I totally thought this whole “online learning” thing was going to be a cop out from my (arguably overloaded) difficult class schedule this semester, but after about a month of completing coursework from my original home in Denver, I have found my schoolwork to be just as challenging, if not more challenging. After just a few months away at school, I was starting to feel that my home in Denver would no longer be my true home. I realized when returning to Denver for Thanksgiving and Winter Break that from the point I moved into my dorm at school, returning home would be temporary. I figured I would simply be a guest in my own home. Settling into this new normal, I never expected to be sent home so early into my time of being away. I thought, why couldn’t this have happened after I had been gone longer? So it would be nice and refreshing to be home after being gone for so long, but not enough time has passed for home to feel that different to me. That said, coming back home and settling back in has shown how much I have grown and learned about myself while away at school. My mom checks in with me periodically during the workdays to make sure I ate lunch. Before I moved off to college, I was more likely to starve an entire day than actually go make myself something to eat. Why? I’m not sure, a lazy teenage boy, I guess. I have become so much more self-sufficient. I feed myself (Woo!) --with the help of my dad’s awesome cooking, of course-- I get my schoolwork done thoroughly, and I have even taken up a regimented workout routine to reset my fitness and build from the bottom up. My friends and I compete remotely using the activity tracking on our smart watches. I am truly reaching for anything I can do to latch onto some sense of normalcy.
As you might expect to hear from me, I wanted to win in this situation, no matter how dire things got. I wanted to win with the hand I was dealt. I find solace in the fact that everybody is going through this crisis. My sister said it best at dinner the other night, “There is no FOMO when there is no MO.” Everybody is missing out on normal life, which makes it hard to be upset that you are missing out on normal life! This is the new normal. The way you adapt sets the trajectory for your success and happiness within this new normal.
I’ve spoken with academic advisors and read articles about struggling to adapt to online learning and the work from home movement and I find constant reassurance to take the pressure off because you won’t be as productive, or your learning style simply doesn’t fit this. Regardless, I can’t help but obsess over steamrolling those statements. If this learning style doesn’t fit for me, what can I change in my routine to make it fit better? Although I thrive by interacting with my professor and my classmates, how can I alter my workflow to maximize my learning and thrive on my own? I feel like if I fail to adapt to this, there will be more things that I may fail to adapt to, but if I make it through this, there can’t be much that is worse!
I am grateful for the challenge that this global pandemic has imposed on the world and myself, but I do miss school. I miss the dining halls and walking around campus. I miss the art in the buildings and hearing a professor’s voice in the same room. Most of all, I miss my friends. It’s just not the same on Zoom, and I sincerely hope that video calls do not completely replace true human interaction in the new normal we are entering.
Life is so crazy,
J
We took this picture as my Uber away from campus idled at the curb. The Great Corona Escape!
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