Sars Cov -2 or the Covid- 19 virus, I first heard of it in January 2020, by then a lot wasn't known about it, i just heard that since the virus was discovered cases had been steadily increasing, and the fact that I was in a rural setting at that time for a public health posting wasn't helping matters as I was starved of information, all I know was that we were quickly told to round up our program in the village and return to the town immediately.
I got back to my life in school, and quickly forgot about the virus and started focusing on preparing for my final exams in medical school, I was too busy to understand what would infact be a pandemi, that would change the course of life as we knew it.
3 weeks to my Final exams, a memo came to school and we were told to Vacate the university premises for a period of 4 weeks and we're schools around the country too due to the rising cases of the virus in the country ( cases then were not even up to a hundred) , I remember colleagues and friends complaining about how this break in school calendar would affect our exams and and the other activities we had planned out for our final year, they also were of the opinion that the universities shouldn't have to shut down as the cases then weren't even much and we were old enough to "take" care of our selves and that what needed to be shut down were the primary and secondary schools, looking back at this, it's quite funny because little did we know the storm that was brewing. I remember feeling indifferent at that time, I just felt that it was " 4 weeks" and that we'd be back to school before we know it, I just wanted to see my family, relax and read properly for my exams. ha 😅that's funny because 4 weeks turned into ..... ( let's not get ahead of ourselves, read on)
I packed up some things, and returned home just in the nick of time, because about 4 days later a nation wide lockdown started and some colleagues were trapped in school, because transportation services and interstate travels were suspended for a while. (phase 1 of the lockdown).
At home we had to stock up on food and other necessities, initially it was all fun -eat, read, chill with the fam, sleep repeat. I remember we'd spend time every evening in front of the TV, watching as the cases rose from a few hundred to a thousand, things started to get serious , deaths from complications of the virus started increasing - I just knew that the one month break wasn't going to be one month again.
A month had turned into 2, 2 into 3 and so on I called friends and we were all complaining about how we wouldn't be able to graduate in 2020 with the way things were going - my grief set in.
I got soo tired of staying home, doing nothing ( I had stopped reading since) I became frustrated, I was always crying, my MD dreams seemed like a stretch now - I mean I had studied my behind off to get to the level I was, why oh why was it during my final year that this "pandemic" had to show up. My behavior at home started to cause a strain on my relationship with my family, and looking back now that was so unfair I mean it was nobody's fault that a pandemic had happened in the first place.
My mom suggested that I get a job or do something that would get me out of the house, once the lockdown eased up, I got to volunteer at a primary health care facility 3 times a week, the other times I was helping out at my sister's store. Eventually I got through all the 5 stages of grief,
and I was at the acceptance stage, I was at peace and simply grateful that I and my loved ones were alive.
Fast forward to 10 months since I left school, the world has learnt to adjust and love with the virus, nose masks were now an essential part of our dressing - this was our new normal. Vaccine trials had started and shortly vaccines would start rolling in. I went back to school, wrote my finals passed, and today I'm a Licensed Medical Doctor.
It didn't matter how long it took to get to this, what mattered was that it finally did happen, in as much as I'd feel like a part of my life got delayed, I believe I'm right were I'm supposed to be at the moment. In essence, this pandemic changed my life, changed my reasoning and the way I see things - I mean we make plans, but we shouldn't forget that life happens and things could change in the twinkle if an eye. Cheers.