reflective essay example on covid

Read these 12 moving essays about life during coronavirus

Artists, novelists, critics, and essayists are writing the first draft of history.

by Alissa Wilkinson

The world is grappling with an invisible, deadly enemy, trying to understand how to live with the threat posed by a virus . For some writers, the only way forward is to put pen to paper, trying to conceptualize and document what it feels like to continue living as countries are under lockdown and regular life seems to have ground to a halt.

So as the coronavirus pandemic has stretched around the world, it’s sparked a crop of diary entries and essays that describe how life has changed. Novelists, critics, artists, and journalists have put words to the feelings many are experiencing. The result is a first draft of how we’ll someday remember this time, filled with uncertainty and pain and fear as well as small moments of hope and humanity.

• The Vox guide to navigating the coronavirus crisis

At the New York Review of Books, Ali Bhutto writes that in Karachi, Pakistan, the government-imposed curfew due to the virus is “eerily reminiscent of past military clampdowns”:

Beneath the quiet calm lies a sense that society has been unhinged and that the usual rules no longer apply. Small groups of pedestrians look on from the shadows, like an audience watching a spectacle slowly unfolding. People pause on street corners and in the shade of trees, under the watchful gaze of the paramilitary forces and the police.

His essay concludes with the sobering note that “in the minds of many, Covid-19 is just another life-threatening hazard in a city that stumbles from one crisis to another.”

Writing from Chattanooga, novelist Jamie Quatro documents the mixed ways her neighbors have been responding to the threat, and the frustration of conflicting direction, or no direction at all, from local, state, and federal leaders:

Whiplash, trying to keep up with who’s ordering what. We’re already experiencing enough chaos without this back-and-forth. Why didn’t the federal government issue a nationwide shelter-in-place at the get-go, the way other countries did? What happens when one state’s shelter-in-place ends, while others continue? Do states still under quarantine close their borders? We  are  still one nation, not fifty individual countries. Right?

• A syllabus for the end of the world

Award-winning photojournalist Alessio Mamo, quarantined with his partner Marta in Sicily after she tested positive for the virus, accompanies his photographs in the Guardian of their confinement with a reflection on being confined :

The doctors asked me to take a second test, but again I tested negative. Perhaps I’m immune? The days dragged on in my apartment, in black and white, like my photos. Sometimes we tried to smile, imagining that I was asymptomatic, because I was the virus. Our smiles seemed to bring good news. My mother left hospital, but I won’t be able to see her for weeks. Marta started breathing well again, and so did I. I would have liked to photograph my country in the midst of this emergency, the battles that the doctors wage on the frontline, the hospitals pushed to their limits, Italy on its knees fighting an invisible enemy. That enemy, a day in March, knocked on my door instead.

In the New York Times Magazine, deputy editor Jessica Lustig writes with devastating clarity about her family’s life in Brooklyn while her husband battled the virus, weeks before most people began taking the threat seriously:

At the door of the clinic, we stand looking out at two older women chatting outside the doorway, oblivious. Do I wave them away? Call out that they should get far away, go home, wash their hands, stay inside? Instead we just stand there, awkwardly, until they move on. Only then do we step outside to begin the long three-block walk home. I point out the early magnolia, the forsythia. T says he is cold. The untrimmed hairs on his neck, under his beard, are white. The few people walking past us on the sidewalk don’t know that we are visitors from the future. A vision, a premonition, a walking visitation. This will be them: Either T, in the mask, or — if they’re lucky — me, tending to him.

Essayist Leslie Jamison writes in the New York Review of Books about being shut away alone in her New York City apartment with her 2-year-old daughter since she became sick:

The virus.  Its sinewy, intimate name. What does it feel like in my body today? Shivering under blankets. A hot itch behind the eyes. Three sweatshirts in the middle of the day. My daughter trying to pull another blanket over my body with her tiny arms. An ache in the muscles that somehow makes it hard to lie still. This loss of taste has become a kind of sensory quarantine. It’s as if the quarantine keeps inching closer and closer to my insides. First I lost the touch of other bodies; then I lost the air; now I’ve lost the taste of bananas. Nothing about any of these losses is particularly unique. I’ve made a schedule so I won’t go insane with the toddler. Five days ago, I wrote  Walk/Adventure!  on it, next to a cut-out illustration of a tiger—as if we’d see tigers on our walks. It was good to keep possibility alive.

At Literary Hub, novelist Heidi Pitlor writes about the elastic nature of time during her family’s quarantine in Massachusetts:

During a shutdown, the things that mark our days—commuting to work, sending our kids to school, having a drink with friends—vanish and time takes on a flat, seamless quality. Without some self-imposed structure, it’s easy to feel a little untethered. A friend recently posted on Facebook: “For those who have lost track, today is Blursday the fortyteenth of Maprilay.” ... Giving shape to time is especially important now, when the future is so shapeless. We do not know whether the virus will continue to rage for weeks or months or, lord help us, on and off for years. We do not know when we will feel safe again. And so many of us, minus those who are gifted at compartmentalization or denial, remain largely captive to fear. We may stay this way if we do not create at least the illusion of movement in our lives, our long days spent with ourselves or partners or families.

• What day is it today?

Novelist Lauren Groff writes at the New York Review of Books about trying to escape the prison of her fears while sequestered at home in Gainesville, Florida:

Some people have imaginations sparked only by what they can see; I blame this blinkered empiricism for the parks overwhelmed with people, the bars, until a few nights ago, thickly thronged. My imagination is the opposite. I fear everything invisible to me. From the enclosure of my house, I am afraid of the suffering that isn’t present before me, the people running out of money and food or drowning in the fluid in their lungs, the deaths of health-care workers now growing ill while performing their duties. I fear the federal government, which the right wing has so—intentionally—weakened that not only is it insufficient to help its people, it is actively standing in help’s way. I fear we won’t sufficiently punish the right. I fear leaving the house and spreading the disease. I fear what this time of fear is doing to my children, their imaginations, and their souls.

At ArtForum , Berlin-based critic and writer Kristian Vistrup Madsen reflects on martinis, melancholia, and Finnish artist Jaakko Pallasvuo’s 2018 graphic novel  Retreat , in which three young people exile themselves in the woods:

In melancholia, the shape of what is ending, and its temporality, is sprawling and incomprehensible. The ambivalence makes it hard to bear. The world of  Retreat  is rendered in lush pink and purple watercolors, which dissolve into wild and messy abstractions. In apocalypse, the divisions established in genesis bleed back out. My own Corona-retreat is similarly soft, color-field like, each day a blurred succession of quarantinis, YouTube–yoga, and televized press conferences. As restrictions mount, so does abstraction. For now, I’m still rooting for love to save the world.

At the Paris Review , Matt Levin writes about reading Virginia Woolf’s novel The Waves during quarantine:

A retreat, a quarantine, a sickness—they simultaneously distort and clarify, curtail and expand. It is an ideal state in which to read literature with a reputation for difficulty and inaccessibility, those hermetic books shorn of the handholds of conventional plot or characterization or description. A novel like Virginia Woolf’s  The Waves  is perfect for the state of interiority induced by quarantine—a story of three men and three women, meeting after the death of a mutual friend, told entirely in the overlapping internal monologues of the six, interspersed only with sections of pure, achingly beautiful descriptions of the natural world, a day’s procession and recession of light and waves. The novel is, in my mind’s eye, a perfectly spherical object. It is translucent and shimmering and infinitely fragile, prone to shatter at the slightest disturbance. It is not a book that can be read in snatches on the subway—it demands total absorption. Though it revels in a stark emotional nakedness, the book remains aloof, remote in its own deep self-absorption.

• Vox is starting a book club. Come read with us!

In an essay for the Financial Times, novelist Arundhati Roy writes with anger about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s anemic response to the threat, but also offers a glimmer of hope for the future:

Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it. 

From Boston, Nora Caplan-Bricker writes in The Point about the strange contraction of space under quarantine, in which a friend in Beirut is as close as the one around the corner in the same city:

It’s a nice illusion—nice to feel like we’re in it together, even if my real world has shrunk to one person, my husband, who sits with his laptop in the other room. It’s nice in the same way as reading those essays that reframe social distancing as solidarity. “We must begin to see the negative space as clearly as the positive, to know what we  don’t do  is also brilliant and full of love,” the poet Anne Boyer wrote on March 10th, the day that Massachusetts declared a state of emergency. If you squint, you could almost make sense of this quarantine as an effort to flatten, along with the curve, the distinctions we make between our bonds with others. Right now, I care for my neighbor in the same way I demonstrate love for my mother: in all instances, I stay away. And in moments this month, I have loved strangers with an intensity that is new to me. On March 14th, the Saturday night after the end of life as we knew it, I went out with my dog and found the street silent: no lines for restaurants, no children on bicycles, no couples strolling with little cups of ice cream. It had taken the combined will of thousands of people to deliver such a sudden and complete emptiness. I felt so grateful, and so bereft.

And on his own website, musician and artist David Byrne writes about rediscovering the value of working for collective good , saying that “what is happening now is an opportunity to learn how to change our behavior”:

In emergencies, citizens can suddenly cooperate and collaborate. Change can happen. We’re going to need to work together as the effects of climate change ramp up. In order for capitalism to survive in any form, we will have to be a little more socialist. Here is an opportunity for us to see things differently — to see that we really are all connected — and adjust our behavior accordingly.  Are we willing to do this? Is this moment an opportunity to see how truly interdependent we all are? To live in a world that is different and better than the one we live in now? We might be too far down the road to test every asymptomatic person, but a change in our mindsets, in how we view our neighbors, could lay the groundwork for the collective action we’ll need to deal with other global crises. The time to see how connected we all are is now.

The portrait these writers paint of a world under quarantine is multifaceted. Our worlds have contracted to the confines of our homes, and yet in some ways we’re more connected than ever to one another. We feel fear and boredom, anger and gratitude, frustration and strange peace. Uncertainty drives us to find metaphors and images that will let us wrap our minds around what is happening.

Yet there’s no single “what” that is happening. Everyone is contending with the pandemic and its effects from different places and in different ways. Reading others’ experiences — even the most frightening ones — can help alleviate the loneliness and dread, a little, and remind us that what we’re going through is both unique and shared by all.

Most Popular

Biden’s ads haven’t been working. now, he’s trying something new., mysterious monoliths are appearing across the world. here’s what we know., the christian right is coming for divorce next, going on vacation with friends read this first., take a mental break with the newest vox crossword, today, explained.

Understand the world with a daily explainer plus the most compelling stories of the day.

More in Culture

How Ouija boards work. (Hint: It’s not ghosts.)

Bridgerton finally gave us queer storylines. Fans aren’t having it.

Why the most powerful men in America are the worst dressed

House of the Dragon and the Targaryen family, explained

House of the Dragon’s Greens and Blacks, explained

The Supreme Court’s new tax decision is great news for billionaires

This number can measure how dangerous a heat wave is for you

How “Not Like Us” became an anti-Drake anthem

Why Americans hate inflation — and its cure

Drug-resistant bacteria are killing more and more humans. We need new weapons.

The hollowness of corporate Pride

• < Previous

Home > History Community Special Collections > Remembering COVID-19 Community Archive > Community Reflections > 21

Community Reflections

My life experience during the covid-19 pandemic.

Melissa Blanco Follow

Document Type

Class Assignment

Publication Date

Affiliation with sacred heart university.

Undergraduate, Class of 2024

My content explains what my life was like during the last seven months of the Covid-19 pandemic and how it affected my life both positively and negatively. It also explains what it was like when I graduated from High School and how I want the future generations to remember the Class of 2020.

Class assignment, Western Civilization (Dr. Marino).

Recommended Citation

Blanco, Melissa, "My Life Experience During the Covid-19 Pandemic" (2020). Community Reflections . 21. https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/covid19-reflections/21

Creative Commons License

Since September 23, 2020

Included in

Higher Education Commons , Virus Diseases Commons

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately, you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.

Advanced Search

• Notify me via email or RSS
• Expert Gallery
• Collections
• Disciplines

Author Corner

• SelectedWorks Faculty Guidelines
• DigitalCommons@SHU: Nuts & Bolts, Policies & Procedures
• Sacred Heart University Library

Home | About | FAQ | My Account | Accessibility Statement

Privacy Copyright

COVID-19 reflections: the lessons learnt from the pandemic

by Alana Cullen , Lucy Lipscombe 03 February 2021

Imperial researchers reflect on the lessons they will take away from the pandemic.

Over the past 12 months the Imperial College London community has devoted an intense amount of time and research to COVID-19. Members of the community have been making fundamental scientific contributions to respond to coronavirus , from advising government policy to critical therapy research. A year on, Imperial researchers reflect on what lasting impact the pandemic has left on them. 

Watch the clip above to hear the researchers’ insights. 

A global contributor

Before I felt like just a person in the world, and now I feel like I’m one of those important people in the world! Dr Kai Hu

The first lesson is how fast- moving science is at this time. It is exciting to have been “on the forefront of vaccine discoveries” said Dr Anna Blakney, Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, formally a Research Fellow in Imperial’s Department of Infection and Immunity . Imperial has also been key in finding optimal treatments for COVID-19, with clinical academics such as Anthony Gordon , Professor of Anaesthesia and Critical Care and Intensive Care consultant, caring for critically ill patients in intensive care units as well as leading clinical trials. Findings from these trials include the effective use of an arthritis drug in reducing mortality in COVID-19 patients.

