My generation will be known in history for fighting through a pandemic, race wars and extreme polarization between political parties.
This is something I am beyond proud to be a part of as we are writing history as events play out. We have been quarantined during a nationwide shut down, peacefully protested and spoke our minds on specific political issues.
We push the importance of mental health, so on top of everything happening in the external world, we made sure to stay supportive to those struggling internally. What makes all of this crazier is that a lot of us did this while still attending school.
Having to switch most classes online did not go the way anyone expected. I, personally, was hoping that having online classes would decrease my workload and make my tough fall semester schedule more manageable. I remember that the switch to online in the spring semester was not too bad, so I expected an entire semester to be the same. I was way wrong, and I know that many others felt this way too. Having the workload increase threw me and my classmates way off.
As the workload increased, so did the stress levels. I know that my stress was higher than I have experienced through any semester so far.
My running watch keeps track of my heart rate regularly and gives me an average for the day. When I would have my most stressful weeks, I would notice that my average heart rate increased 5-8 beats per minute. As an exercise science major, I took interest to this. I also noticed I wouldn’t sleep as well. I find that paying attention to my sleep schedule does make a difference to how I study, focus and act throughout the following day. Sometimes a nap needs to be prioritized.
With everything else happening in the outside world, being at school felt like I was in a bubble. Our COVID-19 cases never spiked too high and the only way for me to see what was happening outside of school was to read articles and try to keep up with the news. While balancing school, it was still important for me to see what was happening. I recently started to enjoy staying updated with politics and major issues in the world, where last year I never worried about that.
Another part to add to keeping up with everything is student athletes. I am a dual sport athlete here, so this fall I have had to maintain both practices going on. A lot of Cabrini students deal with this and I am proud to be one of them. It would be more time away from the overwhelming school work, but a good source of a stress reliever. It is nice to get out and work hard at something that isn’t as mentally draining as school.
There was a lot going on this semester for me, and I know it is the same for many other students out there. We, as generation Z, were able to maintain all of this for at least one semester. That should be something we are all proud of because we came together to get through everything happening.
I feel that being able to finish a semester in the hectic world we live in is something to think about when everything goes back to normal. If we can get through a difficult semester with the world spinning around us, we can get through anything. We still kept track of our mental health, fighting for what is right and the impending election.
As previously mentioned, we are writing history as 2020 continues being chaotic. We are in charge of that and I think as generation Z we are proving that anything is possible.
