Dear Diary,
At this point, I think everyone is pretty much done hearing the word ‘coronavirus’ or rather ‘COVID-19’. Though it has been around for a few months now, it’s now hit rest of the world and the media stations are reporting non-stop on it. I think oversaturation is a big problem a lot of people have right now especially since we’re all stuck indoors.
I’ve found that keeping to my routine has worked wonders for my mental health. To be honest, while it’s different for everyone,
I AM SOOO GRATEFUL THAT I HAVE UNI WORK TO DO!
I still start my day by 5:30AM, but my morning routine is stretched out more instead of being jampacking in 30/45 mins before I head out the door.
When I get up, it's still freezing outside, so I wait until 6 before going outside. Oh – another thing I’m grateful for: OUR BALCONY. I get to sit outside for as long as I want to hear and see the birds and see the nurses who live near go to work in the morning. I tell you, small blessings. In that time, I complete my morning routine while listening to some Gospel music - appreciating outside, colouring, journaling then reading.
With the exception of the gym, I’ve tried to maintain my ‘work’ routine as I still have loads of coursework to complete. I’ve recently submitted my Law Reform Project which was 10,750 words at the end, but I still have another 7k words to write due to alternative assessments since exams were cancelled.
I sit by my desk from around 8am to 5pm to ensure I make the most of my day which includes meetings, working (like actually WFH as I have other uni jobs) and also my uni assignments. As funny as it sounds and as much as people keep saying take this time to ‘breathe’ it’s all about what works for you. I am so beyond grateful that I still have coursework due. I genuinely love my course so it’s not THAT much of a bother to do a lot of work during the day. I’m honestly not sure how my mental health would be if I had absolutely nothing to do during this time.
One thing that is really different for me is that I’ve switched off some of those news notifications. Commercial awareness is a big part of being a law student and like most law students trying to remain commercially aware, I had all news notifications turned on so if something big happens in the business world, I would be able to read about it straight away.
However, with the CONSTANT grim headlines of the increased death tolls and numbers of people being affected, I decided it was best to turn off all but one of the news notifications. The day in particular I made that choice was after I began to feel physically sick when the constant alerts came popping up from the Financial Times and The Economist to BBC News.
Another thing that has really been tested in these past two weeks is understanding that I can really only control myself and no one else. If you live in a shared house, you’ll really understand. I had to beg my flatmates to stay home – they constantly had to go to the supermarket all of a sudden and just went out of the house because they were bored. Listen, appreciating that you can only control yourself will work wonders for you. It doesn’t help to use your precious energy on reminding people of things they need to do. Funny thing is that a few days ago one of them said she hadn’t seen me in about two days because I’m ‘self-quarantining in my room’. I just told her since they can’t hear, then I’ll just stay in my room and get my work done.
But truly, diary, this pandemic has caused me so much grief. As a final year student, there were many ‘last days’ to be celebrated and documented. Last Dispute Resolution, Family and Equity lectures – last coursework submission - last day of uni - LAST LAW BALL. I’ve seen people saying that is it insensitive of uni or high school students to be upset about these things because ‘there’s a global pandemic going on’. Can you imagine looking forward to something for THREE YEARS and it being ripped from you? It’s tough. Especially when these ‘lasts’ were the prologue for graduation which my family will be attending. For now, it’s still on and fingers crossed it isn’t cancelled because I don’t know how I will cope with that.
Signed
A final year law student still not sure of the answer to the question ‘so how are you doing?’
PPS: If you’re a final year student like me, just know that it’s okay to grieve losing your last days of university and the various events that came with it. We’ve worked hard over the past three years and amidst all of this craziness, we have to find the willpower to complete our final assessments so we can take that next step.
Wishing every one of you productive days, down days, Netflix only days and any other day that you think is good for your mental and physical health.
Lots of love
Your favourite Unicorn
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