The science doesn’t stop there. Outside of the lab Imperial academics have been informing UK government policy. Since the emergence of coronavirus the team from the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis and Jameel Institute (J-IDEA) at Imperial have been predicting the course of the pandemic and informing policy. The team have also been supporting the COVID-19 response in New York State. Furthermore, Imperial academics including Professor Charles Bangham and Professor Wendy Barclay continue to advise the government as part of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE). 

In total the Imperial community has contributed nearly 2,000 key workers to essential services and research, from biomedical engineers developing rapid COVID-19 tests to health economists, generating a wealth of knowledge about the science behind the pandemic.

“This is the first time where I feel like what I have learnt is very useful” said Dr Kai Hu, Research Associate in the Department of Infectious Disease. “Before I felt like just a person in the world, and now I feel like I’m one of those important people in the world.” Dr Kai Hu is part of Professor Robin Shattock’s COVID-19 vaccine team, who continue to develop an RNA vaccine .

Watch our full COVID reflections video below, including researchers sharing their hopes for the future.

Collaboration is key

Another key lesson learnt is how much stronger we are when we work together. Vaccine development, production and delivery have all been achieved in under 12 months – an unprecedented timeframe for any disease prevention tool. This goes to show that collaborative efforts with the  right funding will go a long way in biomedical science. “I can work even harder than I thought I could work because we can come together as a team” says Dr Paul McKay , Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Infectious Disease. “Science is a competitive endeavour, but a collaborative endeavour too.” 

Something that will leave a lasting impression is the kindness of community, family and friends. Kindness at this time has been “unparalleled” said Sonia Saxena , Professor of Primary Care and General Practitioner. From providing free meals to NHS workers to educational materials for homeschooling there has been a feeling of togetherness, even when apart, throughout these difficult times. Going forward, we can bring these lessons into science, bringing more collaboration and kindness into the everyday. 

Article text (excluding photos or graphics) © Imperial College London.

Photos and graphics subject to third party copyright used with permission or © Imperial College London.

Alana Cullen Communications Division

Contact details

Email: [email protected] Show all stories by this author

Lucy Lipscombe Communications Division

Strategy-staff-community , Vaccines , Infectious-diseases , Viruses , JIDEA , Coronavirus , Staff-development , COVIDWEF , Public-health See more tags

Leave a comment

Your comment may be published, displaying your name as you provide it, unless you request otherwise. Your contact details will never be published.

Latest news

IMMUNE INSIGHTS

Imperial’s human challenge study helps explain why some people don’t get covid, winners supporting women, celebrating imperial staff for supporting women in academia, workplace safety awards, imperial staff honoured for health and safety achievements, most popular.

1 UPF HEALTH RISKS:

Plant-based upfs linked with higher risk of cardiovascular disease, 2 infection study:, covid-19 – how long am i infectious and when can i safely leave isolation, 3 global recognition:, imperial ranks second in the world in major university ranking, 4 birthday honours :, king’s birthday honours for imperial academics, latest comments, comment on professor david q mayne freng frs 1930 - 2024: david was a truly exceptional scholar who, in his long career, changed the landscape of control engi…, comment on professor david q mayne freng frs 1930 - 2024: the news of david mayne's passing fills me with deep sadness. david was not only a highly esteemed c…, comment on professor david q mayne freng frs 1930 - 2024: i appreciate imperial college colleagues informing me of the sad news of david's passing. i have had…, latest tweets.

Home — Essay Samples — Nursing & Health — Covid 19 — My Experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic

My Experience During The Covid-19 Pandemic

• Categories: Covid 19

About this sample

Words: 440 |

Published: Jan 30, 2024

Words: 440 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, physical impact, mental and emotional impact, social impact.

• World Health Organization. (2021). Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. https://covid19.who.int/
• American Psychiatric Association. (2020). Mental health and COVID-19. https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/apa-blog/2020/03/mental-health-and-covid-19
• The New York Times. (2020). Coping with Coronavirus Anxiety. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/well/family/coronavirus-anxiety-mental-health.html

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Prof. Kifaru

Verified writer

• Expert in: Nursing & Health

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

3 pages / 1417 words

4 pages / 1852 words

2 pages / 850 words

2 pages / 819 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Covid 19

The Black Death, a devastating pandemic that swept through Europe in the 14th century, and COVID-19, the ongoing global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, have left indelible marks on history. This essay seeks to analyze [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic has left an indelible mark on the world, altering our daily lives in unprecedented ways. In this essay, I reflect upon my experiences during this global crisis, the challenges I faced, the lessons learned, [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light numerous ethical dilemmas that challenge societies worldwide. From vaccine mandates to technological surveillance, ethical considerations have become integral to navigating this crisis. [...]

COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, has had a profound impact on the global education system. The pandemic has forced educational institutions to rapidly adapt to unprecedented challenges while also presenting new [...]

As a Computer Science student who never took Pre-Calculus and Basic Calculus in Senior High School, I never realized that there will be a relevance of Calculus in everyday life for a student. Before the beginning of it uses, [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about unprecedented challenges and shifts in various aspects of our lives, including the realm of selfless service. In this essay, we explore how the pandemic has impacted selfless service, [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

Reflection on the COVID-19 Pandemic

Human life has been severely disrupted in many different ways by a coronavirus. Following the emergence of the disease and the public policies to alleviate it, life has turned out to be very tough. The world has been trying to find ways to tolerate the directives, such as stay-at-home orders. The covid-19 pandemic has affected the human race in all spheres of life.

Families have been attempting to develop various practices in the social isolation, integrate and compensate for their children’s education during the day as schools have remained closed. Most of all, the distress is heightened by the possibility of contracting this deadly virus as the world continues to witness an increasing number of reported infections and deaths every day. The uncertainty is overwhelmingly causing high emotions in adults as well as in children. The public health directives regarding social distancing and home care programs make individuals feel secluded and lonely. They increase stress among families, leading to the raised cases of neurological and mental disorders, such as delirium hysteria stroke, among many people.

People’s sorrows are particularly profound when they experience death’s reality or the fight for family or friends’ lives as a consequence of this epidemic. People see their friends and families, who have lost their jobs. The sources of income that supported families have been destroyed, and the world economy has shut down. As a result, most families’ welfare has been seriously affected, as many have become poorer and as a result, they have lost hope.

Covid-19 has influenced every area of life by altering the strength which holds the system, whether it is the body’s immunity system, the family structure, the social fabric, the education sector, or even the professional field. On one side, the lockdown has helped families eat together and remain united by spending quality time physically while experiencing each other’s happy moments and pain. On the other side though, the majority of households, are forced to make significant changes to daily lives due to financial constraints. For these families, it means heightened anxiety in children and stress in parenting (Brown et al., 2020). There are also many disturbing circumstances in family life, such as domestic violence, increased alcoholism, and drug abuse. Therefore, handling trauma and pressure more positively can make people and those they care for much stronger.

Brown, S. M., Doom, J. R., Lechuga-Peña, S., Watamura, S. E., & Koppels, T. (2020). Stress and parenting during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Child abuse & neglect , 104699.

Cite this paper

• Chicago (N-B)
• Chicago (A-D)

StudyCorgi. (2022, March 24). Reflection on the COVID-19 Pandemic. https://studycorgi.com/reflection-on-the-covid-19-pandemic/

"Reflection on the COVID-19 Pandemic." StudyCorgi , 24 Mar. 2022, studycorgi.com/reflection-on-the-covid-19-pandemic/.

StudyCorgi . (2022) 'Reflection on the COVID-19 Pandemic'. 24 March.

1. StudyCorgi . "Reflection on the COVID-19 Pandemic." March 24, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/reflection-on-the-covid-19-pandemic/.

Bibliography

StudyCorgi . "Reflection on the COVID-19 Pandemic." March 24, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/reflection-on-the-covid-19-pandemic/.

StudyCorgi . 2022. "Reflection on the COVID-19 Pandemic." March 24, 2022. https://studycorgi.com/reflection-on-the-covid-19-pandemic/.

This paper, “Reflection on the COVID-19 Pandemic”, was written and voluntary submitted to our free essay database by a straight-A student. Please ensure you properly reference the paper if you're using it to write your assignment.

Before publication, the StudyCorgi editorial team proofread and checked the paper to make sure it meets the highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, fact accuracy, copyright issues, and inclusive language. Last updated: November 11, 2023 .

If you are the author of this paper and no longer wish to have it published on StudyCorgi, request the removal . Please use the “ Donate your paper ” form to submit an essay.

Caring for the self and others: a reflection on everyday commoning amid the COVID-19 pandemic

• Reflective Essay
• Published: 24 August 2020
• Volume 2 , pages 243–251, ( 2020 )

Cite this article

• Chun Zheng 1  

43k Accesses

6 Citations

11 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

In this essay, I share my experiences and reflection on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of a Chinese student residing in Pittsburgh, USA. Three examples of “commoning”—acts of managing shared resources by a group of people—reveal the importance of care and collaboration in the time of uncertainty. First, when COVID-19 posed a threat to the food supply chain, community gardens and home gardening ensured food security and enhanced mutual support. Second, the emergence of online activities of teaching, learning, and collaborating presented an opportunity of having more collective, equitable, and diverse formats of virtual communities. Lastly, volunteering in the distribution of “Healthy Packs,” I witnessed the nurture of a sense of belonging and a connection with home in the student community. These examples suggest that facing the crisis, care-driven commoning activities at the individual, everyday level lay the foundation for large-scale collaborative systems.

Similar content being viewed by others

Reinventing community in COVID-19: a case in Canberra, Australia

Community-Engaged Learning: Sticky Learning About the Social World

Problemaufriss: Caring Communities als Mit-Wegbereiter für eine sich erneuernde Gesellschaft

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

1 Commoning in a crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic is sweeping the planet. We, as individuals in the extended human family, are living through a crisis together. Within the vast and daunting global crisis are changes to every person’s daily life. These changes reveal the normally hidden human needs of care and collaboration and force us to re-invest in ourselves and our communities. In this essay, I share my personal experiences since the beginning of the pandemic and my observations of care-based everyday commoning activities over this period from the perspective of a Chinese student residing in Pittsburgh, USA (Fig.  1 ). Commoning, as defined by Gibson-Graham et al. ( 2013 ), takes place when a group of people is motivated by an ethic of care for a flourishing and sustainable common future and decides to manage shared resources in a collective manner. After discussing three examples of everyday commoning: gardening as commoning, online sharing as commoning, and volunteering as commoning, I reflect on the potential of expanding the sentiment of care for ourselves and others into larger-scale collaborative networks.

Spatial pattern of COVID-19 cases in Pittsburgh neighborhoods. Locations mentioned in this paper are highlighted. The map was created by the author based on the open data accessed on July 28 from Allegheny County Public Health Department ( https://www.alleghenycounty.us/Health-Department/Resources/COVID-19/COVID-19.aspx ) and Esri ArcGIS Database ( https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-online/resources )

2 From one epicenter to another

January 23rd, the day before the Chinese Lunar New Year’s Eve, the news that Wuhan and three other surrounding cities were going into lockdown Footnote 1 struck all TV channels in China. While words of the spread of a new type of pneumonia had been circulating for days (Wee and Wang 2020 ), Wuhan’s lockdown marked the start of an unprecedented national struggle and later, a global crisis.

Although physically stranded overseas, I could hear the worry in my family and friends’ voices over the phone. The anticipated joy of the annual family reunion was completely overwhelmed. In the following month, tracking the number of confirmed cases and the death toll became my daily routine. Watching more and more cities turn into darker colors Footnote 2 on the color-coded live COVID-19 tracking map put me into fear and homesickness.

Subsequently, I observed, in Pittsburgh, USA, personal protective equipment (PPE) in nearby pharmacies were almost sold out by February (Fig.  2 ). I collected 80 masks from over 10 shops in our region, most of which were the last bundles left for sale, to mail to a police friend working at the frontline in China. By the time I was ready to mail out the package, all flights to and from China had been banned (Corkery and Karni 2020 ). The travel ban not only meant the package would not have guaranteed delivery in the foreseeable future, but also put me into the mentality of being cut off from my homeland. Throughout February, via WeChat, Footnote 3 family and friends shared stay-home updates, cheered up each other, and even guided me to prepare for a potential COVID-19 outbreak in Pittsburgh. Geographical separations and time differences didn’t prevent us from caring for and supporting each other.

Last of N95 masks left in a Home Depot, 13 miles away from central Pittsburgh (February 2, 2020. Photography provided by the author)

On March 16, when most students were in the spring break, Pittsburgh officially reported its first two cases, Footnote 4 which meant educational entities had to make different decisions. Pittsburgh heavily relies on its education industry. The student population takes up 27% of the total population of the city. Footnote 5 Therefore, schools, preceding other public and private sectors in the city, responded to the outbreak first by switching to online classes, which lowered the risk of infection and spreading of the virus in the city that might be caused by students’ domestic and international travel. Still, I believe more earlier actions could have been implemented citywide and nationwide, including social distancing, encouragement to wear masks, and cancellations of large gatherings, to name a few. Nonetheless, what seemed so obvious to me, or to any Chinese citizen living in the USA, turned out to be invisible to most Americans, especially politicians and decision makers. The US government was overly optimistic about the epidemic and focused its resources on political rivalries, thus missing early opportunities to contain the outbreak. Compared with the constant and rolling media coverage of self-help prevention measures in China, the American people were given confusing and sometimes contradictory information, which blurred the severity of the pandemic. The rest of the story is well known. The malfunction of the government, the partisan differences, the sacrifices of healthcare workers, the hoarding of living essentials and weapons, etc., have become new abnormal norms in the USA. In these selfish, divisive and confusing situations, it is inevitable for many to find alternatives to self-help.

