Green 1

Tyler Green

Ms. Scharf

Period.6

2 March 2022

SEP Reflection Essay

Positives and Negatives of the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about an existential change in people's lives. I

personally feel as though the pandemic has increased all our maturity levels substantially and it

has also made us understand each other more. The Covid-19 pandemic for the most part has

affected my life positively but that might be because I always try to look back at the positive side

of things. Some positive aspects of the pandemic are that there was a lot of time for growth and

I was able to spend more time with myself and learn to love myself. I also passed my chemistry

class solely because of the pandemic without grades not being able to go down I would have

had to retake the class. Some negatives I could think of would definitely be the lack of social

interaction. The inability to see people every day and meet new friends definitely had an impact

on me and I felt very isolated for a while. Another negative of the pandemic was not being able

to find a job. Both I and my Mom were not able to find a job for months and that made it very

hard to support ourselves.

Traditions & Experiences

Covid-19 put a halt on life even going as far as making us go into quarantine and making

it illegal to go to the park. I would say that the biggest experience that was taken from me was

running track. My sophomore year or track was canceled due to the pandemic and then my

junior year the team was modified, unorganized, and poorly put together. Most experiences that

were missout out on I have no idea what they could be. There was so much potential and so

many things to do in those 2 years we were in peak pandemic so the real experiences lost were

the memories that could’ve been made. Experiencing things and finally being able to hold
 Green 2

traditions again have changed forever though. You can see the change in the food business as

they have heavily been affected by the pandemic. There is a shortage of workers in the

restaurant industry and now food takes even longer to get to you.

What I have gained from this pandemic

There is a lot that I have gained from this pandemic and so much that the slower pace of

life has helped me with. The isolation of covid really helped facilitate growth and let me be alone

with my thoughts and really reflect on myself. Indirectly because of covid I lost my friend group

and was able to find a whole new one which has brought me amazing memories, lessons, and

experiences. I was able to stay in touch with them through the lockdowns and through the

pandemic by skating as that was something you could do anywhere. Of all the things Covid has

done for us it has certainly made me more appreciative of the time, I have come to understand

the value of free time and not letting any moment go for granted. I of course am very

appreciative for our health too for my family's safety as now I know that nothing is assured.