Before the pandemic, I was living on campus away from home, and I really enjoyed the freedom that came with it. But when the pandemic started, I was away visiting family in Arizona, so when I came back to Maryland, I had to quarantine myself at my brother’s apartment for three and a-half weeks before I could move back home with my parents.

During those three and a half week was also the last few weeks of the spring 2020 semester; so I had to take not only the last few classes in a place I wasn’t used to, I also had to take my finals there as well, which definitely had a huge effect on my mental health and grades.

Even when I was able to move back home with my mother and step-father, I wouldn’t be able to even hug my own mother for another three weeks.

Because of the COVID pandemic, I couldn’t see my friends, go outside, couldn’t go to a convention that I go to every year during the summer; and overall generally lost the ability to do the things that made me happy.

All of that stress had caused me to fall back into a very deep state of depression during the whole month of July; I stopped taking care of myself and spent most of my days sleeping because I couldn’t stand being awake, where as my dreams always seem more appealing to live in.

My depression at that time was eating me away till the point where there was almost nothing left, and I felt that the world around me had lost its color. Also, what didn’t help was the political climate/what is going on in the world, which made it hard to find any good news with what was going on during that point in time.

I had missed being able to do things and enjoy life, I missed having the freedom to go out and spending time with my friends; I missed being happy.

That summer of 2020 was, without question, one of lowest points in my adult life and I can only hope it can only go up from there.