet where they recognized her and the other students for everything they accomplished during the year. She was recognized on the news for her accomplishments while in high school and also her time as FFA President, and also a family friend put on a small graduation ceremony for a few of the students and Kellie gave a speech at it. Overall this year has been different but we are all doing our best to still make good memories amidst the bad ones.
november 2020
This online semester has been harder on me than any school year I have had in the last seven years. My grades have been lower than ever and I have been very overwhelmed. For the first time in my college career I have considered dropping classes and taking a semester off. It is hard because while I am struggling in this online format Jon is thriving. He was accepted to the Masters program and they are allowing him to work concurrently on his Masters while finishing his last two classes for his BS. So while I am hoping and praying school opens soon, he is hoping it stays closed until he graduates. It is hard to be struggling this much while Jon and Kellie are thriving in online school but I know it is all for a reason. This season has allowed us to have so many opportunities that we wouldn’t have had otherwise but I am honestly concerned about what it means for me academically. For all who are struggling in this time, I am with you.
Thank you for taking the time to read my little life update and I hope it helps you see behind the highlight reel. This time is uncertain for us all and full of ups and downs. I don’t think any of us expected it to go on this long but here we are, 10 months since “two weeks to flatten the curve” and still not sure of what is coming next. My heart goes out to you all in whatever you are going through. Thank you all for being here!