The struggle of Covid-19 for a teen

When Covid-19 became a serious thing, I was in 8th grade. It was March and we were going on an early spring break because of it. I know, everyone was excited, "Yay early break!!" Well, 2 weeks became a month, a month became 2 months, and then it became the rest of the school year. No graduation, no end-of-year trip, no school events, nothing.

A lot of people gave up on school, which, to be fair, being on a laggy zoom call isn't the best way to learn. Sometimes you would freeze up when you were supposed to talk, or even sometimes the teacher would freeze up in the middle of a lesson. It. Was. Frustrating.

I was one of those people who stopped going to zoom calls, but I had a good reason. My little brother is special needs, and my mom had to work. Recently before then, my sister had gotten kicked out, so I was on my own with him. I have brothers... but they didn't help, (and they still don't). Brothers...

Besides that, my brother couldn't go to school either, and he's got shaking baby syndrome, causing him to be blind and have serious learning disabilities. So me trying to do zoom calls with jumping up every 10 minutes to prevent chaos wasn't, as you would assume, particularly easy. Teachers wouldn't call on me because every time I unmuted, you would hear nursery rhymes, or screaming, just a lot of noise in general. Eventually, it became too much for me to handle, I emailed my teachers and told them I couldn't attend zooms anymore, and then I put all my time on my little brother.

I was 13 when this happened, and I only had 2 weeks to mature and start taking care of him. I didn't have help or any lead to where to begin. I didn't know how to cook, or clean properly, or even take care of a child correctly. Most times, I felt alone, and all I wanted to do was go out and live a little. I never had the chance to do that before Covid, and even more so with Covid.

And then high school started.

Quarantine after Quarantine, Close-contact this, Close-contact that. It was very infuriating. I was angry, my first year of high school was me going to school only to go right back home. The A-B schedule was bearable. My school did it, where A students go Monday and Tuesday, and B students go Thursday and Friday. Wednesday was an online day. On the days you weren't at school, you were expected to be on a zoom.

At this time thankfully, my little brother was going back to school, but he was also going through quarantines, which caused my mom to call out of work a lot.

2020 wasn't an easy year, for anyone. Not just me, but the whole world. Dropping out of school to become basically a mom was hard, and I did it alone, but I can't say I've lost someone to Covid. I know people who have, and to this day it still affects them as if it happened yesterday.

Today, I consider my little brother as my own child, because to be honest, I am more his mom than our own mom. Mainly because of the fact my mom isn't with him as much as I am. Freedom is limited for me. So isolation is still the same for me as it was in 2020. I've always had to stay home. Plans for the weekend? Never heard of it. Week? Perhaps, he goes to school during summer.

Covid has messed a lot of people up. And I may not ever be able to be the same again. It's sad kind of, because then, I was in my own world. Now? I don't even have my own world. And hopefully, the pandemic doesn't come back. Its emotionally damaging, and it completely messes up mental health.

And that, ladies and gents, is my experience with Covid-19. And I hope I never have to experience it again. It could've been worse, but it's different for everyone.