The duality of my experiences in two epicenters—the USA and China—has inspired me to recognize and cherish the spirit of mutual support and sentiment of care from others, as well as rethink where we can individually begin to act upon and contribute to forming a more collaborative and interconnected world. It took a long time for the majority of the world to realize that “the well-being of the group is endangered by indifferent individuals, and that community means originally simply a pooling of duties” (Jones 2020 , para 9). As individuals, we are incapable of changing the irreversible crisis; our duties lie simply in small everyday commoning actions.

3 Care and commoning

Commoning is the act of managing and sharing material and non-material resources, of creating things together, and of cooperating to meet shared goals among a group of people (Bollier and Helfrich 2015 , p. 17; Džokić and Neelen 2015 , p. 15; Bollier 2014 , p. 15). The participants in commoning processes are people who prioritize care for one another. Volunteering, altruism, selflessness, peer-assistance, mutual support, and so on can all be considered synonyms of commoning (Bollier 2020 , para 10). Prior to the pandemic, the logic of commoning can be found in cooperatively managed forests, social currencies, open-source software, citizen-managed urban spaces, community gardens, cooperative housings, and more. Commoning has been and is prevalent around the world as an essential survival strategy, especially in challenging times (Troncoso 2020 ; Baibarac and Petrescu 2017 , p. 229). We can, moreover, note that when governmental or market systems fail in the crisis, more people are finding their ways to support others through commoning—for instance, in the USA, crowdsourcing masks and ventilators, and mobilizing food bank resources for the elderly living alone amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A critical emotional motivation behind these commoning activities is care.

Our perception of care often draws on the traditional imaginaries of the parents’ domestic responsibility of taking care of children and the housework, or the healthcare workers’ job of providing service in the medical sphere. On the one hand, the ongoing pandemic has brought these traditional imaginaries of care into the spotlight. Healthcare workers who haven’t been paid enough appreciation are now deemed essential and thus regarded with greater value than before (Fig.  3 ). Households are forced to devote increasing time in domestic caregiving during physical distancing. On the other hand, the current crisis also triggers our rethink of alternative ways of caring beyond these formats (Morrow and Parker 2020 ; Thackara 2015 ; Petrescu and Trogal 2017 ). Here, I argue that care, manifesting in ways of verbal encouragement, physical gestures like waving and hugging, a sense of responsibility, commoning activities, etc., is a more inclusive concept than the traditional perception of care. It is a deep-rooted ability of human beings to resonate and connect with others. As Sennett claims, “Buried in all of us is the infantile experience of relating and connecting to the others who took care of us” (Sennett 2012 , p. 9). The pandemic is a catalyst for awakening people’s innate ability to care. We can all find ways to care for the self and others. The following examples aim at sharing my encounters of care-driven everyday commoning activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. They manifest that commoning is one of the most efficient ways of caregiving and is essential for not only our current survival but also a collective caring future.

“Heroes at work” slogans were displayed in the garden and on the building façade of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Shadyside Hospital in Pittsburgh, USA (May 5, 2020. Photography provided by the author)

4 Gardening as commoning

The top priority for individuals in quarantine is food. The food supply chain, including food production, processing, distribution, consumption, and disposal, needs to be operational for all of us to survive. However, the current food supply chain is severely compromised by COVID-19. According to the Washington Post (Telford and Kindy 2020 ), over 30 meat plants across the country owned by major American meat processing companies reported coronavirus outbreaks in their factories. The plants were forced to shut down because of growing numbers of confirmed cases and lack of PPE. Meanwhile, the transportation and distribution links on the supply chain also face unprecedented challenges. High demands for food delivery services put drivers and distributors at risk, as the virus can stay viable on cardboard boxes or plastic bags for a few days. Footnote 6 Both the processing and distribution links on the food supply chain are weakened, which has turned tons of milk, vegetables, and meat into waste.

Recognizing the vulnerability of a long food supply chain, many individuals and nonprofit organizations, such as community gardens, community farms, and home gardeners, have made contributions to shorten the food supply chain. By securing their own and local food supplies, they reduce the reliance on processing and transportation links on the chain (Fig.  4 ). In the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Garfield, the Garfield Community Farm, despite suffering from a large loss of financial income and voluntary labor during COVID-19, decided to donate all their sales to restaurants to the poor and healthcare workers in the neighborhood (Fig.  5 ). On the other side of the globe, the Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) Garden in Shanghai initiated a SEEDING campaign to facilitate community trust-building amid the pandemic (Jian 2020 ). The campaign encouraged people to develop a self-sufficient lifestyle at home and to share their home-grown produce and seeds with neighbors in non-contact ways. Many creative participants designed, modeled, and built small exchange stations in their local communities. Conversations among neighbors were triggered upon the implementation of these stations. Several weeks ago, I joined the SEEDING group and started to share the progress of my own home seeding project. Quick growing herbs, like basil and oregano, are optimal for apartment dwellers like me. My project is still gradually expanding with handmade hydroponics of onions, green onions, and garlic (Fig.  6 ).

Food supply chain infographic (Source: Sandia Seed Company. https://www.sandiaseed.com/blogs/news/shorten-your-food-chain-infographic . Accessed by the author on May 5, 2020)

On March 25, the first donation was made by Garfield Farm since the stay-at-home order was placed in Pittsburgh (Source: Garfield Community Farm Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/GarfieldCommunityFarm . Accessed by the author on April 25, 2020)

The author’s home planting project on the windowsill (June 26, 2020. Photography provided by the author)

Gardening as a commoning practice has both ecological and social benefits. Growing and eating locally reduces the energy consumed in processing and transportation and rebuilds the connection between people and nature, which is a way to care for the environment. At the same time, less consumption of processed food lowers the risk of exposure for workers in food processing and transportation industries. Gardening also brings people together, either by engaging people in the farm work or by allowing people to share their gardening knowledge with others. When sharing updates of my home gardening project in the SEEDING group, I received detailed guidance and encouragement from other home gardeners. The communication, care, and enlightenment from others in this turbulent time have become an indispensable source of life motivation. That is to say, gardening as a commoning activity is also a way to care for our social well-being. It creates connections among people with diverse social and cultural backgrounds in the time of physical separation.

5 Online sharing as commoning

Currently, the majority of family networks, businesses, and schools depend on online video communication technology. Many online activities of working, teaching, learning, collaborating, and sharing have emerged. The heavy reliance on the online video conference platforms (e.g., Zoom, one of the most widely used Apps) raises the question of how technology might contribute to a more inclusive and equitable future for knowledge exchange and socialization.

Even when the world comes to a halt, intellectual flows and simulations do not. Professor Jeffrey Hou from the University of Washington, Seattle, initiated a platform named disCO-commons: Distance Collaboration Commons in Support of Design for Social Change, Footnote 7 on which scholars, students, educators, and practitioners in architecture, design, and planning could contribute to a collection of academic resources. Discussions and debates around design thinking are also continued with Design Baithak, Footnote 8 a weekly Zoom event organized by Ahmed Ansari, an assistant professor at New York University. The discussants come from all parts of the country and across continents. Besides, many international conferences in academia have also switched to free online formats. Distance, time, and financial concerns are no longer barriers. In pre-pandemic times, academic collaborations at such scales would take months to plan and coordinate. COVID-19 and technology have miraculously pushed the progress of remote knowledge sharing and collaborations.

Concurrently, online social activities are taking place exponentially. Figure  7 shows a screenshot of our 2018 Carnegie Mellon Master of Urban Design alumni reunion, held on Zoom. Two years after graduation, friends from five different countries, across three continents, managed to meet virtually. Some of us are foreigners staying in the USA, some traveled home before the outbreak, and some are in their homeland but separated from the family. The moment we saw each other, memories of us being physically together were recalled. Technology shortened the geographical distance between us. Figure  8 shows an online yoga class that I joined. The teacher just completed her yoga training in Portland, Oregon, and kindly provided free online classes. In such a time of uncertainty, spending some time each day doing yoga, meditation, or stretching is a good way to relieve the anxiety and despair that the mainstream social media is trying to render. When the body is relaxed, the mind becomes composed.

Virtual alumni reunion (April 10, 2020. Screenshot provided by the author)

Remote yoga class (April 26, 2020. Screenshot provided by the author)

Despite the challenge of video bombs and internet interferences, online sharing has brought genuine excitement for the possibilities afforded by unique forms of information caregiving. With careful application and management of new technology, virtual communication has shown outstanding efficiency in (re)connecting people and promoting more accessible ways of education and socialization. Now that we have a firmer grasp on the planning, coordination, and execution of these online activities, we may start to imagine a network of virtual commoning.

6 Volunteering as commoning

It seems that our hands are tied because of the limitation of face-to-face contact with others. However, challenges always prelude opportunities. Coronavirus interrupts our normal socialization but offers unique volunteering opportunities that call for reciprocity among strangers. In April, the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) were planning to distribute packs of personal protective supplies sent by the Consulate General of PR China in New York to CMU Chinese students. I signed up to be the volunteer and was assigned to be the driver and distributor for our apartment building and several surrounding blocks (Fig.  9 ). Myself and 20 other volunteers collectively coordinated the transportation and distribution of over a thousand “Health Packs” with the assistance of CSSA staff, brainstorming and deciding the best timing, location, and method of distribution. The quick reaction and organization were all from the bottom-up. Two other volunteers and I took advantage of the fact that the foyer of my apartment building is separated from the lobby by a glass door. We placed the bags in the foyer and waited in the lobby (Fig.  10 ). Remaining mindful of social distancing rules, recipients came and lined up on the sidewalk outside the foyer. Each person who entered the foyer showed us their student ID against the glass door to confirm the pickup. For residents in the building, a digital signup sheet was circulated for them to fill in their apartment numbers. Based on the signup sheet, we left the bags directly in front of their apartment doors. Volunteering in this distribution, I witnessed the nurture of a sense of belonging and a connection with home in the Chinese student community.

The author picking up two boxes of “Health Packs” from the post office (April 17, 2020. Photography provided by the author)

A box packed with 24 “Health Packs” to distribute to Chinese students (April 17, 2020. Photography provided by the author)

Recent anti-Chinese rhetoric in the USA and around the world has put many Chinese citizens overseas in trepidation. Incidents of racism are on the rise, as President Donald Trump “continues to stoke xenophobia by using a racist name for the virus and associating it with Asian Americans” (Zhou 2020 , para 6). Now more than ever, Chinese students are questioning our identities and trying to find a sense of belonging, both physically and mentally. Physical isolations have also worsened the situation as the feelings of uncertainty and fear are internalized. Apart from providing material security, more importantly, “Health Packs” sent a signal of being cared for by others and were catalysts for commoning practices. In this case, each one of the volunteers and recipients was fulfilling his/her duty in connecting these worried and isolated individuals. Volunteering as a way of commoning demonstrates that, by carrying out small acts of care for others, we, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, or age, have the agency to overcome physical isolation and dismantle the difficulties posed by the crisis.

7 From a current me to a future we

As I put this paper together, the death toll of COVID-19 across the world has surpassed 650,000, Footnote 9 casting an even larger shadow of uncertainty over the future. The harder the crisis hits us, the more we have to look for the positive changes that it facilitates. The above-mentioned experiences and examples are personal and quotidian. However, what is personal and present allows us to imagine what is collective and future.

The three commoning examples that I have discussed are all manifestations of how care has connected us, which forms the premise for systematic changes. Because of care for the Earth, home gardeners and community farmers will contribute to building more sustainable food production and consumption systems. Because of care for our minds, online sharing will connect into global knowledge systems. Because of care for ourselves and each other, volunteering activities and mutual support will continue building more supportive, inclusive, and equitable social systems. We need to recognize that the scaling from individual commoning activities to larger neighborhood, local, and regional collaborative systems may require much more efforts, education, and time. Nonetheless, we can still continue fulfilling our own duties as connecting dots in the systems, weaving the collective networks.

The COVID-19 pandemic can be the most effective moment in which we disrupt unhealthy norms and validate new possibilities. Care-based commoning can be one of these possibilities. The emphasis on giving rather than taking, on solidarity rather than individuality, on care rather than indifference is what I would like to reflect on when engaging in and discussing everyday commoning experiences. Taking everyday commoning practices as the starting point, it is necessary to start imagining a new collaborative future that is no longer constrained by geospatial boundaries and physical contacts. In fact, since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, care has been ubiquitous; we have all sensed it in the formats “of responsibility, of sharing, of reciprocity, of democratic organization, and of welfare” (Petrescu and Trogal 2017 , p. 194). As we remain physically apart, let us see this as an opportunity to practice our muscles of commoning and build the strength to care for ourselves and others.

Coverage on Wuhan lockdown can further be found on South China Morning Post ( https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3047278/wuhan-goes-shutdown-china-tries-contain-deadly-coronavirus ).

Larger numbers of confirmed cases are presented in darker colors in most COVID-19 live tracking maps, for instance, Baidu COVID-19 live data ( https://voice.baidu.com/act/newpneumonia/newpneumonia ) and Sina News COVID-19 live tracking ( https://news.sina.cn/zt_d/yiqing0121 ).

WeChat is the most widely used multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app in China.

