This virus has changed everyone’s life forever. No one in a million years would really expect it to get this bad. And, really turn into this. I know for a fact people will rethink how they live after all of this. And, this will not be forgotten and the people we lost will not be forgotten. I am going to talk about how me and my family lived during this very bad time. Also how we live now after some things have been lifted. Also what we do to get in contact with other people and keep relationships. And, last but not least, how I helped my community when it got at the very tip of this pandemic.

Now, down to how we made it through the outbreak and not losing our minds. Every day that it was nice out, I would either take a walk on the road or go into the state park we live next to with my mother. This would one, get me out of the house, and two, provide exercise. Which helped a lot with not losing my mind staying inside so much. We would also have my grandma over once a week, but she would wear a mask and stay outside and she would walk with us from 6 feet away. We only did this because she is so lonely with her husband passing. Starting now they are raising restrictions, but that does not mean you should act like you did before all of this was here. Today, when writing this, we had a big airsoft battle in the yard. We of course kept our distance and also loaded up separate from each other for extra safety, but overall it really helped us with social interactions while staying safe.

Things with my family have changed A LOT. We don’t let ANYONE in the house due to worrying about my mother because she has a bad immune system. But, my father has to keep doing his job, which involves people coming to the house to pick up things all the time. Because of this they were quarantined to a certain part of the house and after they left we wiped everything down. The problem was that we ran out of wipes to clean, so my mom made some out of some paper towels and some chemicals. At first I was skeptical, but they worked like a charm to keep everyone in the house healthy.

Now we had to keep in touch with my family somehow, because it is important to talk with them to keep relationships and check in to make sure they are ok. We would use either the phone or FaceTime but the problem was with FaceTime, the older people of the family had problems working with it. To stay connected with my friends, I would use an app called Discord for PC and phone. I have used it way before all of this, but it is nice to use when we are working on school. Or just to talk or play a game on the computer.

That’s how we stayed in contact, but what about how I helped my community during this crisis? I made a design for making a homemade mask from bandanas. I would use one bandana, two bobby pins, and one rubber band. I distributed these to the entire neighborhood and some families that wanted one. Also, later on I gave out instructions on how to make them so people could make their own. When delivering all of these things we would drop them off in someone’s mailbox to keep our distance and keep me and my parents safe. Overall I am happy I got the opportunity to help my community during this crisis.

Like I said earlier, this will not be forgotten and the people we lost will not be forgotten. It may affect how we live now and after this passes. But, we will act on it and get past it even if it comes back again. If that includes helping the community while keeping safe, or keeping in touch with friends and family, or even exercising. We will always have a plan for next time, now that this has happened to us. We are prepared now and know what to do if this happens to come back.

—Gavin

Share your own story here. Sharing stories is a powerful way to connect with other people. Be part of the Teen Health & Wellness Personal Story Project—like Gavin did above—and share your story about successfully dealing with or overcoming a challenge.