“Well, what does it say!?” I ask impatiently.

“You- you tested positive,” my dad mutters with a shocked look on his face, “you have Covid…”

Suddenly, only sickening thoughts rush through my mind. Will I be able to go back to school again? What about my friends? What will people think of me? Will I ever be able to taste M&Ms or Lays potato chips again? THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING!!! I feel like I’m going to throw up from shock…

My mom had seen the results too, but she didn’t panic. She keeps calm and tries to calm me down as well.

“Just focus on recovering for now,” my mom comments, comforting me.

“So will I be able to go to school soon?” I ask hopefully.

“We’ll see, don’t worry about it,” my mom replies.

—

I spend the next few days in my warm bed, sleeping cozily most of the time. My feet haven’t touched the cold, dry floor in what feels like ages. I constantly worry about school and my friends, do they know I have Covid? When will I get rid of Covid?

Suddenly, I hear footsteps. I don’t know whether my mind is playing tricks on me, or if it's real. All of a sudden, the door bursts open! My heart rate rises, and I can’t help but feel terrified. I feel my heart freeze and my stomach dropping… I want to believe that maybe this is a nightmare and it isn’t real. All of my scary thoughts rush through my head. Suddenly, my mind snaps back to reality, and-

“Are you hungry?” my mom asks gently. 

Oh, it’s just mom. I guess I’m getting carried away because of how tired I am. I just wish Covid would go away already, so everything would become so much easier.

“It's about time I eat something!” I express my excitement faintly. My mom smiles and hands me a bowl of maggi and a red delicious apple too, which is my favorite kind of apple! As I chew the red, smooth apple, I can’t feel much. As I swallow, I can only feel the rough, coarse, and jaggy texture of the fruit. It is no longer smooth or sweet, but instead only a burden to eat. 

“No! My taste can't be gone… Is it?” I ask myself outloud. I just want Covid to be over already, when will I recover!? At this moment, I can’t help but worry and think of the negatives. Dude, this can’t be happening! How will I taste all of my favorite foods? Is this permanent? How will I eat!? I feel only emptiness and despair hit the bottom of my stomach. 

—

This takes me back to the time I had a stomach virus. I could only drink liquids and my stomach hurt so much. I had to get used to not eating a lot, and I tried to stay focused on only thinking of the positives. No matter what, I couldn’t get rid of the negative thoughts inside my head. No matter what, I could not stop myself from worrying about the future.

—

For the rest of the week, I force myself to eat even though it’s just annoying at this point. Every time I force myself to swallow, I feel like I’m about to throw up. When will I get rid of this annoying virus?!  Everyday, I worry about my friends and family and cannot get the thought of missing school for an entire week out of my head. However, I notice myself starting to recover more and more throughout the days.

—

I notice that I’m slowly regaining my taste, and I decide that I’m going to try walking today! As I get up from the soft, dry bed, I can hear my bones pop because I haven’t stood up in so long. *pop*

“Hey, this isn’t as hard as I thought it would be!” I yell aloud, “I’m doing it! I’m finally walking after so many days. I might even be able to go back to school!”

“We don’t know that for sure yet, but if you want we can test you, since you sound and feel better,” my mom decides.

"Yes! I can’t wait!” I squeal with joy. 

—

“The results are here,” my dad announces. 

I really hope it's negative. I can’t wait to go back to school and greet my friends again! After a week of staying at home, I could finally be free!

“Well… What does it say?” I ask curiously. My dad smiles, and just from that I can tell that it is negative! 

“It’s negative, you can go back to school now!” my dad exclaims with an excited look.

“Let’s gooo!” I shout out loud. I can finally go back to school, play sports and run again! At the moment, I feel overwhelmed with emotions of joy. Even with Covid’s downsides like not being able to taste anything, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be! The only thing that was annoying was staying home in boredom…

—

Just like I did when I got the flu when I was eight years old. There was nothing to do at home, and even worse, I couldn’t focus on anything but the negatives. I remember when I saw the test result come in as positive, just like it did this time with Covid. I felt so empty inside, but I also felt worried. Before I got the flu, I read a lot of articles about people dying from it. Since I was young and impressionable, I thought that I was going to die because of the flu. But even after recovering, I never realized that thinking positively could make such a difference.

I think back to a week ago when I first tested positive for Covid. Have I really come this far? I used to constantly worry about school and friends, but now I can finally rest! I wish I could tell my past self that everything would get better soon. All I needed to do was be patient and think positively.

—

                                                        
I finally lay down on my bed, but cannot go to sleep. I cannot help but think about recovering from Covid. Was getting Covid really as bad as I thought it was? Was all the worrying worth it? Was all the stress worth it? Suddenly, I got it. I understood the answer to all of these questions. I had learned from my mistakes.

I will never think negatively in a bad situation.

I will never worry about things that are out of my control.

I will always think positively, because positivity is what gets me through these tough situations. Positive thoughts result in a positive outcome.