The information of Pittsburgh’s first two COVID-19 cases is available on TribLIVE ( https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/allegheny-county-to-announce-1st-coronavirus-cases/ ).

Student population percentage is calculated based on data provided by the US Census Bureau ( https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/pittsburghcitypennsylvania ).

The information is acquired from the study of coronavirus survival time on surfaces by US National Institutes of Health ( https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/study-suggests-new-coronavirus-may-remain-surfaces-days ).

More information on the Distance Collaboration Commons in Support of Design for Social Change can be found on their Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/880415052397554 ).

The time, guests and topics of Design Baithak can be found on the website ( https://sites.google.com/view/designbaithak/ ).

The COVID-19 death toll number is acquired from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center ( https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html ).

Baibarac C, Petrescu D (2017) Open-source resilience: a connected commons-based proposition for urban transformation. Proc Eng 198:227–239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2017.07.157

Article   Google Scholar  

Bollier D (2014) Think like a commoner: a short introduction to the life of the commons. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, pp 9–20

Google Scholar  

Bollier D (2020) Commoning as a pandemic survival strategy. Free, fair and alive: the insurgent power of the commons. https://www.freefairandalive.org/commoning-as-a-pandemic-survival-strategy/ . Accessed 2 April 2020

Bollier D, Helfrich S (eds) (2015) Patterns of commoning. Common Strategies Group, Amityville, New York, p 17

Corkery M, Karni A (2020) Trump administration restricts entry into U.S. from china. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/31/business/china-travel-coronavirus.html . Accessed 2 Jul 2020

Džokić A, Neelen M (2015) Instituting commoning. Footprint 9(1):21–34

Gibson-Graham JK, Cameron J, Healy S (2013) Take back the economy: an ethical guide for transforming our communities. University of Minnesota Press, London, pp 138–147

Book   Google Scholar  

Jian Y (2020) Urban home gardening takes root amid epidemic. Shanghai Daily. https://www.shine.cn/news/metro/2002262834/?fbclid=IwAR1cDp6qNN7-Sv5dPHdnl2P-Kpcb2jtlt3dhGlW8vQvs3386aWQIEgMBT24 . Accessed 26 Feb 2020

Jones T (2020) After coronavirus, the penny has dropped that wellbeing isn’t individual but social. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/12/after-coronavirus-the-penny-has-dropped-that-wellbeing-isnt-individual-but-social . Accessed 2 May 2020

Morrow O, Parker B (2020) Care, commoning and collectivity: from grand domestic revolution to urban transformation. Urban Geogr. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2020.1785258

Petrescu D, Trogal K (eds) (2017) The social (re)production of architecture: politics, values and actions in contemporary practice. Taylor and Francis Group, Routledge, pp 194–197

Sennett R (2012) Together: the rituals, pleasures and politics of cooperation. Yale University Press, New Haven, pp 9–13

Telford T, Kindy K (2020) Inside Smithfield, JBS and Tysons Food meat plants, fears grew of employees working sick, without protective gear. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/25/meat-workers-safety-jbs-smithfield-tyson/ . Accessed 6 May 2020

Thackara J (2015) How to thrive in the next economy: designing tomorrow’s world today. Thames and Hudson, New York, pp 120–134

Troncoso S (2020) Commons: how the art of co-operation is the only way out of this crisis. Medium: The Commons Transition. https://medium.com/commons-transition/commons-how-the-art-of-co-operation-is-the-only-way-out-of-this-crisis-ab2c9ec96c08 . Accessed 27 July 2020

Wee S, Wang V (2020) China Grapples With Mystery Pneumonia-Like Illness. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/06/world/asia/china-SARS-pneumonialike.html . Accessed 8 May 2020

Zhou L (2020) How the coronavirus is surfacing America’s deep-seated anti-Asian biases. Vox. https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/4/21/21221007/anti-asian-racism-coronavirus . Accessed 5 May 2020

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chun Zheng .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Zheng, C. Caring for the self and others: a reflection on everyday commoning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Socio Ecol Pract Res 2 , 243–251 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-020-00062-3

Download citation

Received : 11 July 2020

Accepted : 13 August 2020

Published : 24 August 2020

Issue Date : September 2020

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-020-00062-3

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Everyday commoning
• Food supply chain
• Online sharing
• Healthy packs

Advertisement

• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

Resources for

• Prospective Students
• Current Students
• Admin Resources

Search form

Essays reveal experiences during pandemic, unrest.

Field study students share their thoughts 

Members of Advanced Field Study, a select group of Social Ecology students who are chosen from a pool of applicants to participate in a year-long field study experience and course, had their internships and traditional college experience cut short this year. During our final quarter of the year together, during which we met weekly for two hours via Zoom, we discussed their reactions as the world fell apart around them. First came the pandemic and social distancing, then came the death of George Floyd and the response of the Black Lives Matter movement, both of which were imprinted on the lives of these students. This year was anything but dull, instead full of raw emotion and painful realizations of the fragility of the human condition and the extent to which we need one another. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for our students to chronicle their experiences — the good and the bad, the lessons learned, and ways in which they were forever changed by the events of the past four months. I invited all of my students to write an essay describing the ways in which these times had impacted their learning and their lives during or after their time at UCI. These are their voices. — Jessica Borelli , associate professor of psychological science

Becoming Socially Distant Through Technology: The Tech Contagion

The current state of affairs put the world on pause, but this pause gave me time to reflect on troubling matters. Time that so many others like me probably also desperately needed to heal without even knowing it. Sometimes it takes one’s world falling apart for the most beautiful mosaic to be built up from the broken pieces of wreckage. 

As the school year was coming to a close and summer was edging around the corner, I began reflecting on how people will spend their summer breaks if the country remains in its current state throughout the sunny season. Aside from living in the sunny beach state of California where people love their vitamin D and social festivities, I think some of the most damaging effects Covid-19 will have on us all has more to do with social distancing policies than with any inconveniences we now face due to the added precautions, despite how devastating it may feel that Disneyland is closed to all the local annual passholders or that the beaches may not be filled with sun-kissed California girls this summer. During this unprecedented time, I don’t think we should allow the rare opportunity we now have to be able to watch in real time how the effects of social distancing can impact our mental health. Before the pandemic, many of us were already engaging in a form of social distancing. Perhaps not the exact same way we are now practicing, but the technology that we have developed over recent years has led to a dramatic decline in our social contact and skills in general. 

The debate over whether we should remain quarantined during this time is not an argument I am trying to pursue. Instead, I am trying to encourage us to view this event as a unique time to study how social distancing can affect people’s mental health over a long period of time and with dramatic results due to the magnitude of the current issue. Although Covid-19 is new and unfamiliar to everyone, the isolation and separation we now face is not. For many, this type of behavior has already been a lifestyle choice for a long time. However, the current situation we all now face has allowed us to gain a more personal insight on how that experience feels due to the current circumstances. Mental illness continues to remain a prevalent problem throughout the world and for that reason could be considered a pandemic of a sort in and of itself long before the Covid-19 outbreak. 

One parallel that can be made between our current restrictions and mental illness reminds me in particular of hikikomori culture. Hikikomori is a phenomenon that originated in Japan but that has since spread internationally, now prevalent in many parts of the world, including the United States. Hikikomori is not a mental disorder but rather can appear as a symptom of a disorder. People engaging in hikikomori remain confined in their houses and often their rooms for an extended period of time, often over the course of many years. This action of voluntary confinement is an extreme form of withdrawal from society and self-isolation. Hikikomori affects a large percent of people in Japan yearly and the problem continues to become more widespread with increasing occurrences being reported around the world each year. While we know this problem has continued to increase, the exact number of people practicing hikikomori is unknown because there is a large amount of stigma surrounding the phenomenon that inhibits people from seeking help. This phenomenon cannot be written off as culturally defined because it is spreading to many parts of the world. With the technology we now have, and mental health issues on the rise and expected to increase even more so after feeling the effects of the current pandemic, I think we will definitely see a rise in the number of people engaging in this social isolation, especially with the increase in legitimate fears we now face that appear to justify the previously considered irrational fears many have associated with social gatherings. We now have the perfect sample of people to provide answers about how this form of isolation can affect people over time. 

Likewise, with the advancements we have made to technology not only is it now possible to survive without ever leaving the confines of your own home, but it also makes it possible for us to “fulfill” many of our social interaction needs. It’s very unfortunate, but in addition to the success we have gained through our advancements we have also experienced a great loss. With new technology, I am afraid that we no longer engage with others the way we once did. Although some may say the advancements are for the best, I wonder, at what cost? It is now commonplace to see a phone on the table during a business meeting or first date. Even worse is how many will feel inclined to check their phone during important or meaningful interactions they are having with people face to face. While our technology has become smarter, we have become dumber when it comes to social etiquette. As we all now constantly carry a mini computer with us everywhere we go, we have in essence replaced our best friends. We push others away subconsciously as we reach for our phones during conversations. We no longer remember phone numbers because we have them all saved in our phones. We find comfort in looking down at our phones during those moments of free time we have in public places before our meetings begin. These same moments were once the perfect time to make friends, filled with interactive banter. We now prefer to stare at other people on our phones for hours on end, and often live a sedentary lifestyle instead of going out and interacting with others ourselves. 

These are just a few among many issues the advances to technology led to long ago. We have forgotten how to practice proper tech-etiquette and we have been inadvertently practicing social distancing long before it was ever required. Now is a perfect time for us to look at the society we have become and how we incurred a different kind of pandemic long before the one we currently face. With time, as the social distancing regulations begin to lift, people may possibly begin to appreciate life and connecting with others more than they did before as a result of the unique experience we have shared in together while apart.

Maybe the world needed a time-out to remember how to appreciate what it had but forgot to experience. Life is to be lived through experience, not to be used as a pastime to observe and compare oneself with others. I’ll leave you with a simple reminder: never forget to take care and love more because in a world where life is often unpredictable and ever changing, one cannot risk taking time or loved ones for granted. With that, I bid you farewell, fellow comrades, like all else, this too shall pass, now go live your best life!

Privilege in a Pandemic 

Covid-19 has impacted millions of Americans who have been out of work for weeks, thus creating a financial burden. Without a job and the certainty of knowing when one will return to work, paying rent and utilities has been a problem for many. With unemployment on the rise, relying on unemployment benefits has become a necessity for millions of people. According to the Washington Post , unemployment rose to 14.7% in April which is considered to be the worst since the Great Depression. 

Those who are not worried about the financial aspect or the thought never crossed their minds have privilege. Merriam Webster defines privilege as “a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor.” Privilege can have a negative connotation. What you choose to do with your privilege is what matters. Talking about privilege can bring discomfort, but the discomfort it brings can also carry the benefit of drawing awareness to one’s privilege, which can lead the person to take steps to help others. 

I am a first-generation college student who recently transferred to a four-year university. When schools began to close, and students had to leave their on-campus housing, many lost their jobs.I was able to stay on campus because I live in an apartment. I am fortunate to still have a job, although the hours are minimal. My parents help pay for school expenses, including housing, tuition, and food. I do not have to worry about paying rent or how to pay for food because my parents are financially stable to help me. However, there are millions of college students who are not financially stable or do not have the support system I have. Here, I have the privilege and, thus, I am the one who can offer help to others. I may not have millions in funding, but volunteering for centers who need help is where I am able to help. Those who live in California can volunteer through Californians For All  or at food banks, shelter facilities, making calls to seniors, etc. 

I was not aware of my privilege during these times until I started reading more articles about how millions of people cannot afford to pay their rent, and landlords are starting to send notices of violations. Rather than feel guilty and be passive about it, I chose to put my privilege into a sense of purpose: Donating to nonprofits helping those affected by COVID-19, continuing to support local businesses, and supporting businesses who are donating profits to those affected by COVID-19.

My World is Burning 

As I write this, my friends are double checking our medical supplies and making plans to buy water and snacks to pass out at the next protest we are attending. We write down the number for the local bailout fund on our arms and pray that we’re lucky enough not to have to use it should things get ugly. We are part of a pivotal event, the kind of movement that will forever have a place in history. Yet, during this revolution, I have papers to write and grades to worry about, as I’m in the midst of finals. 

My professors have offered empty platitudes. They condemn the violence and acknowledge the stress and pain that so many of us are feeling, especially the additional weight that this carries for students of color. I appreciate their show of solidarity, but it feels meaningless when it is accompanied by requests to complete research reports and finalize presentations. Our world is on fire. Literally. On my social media feeds, I scroll through image after image of burning buildings and police cars in flames. How can I be asked to focus on school when my community is under siege? When police are continuing to murder black people, adding additional names to the ever growing list of their victims. Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. George Floyd. David Mcatee. And, now, Rayshard Brooks. 

It already felt like the world was being asked of us when the pandemic started and classes continued. High academic expectations were maintained even when students now faced the challenges of being locked down, often trapped in small spaces with family or roommates. Now we are faced with another public health crisis in the form of police violence and once again it seems like educational faculty are turning a blind eye to the impact that this has on the students. I cannot study for exams when I am busy brushing up on my basic first-aid training, taking notes on the best techniques to stop heavy bleeding and treat chemical burns because at the end of the day, if these protests turn south, I will be entering a warzone. Even when things remain peaceful, there is an ugliness that bubbles just below the surface. When beginning the trek home, I have had armed members of the National Guard follow me and my friends. While kneeling in silence, I have watched police officers cock their weapons and laugh, pointing out targets in the crowd. I have been emailing my professors asking for extensions, trying to explain that if something is turned in late, it could be the result of me being detained or injured. I don’t want to be penalized for trying to do what I wholeheartedly believe is right. 

