Have you ever wondered what would happen if the world were to shut down? What would you do? Well, I have experienced this. Coronavirus was an infection that shocked the world and came out of nowhere. There were many speculations on how it started but that didn’t matter because the world was shutting down quickly. It started in March 2020. I was in fifth grade. I was still young, so when my school shut down I was confused. My parents told me what was going on and said, “It is just a small virus that will pass. Everything will be back to normal in a few weeks.” It was, in fact, not a few weeks. Covid had a major impact on my life and taught me two lessons. It made me learn to persevere even when things get extremely difficult. It also made me realize to cherish every moment of your life.

After about two weeks of school being shut down, the town decided to finish school by doing it online. This meant we had to do class on Zoom and every assignment was on Google Classroom. I didn’t completely hate it as it wasn’t that bad. Sure, there was work, but it was a piece of cake. During that summer nothing really happened because we couldn’t go out. Even though nothing happened, the summer flew by. Before I knew it, I was in 6th grade, which started with online classes. After a while of having class online, I felt that it was more interesting to look at my ceiling. We didn’t even learn anything that was super new.

Near the middle of the year, when Covid seemed to slow down a bit, they decided to do half of school in person and half online. When I started to go in person, I became quiet. Due to the no contact era, I sort of lost a decent amount of friends. This was when I started to recognize that in just a blink of an eye, I lost so many memories I could’ve made. It felt like just hours ago I was doing school online, and yesterday I was still in 5th grade. Everything felt rushed. I wasn’t able to play like a kid. Everything got very serious and people began to be more aware of things around them. They started worrying about the world and I felt like I had to move along with them. It felt that I was forced to grow up rapidly. I wasn’t able to hold on to every moment or have fun.

Technically speaking, Covid still hasn’t ended, but when Covid was bad and the world was going insane, I learned that even when things get hard, you still have to get through it. Sometimes, it is hard to get through something, but not everything can be avoided. People have to learn that even when you’re at your lowest, in the dark, there will always be a light at the end of it. Furthermore, I recognized to cherish every moment. You will never know what will happen in life, so you want to be alive in everything you're in. Try to engage in a conversation and not just listen. You can attempt something new, whatever it is people should treat life like it’s a trophy.