Accepting the New Reality

We finally got the answer to how the upcoming school year will start. Even though we got a feel of doing everything virtually last spring, the fact everything is going to change and be different than it ever was before is a lot to take in. It’s so hard to imagine that on the first day of “school”, we won’t be walking through those doors, seeing everyone back in the halls, and meeting new people and teachers. I’ve been so worried about what life is going to be like if we suddenly go back to the way things were before, but then I realized that being able to adapt and change is paramount in our world today. With everything that’s happened this year, the biggest and greatest truth we can take away is that we have to be ready for the unexpected because when it happens, it can change life as we know it.

Ever since quarantine, we’ve been deprived of being able to do the things we love and can’t imagine living without. Whether it’s playing a sport(s), playing in an orchestra/band, or being involved in other organizations, you can’t deny that the pandemic has shattered so many of these wonderful parts of our lives. But are we just going to sit around being miserable about it, or are we going to try to adapt and make the best out of the situation? Even though it pains me to not have orchestra anymore, I can play my bass and really focus on my weaknesses and work to improve. It’s all about mindset; you can think that it sucks or how I can’t do this anymore, or you can think along the lines of: “What is something I can do to keep this going? How can I get better? What should I focus on? What can I work to improve on? By changing your mindset and trying to work around the negatives, you can come out better and still be able to do the things you love, even if it’s not the same way as before.

That's me working on my laptop

For those of you feeling beyond overwhelmed and devastated, you need to know that we are all doing this together. So whenever you feel despair and hopelessness, understand that you are not alone and you should talk to your loved ones and friends about this because they are also forced to accept this new reality and live with it. By standing together and supporting each other, we’ll come out stronger than ever and show that we can overcome any challenge life throws at us. Instead of feeling immense disappointment towards this whole situation, let’s try to make the best of it. Let’s just accept the change and work hard to do the best we can with what we’ve got. I know that if we just try-really try-then we’ll be okay and be grateful for all the lessons we learned from this new phase of our lives.