I have spent my life studying and will continue to study these institutions that have been so instrumental in the oppression and marginalization of black and indigenous communities. Yet, now that I have the opportunity to be on the frontlines actively fighting for the change our country so desperately needs, I feel that this study is more of a hindrance than a help to the cause. Writing papers and reading books can only take me so far and I implore that professors everywhere recognize that requesting their students split their time and energy between finals and justice is an impossible ask.

Opportunity to Serve

Since the start of the most drastic change of our lives, I have had the privilege of helping feed more than 200 different families in the Santa Ana area and even some neighboring cities. It has been an immense pleasure seeing the sheer joy and happiness of families as they come to pick up their box of food from our site, as well as a $50 gift card to Northgate, a grocery store in Santa Ana. Along with donating food and helping feed families, the team at the office, including myself, have dedicated this time to offering psychosocial and mental health check-ups for the families we serve. 

Every day I go into the office I start my day by gathering files of our families we served between the months of January, February, and March and calling them to check on how they are doing financially, mentally, and how they have been affected by COVID-19. As a side project, I have been putting together Excel spreadsheets of all these families’ struggles and finding a way to turn their situation into a success story to share with our board at PY-OCBF and to the community partners who make all of our efforts possible. One of the things that has really touched me while working with these families is how much of an impact this nonprofit organization truly has on family’s lives. I have spoken with many families who I just call to check up on and it turns into an hour call sharing about how much of a change they have seen in their child who went through our program. Further, they go on to discuss that because of our program, their children have a different perspective on the drugs they were using before and the group of friends they were hanging out with. Of course, the situation is different right now as everyone is being told to stay at home; however, there are those handful of kids who still go out without asking for permission, increasing the likelihood they might contract this disease and pass it to the rest of the family. We are working diligently to provide support for these parents and offering advice to talk to their kids in order to have a serious conversation with their kids so that they feel heard and validated. 

Although the novel Coronavirus has impacted the lives of millions of people not just on a national level, but on a global level, I feel that in my current position, it has opened doors for me that would have otherwise not presented themselves. Fortunately, I have been offered a full-time position at the Project Youth Orange County Bar Foundation post-graduation that I have committed to already. This invitation came to me because the organization received a huge grant for COVID-19 relief to offer to their staff and since I was already part-time, they thought I would be a good fit to join the team once mid-June comes around. I was very excited and pleased to be recognized for the work I have done at the office in front of all staff. I am immensely grateful for this opportunity. I will work even harder to provide for the community and to continue changing the lives of adolescents, who have steered off the path of success. I will use my time as a full-time employee to polish my resume, not forgetting that the main purpose of my moving to Irvine was to become a scholar and continue the education that my parents couldn’t attain. I will still be looking for ways to get internships with other fields within criminology. One specific interest that I have had since being an intern and a part-time employee in this organization is the work of the Orange County Coroner’s Office. I don’t exactly know what enticed me to find it appealing as many would say that it is an awful job in nature since it relates to death and seeing people in their worst state possible. However, I feel that the only way for me to truly know if I want to pursue such a career in forensic science will be to just dive into it and see where it takes me. 

I can, without a doubt, say that the Coronavirus has impacted me in a way unlike many others, and for that I am extremely grateful. As I continue working, I can also state that many people are becoming more and more hopeful as time progresses. With people now beginning to say Stage Two of this stay-at-home order is about to allow retailers and other companies to begin doing curbside delivery, many families can now see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Let’s Do Better

This time of the year is meant to be a time of celebration; however, it has been difficult to feel proud or excited for many of us when it has become a time of collective mourning and sorrow, especially for the Black community. There has been an endless amount of pain, rage, and helplessness that has been felt throughout our nation because of the growing list of Black lives we have lost to violence and brutality.

To honor the lives that we have lost, George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, Michael Brown, Trayon Martin, and all of the other Black lives that have been taken away, may they Rest in Power.

Throughout my college experience, I have become more exposed to the various identities and the upbringings of others, which led to my own self-reflection on my own privileged and marginalized identities. I identify as Colombian, German, and Mexican; however navigating life as a mixed race, I have never been able to identify or have one culture more salient than the other. I am visibly white-passing and do not hold any strong ties with any of my ethnic identities, which used to bring me feelings of guilt and frustration, for I would question whether or not I could be an advocate for certain communities, and whether or not I could claim the identity of a woman of color. In the process of understanding my positionality, I began to wonder what space I belonged in, where I could speak up, and where I should take a step back for others to speak. I found myself in a constant theme of questioning what is my narrative and slowly began to realize that I could not base it off lone identities and that I have had the privilege to move through life without my identities defining who I am. Those initial feelings of guilt and confusion transformed into growth, acceptance, and empowerment.

This journey has driven me to educate myself more about the social inequalities and injustices that people face and to focus on what I can do for those around me. It has motivated me to be more culturally responsive and competent, so that I am able to best advocate for those around me. Through the various roles I have worked in, I have been able to listen to a variety of communities’ narratives and experiences, which has allowed me to extend my empathy to these communities while also pushing me to continue educating myself on how I can best serve and empower them. By immersing myself amongst different communities, I have been given the honor of hearing others’ stories and experiences, which has inspired me to commit myself to support and empower others.

I share my story of navigating through my privileged and marginalized identities in hopes that it encourages others to explore their own identities. This journey is not an easy one, and it is an ongoing learning process that will come with various mistakes. I have learned that with facing our privileges comes feelings of guilt, discomfort, and at times, complacency. It is very easy to become ignorant when we are not affected by different issues, but I challenge those who read this to embrace the discomfort. With these emotions, I have found it important to reflect on the source of discomfort and guilt, for although they are a part of the process, in taking the steps to become more aware of the systemic inequalities around us, understanding the source of discomfort can better inform us on how we perpetuate these systemic inequalities. If we choose to embrace ignorance, we refuse to acknowledge the systems that impact marginalized communities and refuse to honestly and openly hear cries for help. If we choose our own comfort over the lives of those being affected every day, we can never truly honor, serve, or support these communities.

I challenge any non-Black person, including myself, to stop remaining complacent when injustices are committed. We need to consistently recognize and acknowledge how the Black community is disproportionately affected in every injustice experienced and call out anti-Blackness in every role, community, and space we share. We need to keep ourselves and others accountable when we make mistakes or fall back into patterns of complacency or ignorance. We need to continue educating ourselves instead of relying on the emotional labor of the Black community to continuously educate us on the history of their oppressions. We need to collectively uplift and empower one another to heal and rise against injustice. We need to remember that allyship ends when action ends.

To the Black community, you are strong. You deserve to be here. The recent events are emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausting, and the need for rest to take care of your mental, physical, and emotional well-being are at an all time high. If you are able, take the time to regain your energy, feel every emotion, and remind yourself of the power you have inside of you. You are not alone.

The Virus That Makes You Forget

Following Jan. 1 of 2020 many of my classmates and I continued to like, share, and forward the same meme. The meme included any image but held the same phrase: I can see 2020. For many of us, 2020 was a beacon of hope. For the Class of 2020, this meant walking on stage in front of our families. Graduation meant becoming an adult, finding a job, or going to graduate school. No matter what we were doing in our post-grad life, we were the new rising stars ready to take on the world with a positive outlook no matter what the future held. We felt that we had a deal with the universe that we were about to be noticed for our hard work, our hardships, and our perseverance.

Then March 17 of 2020 came to pass with California Gov. Newman ordering us to stay at home, which we all did. However, little did we all know that the world we once had open to us would only be forgotten when we closed our front doors.

Life became immediately uncertain and for many of us, that meant graduation and our post-graduation plans including housing, careers, education, food, and basic standards of living were revoked! We became the forgotten — a place from which many of us had attempted to rise by attending university. The goals that we were told we could set and the plans that we were allowed to make — these were crushed before our eyes.

Eighty days before graduation, in the first several weeks of quarantine, I fell extremely ill; both unfortunately and luckily, I was isolated. All of my roommates had moved out of the student apartments leaving me with limited resources, unable to go to the stores to pick up medicine or food, and with insufficient health coverage to afford a doctor until my throat was too swollen to drink water. For nearly three weeks, I was stuck in bed, I was unable to apply to job deadlines, reach out to family, and have contact with the outside world. I was forgotten.

Forty-five days before graduation, I had clawed my way out of illness and was catching up on an honors thesis about media depictions of sexual exploitation within the American political system, when I was relayed the news that democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was accused of sexual assault. However, when reporting this news to close friends who had been devastated and upset by similar claims against past politicians, they all were too tired and numb from the quarantine to care. Just as I had written hours before reading the initial story, history was repeating, and it was not only I who COVID-19 had forgotten, but now survivors of violence.

After this revelation, I realize the silencing factor that COVID-19 has. Not only does it have the power to terminate the voices of our older generations, but it has the power to silence and make us forget the voices of every generation. Maybe this is why social media usage has gone up, why we see people creating new social media accounts, posting more, attempting to reach out to long lost friends. We do not want to be silenced, moreover, we cannot be silenced. Silence means that we have been forgotten and being forgotten is where injustice and uncertainty occurs. By using social media, pressing like on a post, or even sending a hate message, means that someone cares and is watching what you are doing. If there is no interaction, I am stuck in the land of indifference.

This is a place that I, and many others, now reside, captured and uncertain. In 2020, my plan was to graduate Cum Laude, dean's honor list, with three honors programs, three majors, and with research and job experience that stretched over six years. I would then go into my first year of graduate school, attempting a dual Juris Doctorate. I would be spending my time experimenting with new concepts, new experiences, and new relationships. My life would then be spent giving a microphone to survivors of domestic violence and sex crimes. However, now the plan is wiped clean, instead I sit still bound to graduate in 30 days with no home to stay, no place to work, and no future education to come back to. I would say I am overly qualified, but pandemic makes me lost in a series of names and masked faces.

Welcome to My Cage: The Pandemic and PTSD

When I read the campuswide email notifying students of the World Health Organization’s declaration of the coronavirus pandemic, I was sitting on my couch practicing a research presentation I was going to give a few hours later. For a few minutes, I sat there motionless, trying to digest the meaning of the words as though they were from a language other than my own, familiar sounds strung together in way that was wholly unintelligible to me. I tried but failed to make sense of how this could affect my life. After the initial shock had worn off, I mobilized quickly, snapping into an autopilot mode of being I knew all too well. I began making mental checklists, sharing the email with my friends and family, half of my brain wondering if I should make a trip to the grocery store to stockpile supplies and the other half wondering how I was supposed take final exams in the midst of so much uncertainty. The most chilling realization was knowing I had to wait powerlessly as the fate of the world unfolded, frozen with anxiety as I figured out my place in it all.

These feelings of powerlessness and isolation are familiar bedfellows for me. Early October of 2015, shortly after beginning my first year at UCI, I was diagnosed with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Despite having had years of psychological treatment for my condition, including Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Retraining, the flashbacks, paranoia, and nightmares still emerge unwarranted. People have referred to the pandemic as a collective trauma. For me, the pandemic has not only been a collective trauma, it has also been the reemergence of a personal trauma. The news of the pandemic and the implications it has for daily life triggered a reemergence of symptoms that were ultimately ignited by the overwhelming sense of helplessness that lies in waiting, as I suddenly find myself navigating yet another situation beyond my control. Food security, safety, and my sense of self have all been shaken by COVID-19.

The first few weeks after UCI transitioned into remote learning and the governor issued the stay-at-home order, I hardly got any sleep. My body was cycling through hypervigilance and derealization, and my sleep was interrupted by intrusive nightmares oscillating between flashbacks and frightening snippets from current events. Any coping methods I had developed through hard-won efforts over the past few years — leaving my apartment for a change of scenery, hanging out with friends, going to the gym — were suddenly made inaccessible to me due to the stay-at-home orders, closures of non-essential businesses, and many of my friends breaking their campus leases to move back to their family homes. So for me, learning to cope during COVID-19 quarantine means learning to function with my re-emerging PTSD symptoms and without my go-to tools. I must navigate my illness in a rapidly evolving world, one where some of my internalized fears, such as running out of food and living in an unsafe world, are made progressively more external by the minute and broadcasted on every news platform; fears that I could no longer escape, being confined in the tight constraints of my studio apartment’s walls. I cannot shake the devastating effects of sacrifice that I experience as all sense of control has been stripped away from me.

However, amidst my mental anguish, I have realized something important—experiencing these same PTSD symptoms during a global pandemic feels markedly different than it did years ago. Part of it might be the passage of time and the growth in my mindset, but there is something else that feels very different. Currently, there is widespread solidarity and support for all of us facing the chaos of COVID-19, whether they are on the frontlines of the fight against the illness or they are self-isolating due to new rules, restrictions, and risks. This was in stark contrast to what it was like to have a mental disorder. The unity we all experience as a result of COVID-19 is one I could not have predicted. I am not the only student heartbroken over a cancelled graduation, I am not the only student who is struggling to adapt to remote learning, and I am not the only person in this world who has to make sacrifices.

