Covid-19 has affected my life in many ways. My prom, grad night, DMV appointment, and last month of high school was canceled. I wasn’t able to graduate with my friends the way I wanted to it was honestly disappointing but so was high school. At the beginning of quarantine, my family was kind of strict about my whereabouts so I wasn’t able to do much which began to affect my mental health. Due to COVID-19, I am no longer able to see my doctors in person making my sessions less personal and not as beneficial. I can’t hang out with certain close friends anymore for the safety of their health and families. I often question my safety and health more these days which has had a huge impact on my mental health especially because I struggle with severe PTSD, anxiety, depression. I began to questions myself, life, and other more these days. I became quite angry with the world and humans. It angered me that people simply don’t care enough or consider others. I often get stuck in my thoughts, wondering why no one was as conciseness of their health and impact before this all started. This time has been very hard for me and others. I started to focus on my career more and the things I love trying to steer away from my negative thoughts. Diving into work and keeping myself as busy as possible. The only positive to all of this was having more time but still being as stressed. I got a job a couple of weeks into COVID-19 at plant power in ocean beach it put more stress on me than I thought it would. Working almost every day, being an upcoming tattoo artist, building my portfolio, getting my license, having dogs to take care of, having school problems, and being financially responsible for myself while being in a pandemic was just becoming all too much. I somehow made it work but now since school has started it has to work less making it hard for me financially but I’m glad I was able to receive financial aid, and be in the promise program it has alleviated some stress. Now I’m just trying to focus on prioritizing school, straighten out my schedule, and not stress out as much.
Submitted by Liam Phu, San Diego County – San Diego.