My senior year was one without the traditional buzz of the classroom with students eagerly awaiting lunchtime and the final bell to ring. My senior year was one at home, alone, staring at a computer screen wondering why a pandemic had to occur during my last year of high school of all years. These situations were the recipe for many depressed days, but despite my senior year being like no other, I decided to find the positives in a year full of negatives.
Practicing putting on my “rose colored glasses” is a mechanism I have been using for the past few years to deal with tough situations, and it has proven successful. When class moved online, instead of feeling upset that I could not interact with people in person, I looked on the bright side, realizing that online school allowed me more time to work on my own and it helped me stay more organized since I did not have any physical papers to keep up with.
I think it is often easy to only focus on the negative aspects of a situation, especially when the entire world is suffering from a global pandemic. I encourage those who know me and anyone else reading this to find happiness and hope in the darkest times of one’s life. For me, my happiest moments in the past year were when I simply let go of my stressors and lived in the moment. Of course people should still live with a certain air of caution, but when it comes to finding happiness, it is often easier to find joy by simply looking at the positives of one’s life.
Although I am deeply saddened by the fact that my senior year did not go as expected, I find happiness in all that went right this year. I got accepted into the college of my choice, I made close relationships with my friends and family who stuck with me through the pandemic, I managed to keep up with my grades and schoolwork and I found more time for myself and my mental health this year.
With the pandemic forcing many college students off of campus, I was thankful that it allowed me to spend more time with my older brother, who often provided comedic relief and support during the year. Of course, it is often hard to overlook the negative aspects of the past year, but now that I am fully vaccinated and healthy, I can see an end in sight. Throughout the past year I have socially distanced, worn my mask at all times in public and kept a positive attitude for the most part, and it all feels worth it. I am thankful that my family and I stayed healthy and safe this past year, and I am thankful for my rose colored glasses for getting me through the hardest parts.