Between observations I’ve made on social media and conversations with my friends and classmates, this time we are all enduring great pain and stress as we attempt to adapt to life’s challenges. As a Peer Assistant for an Education class, I have heard from many students of their heartache over the remote learning model, how difficult it is to study in a non-academic environment, and how unmotivated they have become this quarter. This is definitely something I can relate to; as of late, it has been exceptionally difficult to find motivation and put forth the effort for even simple activities as a lack of energy compounds the issue and hinders basic needs. However, the willingness of people to open up about their distress during the pandemic is unlike the self-imposed social isolation of many people who experience mental illness regularly. Something this pandemic has taught me is that I want to live in a world where mental illness receives more support and isn’t so taboo and controversial. Why is it that we are able to talk about our pain, stress, and mental illness now, but aren’t able to talk about it outside of a global pandemic? People should be able to talk about these hardships and ask for help, much like during these circumstances.

It has been nearly three months since the coronavirus crisis was declared a pandemic. I still have many bad days that I endure where my symptoms can be overwhelming. But somehow, during my good days — and some days, merely good moments — I can appreciate the resilience I have acquired over the years and the common ground I share with others who live through similar circumstances. For veterans of trauma and mental illness, this isn’t the first time we are experiencing pain in an extreme and disastrous way. This is, however, the first time we are experiencing it with the rest of the world. This strange new feeling of solidarity as I read and hear about the experiences of other people provides some small comfort as I fight my way out of bed each day. As we fight to survive this pandemic, I hope to hold onto this feeling of togetherness and acceptance of pain, so that it will always be okay for people to share their struggles. We don’t know what the world will look like days, months, or years from now, but I hope that we can cultivate such a culture to make life much easier for people coping with mental illness.

A Somatic Pandemonium in Quarantine

I remember hearing that our brains create the color magenta all on their own. 

When I was younger I used to run out of my third-grade class because my teacher was allergic to the mold and sometimes would vomit in the trash can. My dad used to tell me that I used to always have to have something in my hands, later translating itself into the form of a hair tie around my wrist.

Sometimes, I think about the girl who used to walk on her tippy toes. medial and lateral nerves never planted, never grounded. We were the same in this way. My ability to be firmly planted anywhere was also withered. 

Was it from all the times I panicked? Or from the time I ran away and I blistered the soles of my feet 'til they were black from the summer pavement? Emetophobia. 

I felt it in the shower, dressing itself from the crown of my head down to the soles of my feet, noting the feeling onto my white board in an attempt to solidify it’s permanence.

As I breathed in the chemical blue transpiring from the Expo marker, everything was more defined. I laid down and when I looked up at the starlet lamp I had finally felt centered. Still. No longer fleeting. The grooves in the lamps glass forming a spiral of what felt to me like an artificial landscape of transcendental sparks. 

She’s back now, magenta, though I never knew she left or even ever was. Somehow still subconsciously always known. I had been searching for her in the tremors.

I can see her now in the daphnes, the golden rays from the sun reflecting off of the bark on the trees and the red light that glowed brighter, suddenly the town around me was warmer. A melting of hues and sharpened saturation that was apparent and reminded of the smell of oranges.

I threw up all of the carrots I ate just before. The trauma that my body kept as a memory of things that may or may not go wrong and the times that I couldn't keep my legs from running. Revelations bring memories bringing anxieties from fear and panic released from my body as if to say “NO LONGER!” 

I close my eyes now and my mind's eye is, too, more vivid than ever before. My inner eyelids lit up with orange undertones no longer a solid black, neurons firing, fire. Not the kind that burns you but the kind that can light up a dull space. Like the wick of a tea-lit candle. Magenta doesn’t exist. It is perception. A construct made of light waves, blue and red.

Demolition. Reconstruction. I walk down the street into this new world wearing my new mask, somatic senses tingling and I think to myself “Houston, I think we’ve just hit equilibrium.”

How COVID-19 Changed My Senior Year

During the last two weeks of Winter quarter, I watched the emails pour in. Spring quarter would be online, facilities were closing, and everyone was recommended to return home to their families, if possible. I resolved to myself that I would not move back home; I wanted to stay in my apartment, near my boyfriend, near my friends, and in the one place I had my own space. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic worsened, things continued to change quickly. Soon I learned my roommate/best friend would be cancelling her lease and moving back up to Northern California. We had made plans for my final quarter at UCI, as I would be graduating in June while she had another year, but all of the sudden, that dream was gone. In one whirlwind of a day, we tried to cram in as much of our plans as we could before she left the next day for good. There are still so many things – like hiking, going to museums, and showing her around my hometown – we never got to cross off our list.

Then, my boyfriend decided he would also be moving home, three hours away. Most of my sorority sisters were moving home, too. I realized if I stayed at school, I would be completely alone. My mom had been encouraging me to move home anyway, but I was reluctant to return to a house I wasn’t completely comfortable in. As the pandemic became more serious, gentle encouragement quickly turned into demands. I had to cancel my lease and move home.

I moved back in with my parents at the end of Spring Break; I never got to say goodbye to most of my friends, many of whom I’ll likely never see again – as long as the virus doesn’t change things, I’m supposed to move to New York over the summer to begin a PhD program in Criminal Justice. Just like that, my time at UCI had come to a close. No lasts to savor; instead I had piles of things to regret. In place of a final quarter filled with memorable lasts, such as the senior banquet or my sorority’s senior preference night, I’m left with a laundry list of things I missed out on. I didn’t get to look around the campus one last time like I had planned; I never got to take my graduation pictures in front of the UC Irvine sign. Commencement had already been cancelled. The lights had turned off in the theatre before the movie was over. I never got to find out how the movie ended.

Transitioning to a remote learning system wasn’t too bad, but I found that some professors weren’t adjusting their courses to the difficulties many students were facing. It turned out to be difficult to stay motivated, especially for classes that are pre-recorded and don’t have any face-to-face interaction. It’s hard to make myself care; I’m in my last few weeks ever at UCI, but it feels like I’m already in summer. School isn’t real, my classes aren’t real. I still put in the effort, but I feel like I’m not getting much out of my classes.

The things I had been looking forward to this quarter are gone; there will be no Undergraduate Research Symposium, where I was supposed to present two projects. My amazing internship with the US Postal Inspection Service is over prematurely and I never got to properly say goodbye to anyone I met there. I won’t receive recognition for the various awards and honors I worked so hard to achieve.

And I’m one of the lucky ones! I feel guilty for feeling bad about my situation, when I know there are others who have it much, much worse. I am like that quintessential spoiled child, complaining while there are essential workers working tirelessly, people with health concerns constantly fearing for their safety, and people dying every day. Yet knowing that doesn't help me from feeling I was robbed of my senior experience, something I worked very hard to achieve. I know it’s not nearly as important as what many others are going through. But nevertheless, this is my situation. I was supposed to be enjoying this final quarter with my friends and preparing to move on, not be stuck at home, grappling with my mental health and hiding out in my room to get some alone time from a family I don’t always get along with. And while I know it’s more difficult out there for many others, it’s still difficult for me.

The thing that stresses me out most is the uncertainty. Uncertainty for the future – how long will this pandemic last? How many more people have to suffer before things go back to “normal” – whatever that is? How long until I can see my friends and family again? And what does this mean for my academic future? Who knows what will happen between now and then? All that’s left to do is wait and hope that everything will work out for the best.

Looking back over my last few months at UCI, I wish I knew at the time that I was experiencing my lasts; it feels like I took so much for granted. If there is one thing this has all made me realize, it’s that nothing is certain. Everything we expect, everything we take for granted – none of it is a given. Hold on to what you have while you have it, and take the time to appreciate the wonderful things in life, because you never know when it will be gone.

Physical Distancing

Thirty days have never felt so long. April has been the longest month of the year. I have been through more in these past three months than in the past three years. The COVID-19 outbreak has had a huge impact on both physical and social well-being of a lot of Americans, including me. Stress has been governing the lives of so many civilians, in particular students and workers. In addition to causing a lack of motivation in my life, quarantine has also brought a wave of anxiety.

My life changed the moment the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and the government announced social distancing. My busy daily schedule, running from class to class and meeting to meeting, morphed into identical days, consisting of hour after hour behind a cold computer monitor. Human interaction and touch improve trust, reduce fear and increases physical well-being. Imagine the effects of removing the human touch and interaction from midst of society. Humans are profoundly social creatures. I cannot function without interacting and connecting with other people. Even daily acquaintances have an impact on me that is only noticeable once removed. As a result, the COVID-19 outbreak has had an extreme impact on me beyond direct symptoms and consequences of contracting the virus itself.

It was not until later that month, when out of sheer boredom I was scrolling through my call logs and I realized that I had called my grandmother more than ever. This made me realize that quarantine had created some positive impacts on my social interactions as well. This period of time has created an opportunity to check up on and connect with family and peers more often than we were able to. Even though we might be connecting solely through a screen, we are not missing out on being socially connected. Quarantine has taught me to value and prioritize social connection, and to recognize that we can find this type of connection not only through in-person gatherings, but also through deep heart to heart connections. Right now, my weekly Zoom meetings with my long-time friends are the most important events in my week. In fact, I have taken advantage of the opportunity to reconnect with many of my old friends and have actually had more meaningful conversations with them than before the isolation.

This situation is far from ideal. From my perspective, touch and in-person interaction is essential; however, we must overcome all difficulties that life throws at us with the best we are provided with. Therefore, perhaps we should take this time to re-align our motives by engaging in things that are of importance to us. I learned how to dig deep and find appreciation for all the small talks, gatherings, and face-to-face interactions. I have also realized that friendships are not only built on the foundation of physical presence but rather on meaningful conversations you get to have, even if they are through a cold computer monitor. My realization came from having more time on my hands and noticing the shift in conversations I was having with those around me. After all, maybe this isolation isn’t “social distancing”, but rather “physical distancing” until we meet again.

Follow us on social media

Reflection on Expressive Writing for Covid-19

This series is supported by Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

Expressive writing is a beautiful methodology for “writing down the bones”, especially these days. Dee Stribling , participant

By Cuquis Robledo

As classes transitioned online back in March, a majority of Duke’s campus events had to either be postponed, cancelled, or moved to an online space. For my lab, the Duke Health Humanities Lab (HHL), that meant that the rest of our workshops on Narrative Medicine with Dr. Sneha Mantri and the weekly Chronic Health Conditions Storytelling Group sessions hosted and led by three medical students had to be put on the back burner for the time being since the hosts were working in the hospital or the medical school system had to focus their efforts on patient care and finishing up the medical school year safely.

One of the most popular workshops that the Duke HHL has hosted over the last couple of years has been a six-week Expressive Writing Workshop for Resilience, led by Expressive Writing Coach at Duke Integrative Medicine, John Evans. The HHL has opened this workshop up to Duke faculty, students, staff and the Durham community as an opportunity for participants to write about traumatic life events in the hopes to decrease stress, decrease rumination and increase resilience.

I remember one afternoon when I, the HHL Lab Manager, referred one of our members to John Evans who was looking for more potential writing offerings and resources at Duke during this time, John gave me a call and said, “I have an idea. What do you think about the lab offering a six-week Expressive Writing workshop for Covid19?”

Immediately I said, “Yes, we need this. Let’s do it.” It was the perfect opportunity to offer this workshop, especially since the concept of these Expressive Writing workshops is to bring people together to discover and reflect during difficult moments. It just seemed with this uncertainty that many people may be feeling lost and alone, and this workshop would bring people together during this time.

John then asked if we can pull it off as soon as possible, and I responded, “We can pull it off by next week.”

Within a week, the six-week workshop known as Expressive Writing for Resilience Related to Covid19 was created to be hosted every Friday afternoon from 12:30 – 2 PM EDT via Zoom. I developed a registration link that would allow me to keep count on an estimate of how many participants we were expected to have each week. The registration link also allowed me to develop a roster of participants in order to ensure that only the people on the roster were being admitted into the workshop for the protection of their privacy.

John and I were pleasantly surprised by how many participants showed up every week, an average being between 25-35 participants each week. We had participants from the Duke and Durham community, but also ended up having a national and global reach as well. Locations ranged from as close as South Carolina, to farther places such as Los Angeles, Nova Scotia, the UK, South Africa, and Turkey.

The six different forms of writing that we all engaged in included: expressive writing, transactional writing, poetic writing, affirmation writing, legacy writing and mindfulness writing. For most, expressive writing is the hardest writing prompt to write because it requires you to write about your deepest thoughts, feelings and emotional traumas. However, throughout the six weeks, John and I noticed that we had quite a bit of retention of participants and even new ones joining in as the workshop continued.

Towards the end of the six-week workshop, I began receiving emails from the participants saying how much they appreciated the sessions and asking if John would be hosting more of these workshops in the future. Their reasons for participating in the workshop varied. Some shared that they had children who were on the frontlines, others were fighting the virus itself, and others discussed how their work was affected by the virus. It goes to show that this workshop did bring people from around the globe together. At the end, everyone left the workshop smiling and even a couple of participants shared phone numbers at the end of the six weeks to stay in touch.

I remembered on his very last session John pulled up a calendar for the month of May that had one action item or task for each day of the month. Each task is meant bring happiness, as well as to look after ourselves and each other in this uncertain time. Some of the items include sending photos to friends, letting someone know you love them, or reconnecting with nature. He encouraged all of the participants to find happiness in the little things in life and do things that are meaningful for yourself.

