I remember it was March of 2020 and school shut down for 3 days then 3 days turned into 1 year. The darkest year of my life was when the pandemic hit and we had to be locked inside to prevent the spread of the virus. I remember the first month of lockdown is when I started to feel loneliness. I haven't seen any of my friends and my family all slowly started to go back to work so I would be home by myself. Most of the time and once school started I was happy until I found out it would be on zoom and that's when I my emotions started breaking slowly my home life got worse problems between my mom and dad. And after that, I lost motivation to keep going on zoom after the first 2 months of school I stopped going on zoom and after that my anxiety kept getting worse, and slowly I started getting depressed but i kept bottling the issues to not be a burden towards my mom or brothers. It felt like putting a mask on every day. I never told anybody about my issues so when I was asked if I was ok I would always lie and say yes. But the truth is I was not okay. It felt like I was in a box or it would feel like I had a weight on my chest. I thought I was alone and know one had or was going through the same experience that I had. 

But I was wrong all over the U.S teens were experiencing mental health issues mental health for teens has gotten worse since the beginning of the pandemic According to CDC ¨more than  (37%) of high school students reported they experienced poor mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and 44% reported they persistently felt sad or hopeless during the past year¨. That means at least in every classroom there was at least 1 teenager who was experiencing mental health issues. And also according to the CDC, the biggest problem that teens faced mentally was emotional abuse. More than 55% of American teens faced these issues and 11 % of teens experienced physical abuse. This pandemic clearly caused a lot of issues for teens. I say this with confidence because I was a victim of it and the rest of the nation was the evidence is also there.

But after the pandemic, it has gotten a little better now that teens are back in social environments such as school but it's still unknown if the mental health crisis for teens is over. But there are things teens can do to help their depression or anxiety like seeing a therapist or having someone to talk to personally. I recommend talking to people or someone close to you. It helps and it's how I got through it and it's nice to talk stuff off your chest. Also Focusing on your health can help with mental issues like eating better or being more active. But after the pandemic, nothing changed. The only thing that has changed a little is that schools are more aware of it and offer to help students but as of 2022 after the pandemic, it is still the same but it does not mean it can get better.