Life before COVID-19 happened felt almost natural to me just as anyone else. Get up, go to school for five days a week with no mask, have lunch at McDonald’s off of Highway 52 in the main dining room, go to the football game, and just be with everyone you love and care about for as long as you can. As nice as all of it was though, COVID-19 brought very heavy changes upon a lot of things and as I lye in bed at night, I think to myself that there are some changes to actually enjoy. For some people, these big changes might not be amazing for them, but for a majority they seemed to be a blessing in disguise. 

• The old ways of school is something I certainly don’t miss. 

While there was a lot more information given in the old schooling system back before March, how much of that information was retained by students? Attention spans are always low among teens especially in topics that they don’t really care about. Also, teachers seem to feel better with the way things are structured with consistent A and B days because they can keep their classes up with each other and properly plan out work. While at first, this new way of learning seemed to be horrible, it’s now helped attention spans, organization, and most importantly, the sleep schedules of students. 

• School work is as it should be with the hybrid and online learning models.

On that note, the amount of work that is being received on a day to day basis is perfect for me. It goes like this, “here’s a single assignment for the day, let’s talk about how to go about it, do it before 11:59 at night, and ask me if you have any questions.” It’s all so perfect because I have the choice to learn at my own pace and do things when I want to do them. While I may have a bias as a senior with all electives, these models help me learn at my own pace and talk to my teachers while I work which is just so perfect. 

• The fact the restaurants were always packed before COVID is also not missed by me.

Extra cleaning and shorter wait times in restaurants now are really a plus for the people who don’t want to eat somewhere because it’s full of loud and needy people. While businesses may be getting impacts in funds, this change seems to be largely beneficial to people who just need some gentle murmurs to enjoy their food with friends and family. 

• Something emotional that I don’t miss is my amount of procrastination. 

Back before COVID began, I had so many shows, movies, YouTube videos, anime series, and all kinds of media that I was always saying, “I’ll watch it later.” But when COVID hit, I didn’t have a whole lot to do so I finally watched shows like DC’s Harley Quinn, Love, Death, + Robots, One Punch Man: Season Two, Cowboy Bebop, and so much more! While I still do procrastinate chores and some homework from time to time, I feel like COVID really helped me expand my palate of media.

• All the social interaction was just so emotionally draining.

This may be a very unpopular opinion, but going to school for five days straight with four class periods a day with lunch and maybe some activities after school was just too much for me. Some people just really need to charge their “social batteries” and that’s totally okay if sometimes you just get worn out from being around people. Just seeing friends occasionally while I had time to myself to play video games or binge another series is still heaven to me.