He then closed with this mantra…

“May you be happy. May you be well. May you be at peace. Namaste.” John Evans

Testimonials

“I was immediately attracted to the Writing Seminar advertised and seized upon it as soon as the notice arrived in my inbox. There are incredibly few Humanities based responses to COVID-19 and the Seminar was positioned as far more than a Webinar of Humanities information sharing, but rather an invitation to deepen one’s understanding of Self during this crisis. I found the writing exercises to be gentle, natural and they allowed an organic unfolding of thought and Self…The facilitator was patient and incredibly non hurried and non-intrusive and allowed the participants’ voices to emerge and be shared in their own time. My internet connection may have been spotty and weak and times, but I think we all experienced a very real connection to Self and others. Thank you.” Maheshvari Naidu , Professor & Academic Leader Research  School of Social Sciences  University of KwaZulu-Natal South Africa 

“When we meet to write and share, both aspects are valuable to me, as others describe things I’m not feeling or experiencing, so I learn and grow. I feel a shift occurring within for a day or two after the class. I think it signifies a coming to terms, acceptance of what I became aware of in the class, both within me and around me. I look forward to this class. Much gratitude for offering it to the public.” Kimberley Wulfert , PhD, Lic. Psychologist Holistic Mindfulness-based Psychotherapy Meditation Teacher, & Coach for Women over 40

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Essay Service Examples Life Social Work

Covid 19 Reflection Essay

• Proper editing and formatting
• Free revision, title page, and bibliography
• Flexible prices and money-back guarantee

Our writers will provide you with an essay sample written from scratch: any topic, any deadline, any instructions.

Cite this paper

Related essay topics.

Get your paper done in as fast as 3 hours, 24/7.

Related articles

Most popular essays

• Social Work

Social work is pegged on attending to the human condition i.e. making sure that everyone is whole...

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Human rights are a powerful ideal that are easily endorsed today by people from many different...

The importance of health care to the society is as a result of illnesses, accidents and...

• Perspective

A career is something I would love to do even when I’m having a bad day, it is something I want to...

According to Sarah Banks ( Banks, 2012) Ethics is about what is right and wrong conduct , good and...

• Social Justice

Social workers can be put into a predicament within their professing if they do not know there...

• Critical Reflection

Critical Reflection plays a significant role in social work, when practicing social work, it is...

According to Professor HL Fung said that social welfare and social work have been undergone a...

Particular challenges of contemporary professional social work practice currently are austerity...

Join our 150k of happy users

• Get original paper written according to your instructions
• Save time for what matters most

Fair Use Policy

EduBirdie considers academic integrity to be the essential part of the learning process and does not support any violation of the academic standards. Should you have any questions regarding our Fair Use Policy or become aware of any violations, please do not hesitate to contact us via [email protected].

We are here 24/7 to write your paper in as fast as 3 hours.

Provide your email, and we'll send you this sample!

By providing your email, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy .

Say goodbye to copy-pasting!

Get custom-crafted papers for you.

Enter your email, and we'll promptly send you the full essay. No need to copy piece by piece. It's in your inbox!

Coronavirus and schools: Reflections on education one year into the pandemic

Subscribe to the center for universal education bulletin, daphna bassok , daphna bassok nonresident senior fellow - governance studies , brown center on education policy @daphnabassok lauren bauer , lauren bauer fellow - economic studies , associate director - the hamilton project @laurenlbauer stephanie riegg cellini , stephanie riegg cellini nonresident senior fellow - governance studies , brown center on education policy helen shwe hadani , helen shwe hadani former brookings expert @helenshadani michael hansen , michael hansen senior fellow - brown center on education policy , the herman and george r. brown chair - governance studies @drmikehansen douglas n. harris , douglas n. harris nonresident senior fellow - governance studies , brown center on education policy , professor and chair, department of economics - tulane university @douglasharris99 brad olsen , brad olsen senior fellow - global economy and development , center for universal education @bradolsen_dc richard v. reeves , richard v. reeves president - american institute for boys and men @richardvreeves jon valant , and jon valant director - brown center on education policy , senior fellow - governance studies @jonvalant kenneth k. wong kenneth k. wong nonresident senior fellow - governance studies , brown center on education policy.

March 12, 2021

• 11 min read

One year ago, the World Health Organization declared the spread of COVID-19 a worldwide pandemic. Reacting to the virus, schools at every level were sent scrambling. Institutions across the world switched to virtual learning, with teachers, students, and local leaders quickly adapting to an entirely new way of life. A year later, schools are beginning to reopen, the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill has been passed, and a sense of normalcy seems to finally be in view; in President Joe Biden’s speech last night, he spoke of “finding light in the darkness.” But it’s safe to say that COVID-19 will end up changing education forever, casting a critical light on everything from equity issues to ed tech to school financing.

Below, Brookings experts examine how the pandemic upended the education landscape in the past year, what it’s taught us about schooling, and where we go from here.

In the United States, we tend to focus on the educating roles of public schools, largely ignoring the ways in which schools provide free and essential care for children while their parents work. When COVID-19 shuttered in-person schooling, it eliminated this subsidized child care for many families. It created intense stress for working parents, especially for mothers who left the workforce at a high rate.

The pandemic also highlighted the arbitrary distinction we make between the care and education of elementary school children and children aged 0 to 5 . Despite parents having the same need for care, and children learning more in those earliest years than at any other point, public investments in early care and education are woefully insufficient. The child-care sector was hit so incredibly hard by COVID-19. The recent passage of the American Rescue Plan is a meaningful but long-overdue investment, but much more than a one-time infusion of funds is needed. Hopefully, the pandemic represents a turning point in how we invest in the care and education of young children—and, in turn, in families and society.

Congressional reauthorization of Pandemic EBT for  this school year , its  extension  in the American Rescue Plan (including for summer months), and its place as a  central plank  in the Biden administration’s anti-hunger agenda is well-warranted and evidence based. But much more needs to be done to ramp up the program–even  today , six months after its reauthorization, about half of states do not have a USDA-approved implementation plan.

In contrast, enrollment is up in for-profit and online colleges. The research repeatedly finds weaker student outcomes for these types of institutions relative to community colleges, and many students who enroll in them will be left with more debt than they can reasonably repay. The pandemic and recession have created significant challenges for students, affecting college choices and enrollment decisions in the near future. Ultimately, these short-term choices can have long-term consequences for lifetime earnings and debt that could impact this generation of COVID-19-era college students for years to come.

Many U.S. educationalists are drawing on the “build back better” refrain and calling for the current crisis to be leveraged as a unique opportunity for educators, parents, and policymakers to fully reimagine education systems that are designed for the 21st rather than the 20th century, as we highlight in a recent Brookings report on education reform . An overwhelming body of evidence points to play as the best way to equip children with a broad set of flexible competencies and support their socioemotional development. A recent article in The Atlantic shared parent anecdotes of children playing games like “CoronaBall” and “Social-distance” tag, proving that play permeates children’s lives—even in a pandemic.

Tests play a critical role in our school system. Policymakers and the public rely on results to measure school performance and reveal whether all students are equally served. But testing has also attracted an inordinate share of criticism, alleging that test pressures undermine teacher autonomy and stress students. Much of this criticism will wither away with  different  formats. The current form of standardized testing—annual, paper-based, multiple-choice tests administered over the course of a week of school—is outdated. With widespread student access to computers (now possible due to the pandemic), states can test students more frequently, but in smaller time blocks that render the experience nearly invisible. Computer adaptive testing can match paper’s reliability and provides a shorter feedback loop to boot. No better time than the present to make this overdue change.

A third push for change will come from the outside in. COVID-19 has reminded us not only of how integral schools are, but how intertwined they are with the rest of society. This means that upcoming schooling changes will also be driven by the effects of COVID-19 on the world around us. In particular, parents will be working more from home, using the same online tools that students can use to learn remotely. This doesn’t mean a mass push for homeschooling, but it probably does mean that hybrid learning is here to stay.

I am hoping we will use this forced rupture in the fabric of schooling to jettison ineffective aspects of education, more fully embrace what we know works, and be bold enough to look for new solutions to the educational problems COVID-19 has illuminated.

There is already a large gender gap in education in the U.S., including in  high school graduation rates , and increasingly in college-going and college completion. While the pandemic appears to be hurting women more than men in the labor market, the opposite seems to be true in education.

Looking through a policy lens, though, I’m struck by the timing and what that timing might mean for the future of education. Before the pandemic, enthusiasm for the education reforms that had defined the last few decades—choice and accountability—had waned. It felt like a period between reform eras, with the era to come still very unclear. Then COVID-19 hit, and it coincided with a national reckoning on racial injustice and a wake-up call about the fragility of our democracy. I think it’s helped us all see how connected the work of schools is with so much else in American life.

We’re in a moment when our long-lasting challenges have been laid bare, new challenges have emerged, educators and parents are seeing and experimenting with things for the first time, and the political environment has changed (with, for example, a new administration and changing attitudes on federal spending). I still don’t know where K-12 education is headed, but there’s no doubt that a pivot is underway.

• First, state and local leaders must leverage commitment and shared goals on equitable learning opportunities to support student success for all.
• Second, align and use federal, state, and local resources to implement high-leverage strategies that have proven to accelerate learning for diverse learners and disrupt the correlation between zip code and academic outcomes.
• Third, student-centered priority will require transformative leadership to dismantle the one-size-fits-all delivery rule and institute incentive-based practices for strong performance at all levels.
• Fourth, the reconfigured system will need to activate public and parental engagement to strengthen its civic and social capacity.
• Finally, public education can no longer remain insulated from other policy sectors, especially public health, community development, and social work.

These efforts will strengthen the capacity and prepare our education system for the next crisis—whatever it may be.

Higher Education K-12 Education

Brookings Metro Economic Studies Global Economy and Development Governance Studies

Brown Center on Education Policy Center for Universal Education

June 20, 2024

Modupe (Mo) Olateju, Grace Cannon, Kelsey Rappe

June 14, 2024

Jon Valant, Nicolas Zerbino

June 13, 2024

Log in using your username and password

• Search More Search for this keyword Advanced search
• Latest content
• Current issue
• Write for Us
• BMJ Journals

You are here

• Volume 24, Issue 4
• COVID-19: reflections on its impact on nursing
• Article Text
• Article info
• Citation Tools
• Rapid Responses
• Article metrics

• http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4308-4219 David Barrett 1 ,
• http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2221-1573 Roberta Heale 2
• 1 Faculty of Health Sciences , University of Hull , Hull , UK
• 2 School of Nursing , Laurentian University , Sudbury , Ontario , Canada
• Correspondence to Dr David Barrett, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK; D.I.Barrett{at}hull.ac.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/ebnurs-2021-103464

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request permissions.

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

• nursing staff
• nurses- international

One of the characteristics of the COVID-19 pandemic is that much of what is published about it quickly becomes outdated. Such is the rate of change in the pandemic’s course—whether due to the roll-out of the vaccine program globally or the evolution of new variants—that the context in which articles are written may be very different by the time of publication.

Given that, it’s perhaps important to ‘time-stamp’ this editorial and outline the context at the time of writing. We’re writing this in the late summer of 2021; the UK is experiencing a third wave of the pandemic, while simultaneously removing almost all COVID-19 restrictions (such as limits on public gatherings), having fully vaccinated three-quarters of the adult population and partially vaccinated almost 9 out of 10 adults. Although there are differences, the situation is similar within other countries in Europe and North America, with vaccines seemingly weakening the link between infection, serious illness and death, thereby allowing for loosening of social restrictions.

Though the situation at the time you are reading this will no doubt be different, there are some things of which we can be sure. First, COVID-19 has already ‘ … killed millions, affected billions and cost trillions.’ 1 impacting all parts of the globe over a prolonged period. Second, the impact on healthcare services has been immense, whether through the acute pressures on hospital capacity during each wave of the pandemic, the need to redesign service delivery in order to …

Twitter @barrett1972, @robertaheale

Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Competing interests None declared.

Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

Read the full text or download the PDF:

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Wiley - PMC COVID-19 Collection

Life in the pandemic: Some reflections on nursing in the context of COVID‐19

Debra jackson.

1 University of Technology Sydney, Sydney NSW, Australia

Caroline Bradbury‐Jones

2 University of Birmingham, Birmingham UK

Diana Baptiste

3 Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD, USA

Leslie Gelling

4 Bournemouth University, Bournemouth UK

Karen Morin

5 University of Wisconsin ‐ Milwaukee, Milwaukee WI, USA

Stephen Neville

6 Auckland University of Technology, Auckland New Zealand

Graeme D. Smith

7 Caritas Institute of Higher Education, Tseung Kwan O Hong Kong

In the unparalleled and extraordinary public health emergency in which we find ourselves, across the world nurses stand as we always do—at the front line. Nurses everywhere are staffing our clinics, hospital wards and units—in some situations, literally working until they drop, and in some regions, they are doing so while dealing with a lack of essential items. Indeed, we see reports that nurses in many parts of the world are grappling with shortages of much‐needed supplies including personal protective equipments such as masks, gloves and gowns, yet are actively embracing the challenges presented by COVID‐19.

As we contemplate the ramifications of this rapidly moving global pandemic, it is clear that the need for nurses has never been greater. In responding to this dire and unprecedented health crisis, as nurses, we are doing what we have been educated and prepared to do. As nurses, we have the knowledge and skills to deliver the care needed in all phases of the illness trajectory, and in reassuring, informing and supporting people within communities who are frightened, worried and wanting to stay well. As we have seen throughout history, nurses are well able to think outside the box, and develop creative and innovative solutions to all manner of problems, conundrums and challenges. However, there remains much about this current situation that is new and frightening. For one is the speed of the spread of COVID‐19. In the fight against COVID‐19, we are working against the clock. The trajectory of this situation is such that in some areas, infection rates are doubling every 24 hr or so, and this is leading to increasing community anxiety manifesting in various ways including panic buying and hoarding of essential supplies.

