Caylee Clay

Mrs. Scharf

ERWC Per. 2

4-30-21

Reflection Essay

If I had been told that my senior year would be non-existent because a global pandemic

took over our world and shut down schools everywhere I would not believe you. Unfortunately

this is reality and something everyone deals with everyday. The virus had had negative and

positive impacts on my life varying from my mental health to the people I now surround myself

with.

Covid-19 brought an unexpected quarantine for over five months. But I made the most of

that time and bettered my mentality. At the very beginning of quarantine I was rudely awakened

with the fact that everything can change in an instant. I was with my cousin and her friend and

out of nowhere her friend got a call and her dad said that her aunt had passed due to covid. It was

so unexpected and so heartbreaking to see that and experience the effect is had on her. This

helped me cherish everyday and everything I have. I started appreciating things around me more.

With the amount of time I spent with myself it was easy to start focusing on my mental health

and really figuring out who I was. Not being around people in my opinion is kind of a way to

find yourself. You are not led in multiple directions by other people's ideas. You only have

yourself and that was very beneficial for me. Right before quarantine I was actually in a very

toxic relationship and I lost myself. I fell down a very dark hole and my friends and family

couldn't really do much to help me. But after spending time with myself for multiple months, I
gained so much confidence and character traits I was too scared to show others. When we were

allowed to go out again I instantly made so many new friends because of the person I became.

Confidence is a funny thing that has a major impact on everything around you and if i hadn't

gone through quarantine and focused on my mental health I would have never turned out the way

I am now, or discovered myself.

My view on everything has completely changed and I am happy to say for the better. I am

now more appreciative for the things around me, especially quality time with the people I love.

And I have so much confidence I didn't even know existed. I truly believe I have become an

amazing person and I know this because of the amount of people I have created relationships

with. After summer with these new relationships I couldn't imagine going on with them. But that

would have never happened if I hadn't found myself while in quarantine due to Covid-19.