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How I Tried to Make the Best out of COVID-19

Before I start, I am not saying a pandemic is good for humanity. It is horrible that a lot of people are dying and the world is not functioning properly. However, it is important to not always focus on the negative side of everything. The problem with the media like Twitter or news sources is that they love talking about bad news. How often does the news report good things happening during these times?

I started to try thinking about how I made the best out of these hard times because I felt quite sad when I was reminded on July 4th that if it weren't for this Coronavirus, I would have boarded a plane on July 5th to go to Boston for a 6-week research summer program. It is hard to start your day in your bedroom by reminding yourself of the parallel universe where you are doing research with a professor. To counter these thoughts, I tried to come up of things that wouldn't happen if there wasn't COVID-19.

First of all, I wouldn't have started exercising on a daily basis. Without exercise, I wouldn't put much effort in my diet or weigh myself every day. I heard weighing yourself every day is kind of pointless because your weight is supposed to fluctuate, but I don't think it is a bad thing. What made me exercise during COVID-19 is that because I wasn't spending 30 minutes on commute, this meant I could replace this time with exercise. My parents got this elliptical for free so I decided to try using it. I started listening to a few podcasts to make myself motivated to exercise. Over time, I wanted to listen to the entire episode from start to finish so I began exercising for an hour each day. My exercise isn't intense because I jog and walk. Still, it is better than nothing. Because of this exercise habit that came from more free time, I started to value my physical health a lot more. I was less likely to feel tired in the afternoon (unless it was from staring at a screen for hours) and more importantly I had something to look forward to every day. I was usually excited to listen to the next story on This American Life or get some new advice on Deep Questions by Cal Newport. 

 Another thing that I happened during COVID-19 is that during the summer I can spend more time learning organic chemistry and prepare for Chemistry Olympiad, which probably wouldn't happen if I had the research program. If I had the research program, I would probably only spend the entire month of June on college essays and perhaps write supplemental essays. Now, I can do a lot more practice problems and read the textbook. This benefit doesn't make me feel as excited because it is quite common for students to write college essays starting from August or September, not June and they still end up doing fine in the application process.


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