The issue that isn’t talked about enough with covid: mental health.
COVID: possibly the most used word in the past two years. It’s everywhere, constantly consuming our lives, from wearing masks to class, to researching the new variants that seem to arise every week, to wondering when the next shutdown will be. Worst of all? Getting COVID. As a college student, obtaining the somewhat new virus that is canvasing the world is a struggle. It takes a major toll on your physical health while also eating away at your mental health. I am here to tell you what to expect if you catch this ‘seriously disturbed’ virus.
Day one: I woke up so lightheaded and dizzy that I skipped my 8 a.m. (shocker). I finally got out of bed and moved to my futon. I just felt ill. To put this feeling into perspective, it felt like I had the flu and then a 250-pound linebacker smashed into me, twice. Now, I will spare much of the dramatics for now, but I felt sick. When you get COVID, you almost feel a difference between just a common cold and COVID. Although they have very similar symptoms, COVID just feels different.
Later that night, my friend and I were joking about having COVID (ironic, right?). I eventually took a test to get it out of my head. However, I’m sure you know where this story leads because I wouldn’t be here writing this story for you if I didn’t look down at that test and see two lines: positive. I stopped laughing, and then proceeded to laugh again. I was so out of it, I couldn’t believe it. I will skip the boring parts, but to sum up, I called my parents and proceeded to submit my results to the university’s health system.
However, this is where it gets worse. I was granted one hour to pack my stuff up and head to the shuttle where they would take me to my isolation housing. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to be given a room at a Hilton hotel. Some people were required to stay in a room with one or two other people. In my case, I was able to have a room to myself. I got into my room, looked around and started crying. I knew I was in for a long haul.
Day two: I was even more sick. I didn’t think it was possible to be more sick than I was the first day. I was everything: lightheaded, coughing, sneezing, throwing up (ew, I know) and more. I won’t get into those details, but it was ruthless. According to my recent call log, I called my parents a total of seven times. That is how bored I was. Now, to remind you, I couldn’t leave that hotel room. I had to order food through delivery, which totaled up to be over $200 at the end of my “vacation” that I will never be reimbursed for! I had no human interaction for six days. It was one of the most mentally distressing times of my teen years.
Day three: This day was the worst of them all. I felt so horrible that I slept all day. I was mentally and physically drained. I missed my friends, my freedom and especially my family. Not even my desperate phone calls to my parents were enough to satisfy my family.
Days four and five: These days were better. My symptoms started to lessen, I felt more excited to leave and I was starting to feel like myself again. These two days consisted of me frantically getting caught up on schoolwork and finishing my fourth season of Dawson’s Creek (which is an awesome show that I highly recommend). To sum it up, these days were the better ones.
As I reminisce on these horrible days, I often come back to my mental health. The amount of strength it takes for someone to go through a five-day isolation is enormous. It takes so much out of you, and it feels like you are slowly losing yourself. Now, I won’t lie or sugarcoat it; I am still working on building myself up again. It has been a hard transition but I am slowly gaining back what I had lost from COVID. If you have felt or are feeling this way, know that it is okay and you will slowly come back to your regular life. Find things in life that you enjoy, call your friends or family and find a way to treat yourself. These moments will help build you up again.