It is clear that this health crisis will not affect everyone in the same way. The very strong public health message is to stay home, and stay safe within that home, in the assumption that everyone has a home that is safe, and within which they have some autonomy. There is some speculation as to whether rates of domestic violence might increase at this time as a result of the extraordinary strain that families face. Poverty is also an issue. It is well known and accepted that those who are homeless and impoverished have many less options when faced with health problems, and the challenges faced by these people will be much greater in this time of pandemic (Tsai & Wilson, 2020 ). Similarly, people who are captive or imprisoned for any reason, such as in corrections or refugee environments and other similar settings, are particularly vulnerable (Iacobucci, 2020 ).

Older adults are high users of services across primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare settings. Many in this group live with multiple health and social issues that increase their vulnerability, now further exacerbated by the need for social distancing. Older people are known to be at greater risk of calamitous outcomes associated with COVID‐19, and this dire picture is likely to be exacerbated because of the potential for rationing of care based on age, simply because there are not enough ventilators and other life‐saving equipments to meet demand. The risk to older people is greater than to others, and in many countries, limitations on older people activities are in place in attempts to reduce risk of exposure. In several countries, restrictions on visiting nursing homes are in place and people over 70 years of age asked to reduce outings and remain indoors as much as possible to decrease contact with others and reduce the risk of contracting the virus. While necessary, this could put older people at risk of loneliness, isolation and exacerbation of existing problems, and so it is very important that we all look out for older people in our neighbourhoods and provide support, assistance and safe social interaction as required.

Nurses are at the forefront in institutional settings such as nursing homes and prisons, with homeless people, and other hard to reach populations and are grappling with the effects of low health literacy, rapidity of change and health information, and a lack of resources to ensure that all know and understand what is required to keep them safe. It is so important that we all support these vulnerable populations and the nurses working within them by advocating for resources including adequate safe accommodation for all.

We know from our colleagues that despite being actively engaged in this fight against COVID‐19, in a way that few other professions are, and despite appearing calm and professional; like everyone else, many nurses are also experiencing fear of the unknown and concern for what lies ahead, for themselves, their patients, colleagues and their own families and friends. In addition to being nurses, we are also parents, siblings, friends and partners with all of the worries and concerns shared by most people—providing for and protecting ourselves and our families, and so in addition to caring for patients, the well‐being of our own families weighs heavily on us as nurses at this time.

The global nature of this crisis means that while all countries are engaged in the battle against COVID‐19, some have been in the fight for longer and so there is the opportunity to learn from other countries. Indeed, in watching the unfolding horror particularly in Italy, we see just what can (and will) happen in the event that measures such as social distancing, hand hygiene and quarantine are not fully embraced by all in our communities.

Earlier this year, Hong Kong was one of the first places in the world affected by the COVID‐19 virus, evoking unwanted memories of the SARS outbreak of 2003 (Smith, Ng, & Ho Cheung Li, 2020 ). Despite initial fears, the spread of the virus appeared to have been effectively controlled over the last two months through the use of stringent measures, including practice of good personal hygiene, avoidance of group gatherings and implementation of social isolation measures. Indeed, by the beginning of March 2020 some public services in Hong Kong had started to resume normal activity and many people were returning to the workplace. In some part, these successes were due to the excellence of the clinical nursing workforce. We saw some stability in other countries in the same region including Singapore and Taiwan. There was hope that the corner had been turned in the fight against COVID‐19; however, this has turned out not to be the case. Very recently, Hong Kong and several other South‐East Asian countries have started to face the second wave of imported coronavirus infections, with the total number of cases in Hong Kong doubling during this period. The vast majority of these new cases have involved people flying to South‐East Asia from abroad, especially students returning from North America and Europe, where COVID‐19 infection has been escalating. Singapore and Taiwan, which had each taken comfort from seeing new infections taper off in recent weeks, have also seen surges of COVID‐19 cases amongst arrivals in recent days. Health officials from these densely populated countries are now struggling to contain the new cases to avoid any new community outbreaks.

A similar picture emerged in mainland China. After some sustained and marked reductions in the spread of the virus, China's National Health Commission have recently announced that all new reported cases were imported from overseas. Despite many people fully recovering from COVID‐19 infection in China, there has been some concern that a new subset of patients affected by the virus may be emerging. There are reports that a handful of the many thousands of people declared cured after treatment have been readmitted to hospitals because their symptoms have returned. At the time of writing, this worrying feature of COVID‐19 infection is only beginning to receive attention by the medical community, but clearly requires close consideration in the ongoing global fight against COVID‐19.

Across the world, there are concerns that nursing's capacity to provide care will be stretched by the increased workload and by the number of front‐line nurses that are expected to be affected by COVID‐19. In Australia, authorities are considering various mechanisms such as fast‐tracking return to registration of qualified nurses who may be recently retired and allowing limited registration to people who may be suitable such as internationally qualified nurses. In the United Kingdom, there has also been a call for recently retired nurses to return to practice. Other planned strategies include establishing a COVID‐19 temporary register for nurses who have left the register within the past three years, who will be able to opt into this register. Registered nurses not currently working clinically will be encouraged to consider working within clinical practice, and undergraduate nursing students will be able to opt to undertake the final six months of their programme as a clinical placement. Part of the COVID‐19 temporary register is to include a specific student element for those in the final six months of their preregistration programme and will include details of specific conditions to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place. The fine details are still in development, and there may need to be further measures in what is a continually changing situation.

In considering introducing new cadres of nurses, there are also issues around risk, retraining, refreshing and renewing knowledge. While there are some aspects of nursing that may not have changed too much over the years, health is generally a rapidly evolving field and particularly in the current situation. In contemplating returning to direct care giving roles, many retired nurses or others contemplating re‐entry may have legitimate concerns about the real contribution that they could make in the current crises, particularly when considering direct care delivery and technological advancements in practice. It will be necessary to consider carefully any possible risk for nurses returning from retirement, and the potential ways these nurses could meaningfully contribute. This may be in working in quieter areas to free up current staff, and working in roles supporting front‐line nurses. Either way, it will be crucial to have adequate learning and resourcing available to support these new cadres of nurses. However, as we identify innovative ways to provide a nursing workforce during this time of urgency, it is important that whatever we implement is safe and appropriate for staff and for patients. Patient safety is paramount and integral to nursing practice.

Nurses generally become nurses because of the desire to help people regain and maintain optimal health, and here, we have a situation where there may be very few options to help those who are seriously ill because of COVID‐19. This inability to save lives will take its toll on those at the front line, both physically and emotionally.

As nurses, we know death. We have seen loss of life, and we have borne witness to the pain and the suffering of the dying and the grief of those left behind. For nurses, particularly in environments where the focus is on life preserving, such as emergency departments and intensive care units, death can represent failure, and so is therefore a source of stress and distress for the medical and nursing teams in these settings. We are now in a situation where nurses everywhere are bracing for what really is a tsunami of death. Our colleagues in China and Italy have and are leading the way, and we have seen reports and first‐hand accounts of the distress and exhaustion of our Chinese and Italian colleagues who have been (and are) faced with large‐scale death on a daily basis.

All aspects of nursing activity are affected by this pandemic, and healthcare facilities have responded to nursing education student clinical needs in a variety of ways. Some have restricted student presence in their organisations, while others welcome healthy students. Academic nurses have also been quick to modify in the light of the crisis caused by COVID‐19 and many have very quickly moved to online course delivery, including strategising to ensure reasonable student engagement, and making appropriate changes to examination procedures. There is also the need to recognise that many nurses currently enrolled in post‐graduate courses may now have their current studies jeopardised because of cancellation of study leave or other pre‐existing work patterns that can now no longer be guaranteed. Nurse educators and administrators are tasked with ensuring that students meet academic requirements while recognising the current pressures faced by health services and the need for nurses to be able to simultaneously meet the demands on them as nurses, students, parents, siblings, partners and the myriad of other roles that each nurse has to manage in their daily lives.

The way this crisis has unfolded has meant that we have all sorts of new challenges in seeking to meet the health needs of our populations. For example, we have situations of cruise ships left sailing from port‐to‐port unable to dock; others inadvertently offloading passengers who are ill and contagious into communities, with health services left to set about tracing crew, passengers and those with whom they have been into contact. We have to prepare for the potential ramifications if COVID‐19 takes hold in very vulnerable populations, such as prisons where it will be very hard to contain because of the proximity of people. There is also the aftermath to consider. Of critical importance will be nurses’ responses to the increased anxiety and mental health needs of the population as well as within the nursing community.

These are very difficult times, and the scale of the challenges is unprecedented. Every single one of us has a role to play in supporting and advocating for the health of our communities, and in supporting nurses everywhere. Nurses are the backbone of health systems around the world, and this has never been more apparent than now. Amidst all the uncertainty about the virus and how long it might take before life begins to return to normal, there can be no doubt that nursing and the provision of health care will come out the other side of this pandemic stronger and better prepared to face future challenges.

We write these “reflections” in the moment, as the impacts of the pandemic unfold around us daily. We are all living it right now. When it is over, we look back and reflect upon it and with the benefit of hindsight, might make normative judgements regarding what we ought to have done and what might have been best at a certain time. Right now, we all need to be kind to each other (and ourselves) as we grapple with new ways of living and working. We want to thank nurses everywhere for their tireless efforts in this unparalleled health emergency.

• Iacobucci, G. (2020). Covid‐19: Doctors warn of humanitarian catastrophe at Europe's largest refugee camp . BMJ , 368 , m1097. 10.1136/bmj.m1097 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Smith, G. D. , Ng, F. , & Ho Cheung Li, W. (2020). COVID‐19: Emerging compassion, courage and resilience in the face of misinformation and adversity . Journal of Clinical Nursing , 10.1111/jocn.15231 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Tsai, J. , & Wilson, M. (2020). COVID‐19: A potential public health problem for homeless populations . Lancet Public Health , 10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30053-0 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings
• My Bibliography
• Collections
• Citation manager

Save citation to file

Email citation, add to collections.

• Create a new collection
• Add to an existing collection

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search, create a file for external citation management software, your rss feed.

• Search in PubMed
• Search in NLM Catalog
• Add to Search

Reflecting on nursing practice during the COVID-19 pandemic

Affiliation.

• 1 School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, England.
• PMID: 33016663
• DOI: 10.7748/ns.2020.e11569

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in significant challenges for nurses, both professionally and personally. In these unprecedented times, new opportunities to reflect on practice have emerged. Through reflection, whether individually or with others, nurses can explore areas of their practice that could be developed and improved. This article outlines the types of reflection and discusses its benefits and challenges, explaining how it is linked to nurses' regulatory revalidation processes. It also details various models and activities that nurses can use to reflect on their practice during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Keywords: COVID-19; continuing professional development; coronavirus; education; nurses’ wellbeing; personal development; practice learning; professional; professional issues; reflection.

© 2020 RCN Publishing Company Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be copied, transmitted or recorded in any way, in whole or part, without prior permission of the publishers.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None declared

Erratum for

• How to undertake intravenous infusion calculations. Brindley J. Brindley J. Nurs Stand. 2020 Jan 13. doi: 10.7748/ns.2020.e11444. Online ahead of print. Nurs Stand. 2020. PMID: 31930888

Similar articles

• Mental health nurses' experience of resilience during COVID-19: A qualitative inquiry. Bui MV, McInnes E, Ennis G, Foster K. Bui MV, et al. Int J Ment Health Nurs. 2023 Dec;32(6):1735-1744. doi: 10.1111/inm.13213. Epub 2023 Aug 21. Int J Ment Health Nurs. 2023. PMID: 37605316
• Care-home Nurses' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: Managing ethical conundrums at personal cost: A qualitative study. Birt L, Lane K, Corner J, Sanderson K, Bunn D. Birt L, et al. J Nurs Scholarsh. 2023 Jan;55(1):226-238. doi: 10.1111/jnu.12855. Epub 2022 Dec 4. J Nurs Scholarsh. 2023. PMID: 36464814 Free PMC article.
• UK nurses' and midwives' experiences of healthful leadership practices during the COVID-19 pandemic: A rapid realist review. Dickson CAW, Davies C, McCormack B, Westcott L, Merrell J, Mcilfatrick S, Dewing J. Dickson CAW, et al. J Nurs Manag. 2022 Nov;30(8):3942-3957. doi: 10.1111/jonm.13790. Epub 2022 Oct 29. J Nurs Manag. 2022. PMID: 36063427 Free PMC article. Review.
• Factors influencing adequate and effective clinical supervision for inpatient mental health nurses' personal and professional development: An integrative review. Howard V, Eddy-Imishue GK. Howard V, et al. J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs. 2020 Oct;27(5):640-656. doi: 10.1111/jpm.12604. Epub 2020 Feb 9. J Psychiatr Ment Health Nurs. 2020. PMID: 31981445 Review.
• Importance of reflection in revalidation. Coward M. Coward M. Nurs Manag (Harrow). 2019 Mar 26;26(2):37-41. doi: 10.7748/nm.2019.e1839. Epub 2019 Feb 27. Nurs Manag (Harrow). 2019. PMID: 31468762

Publication types

• Search in MeSH
• Citation Manager

NCBI Literature Resources

MeSH PMC Bookshelf Disclaimer

The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Unauthorized use of these marks is strictly prohibited.

Paragraph Writing on Covid 19

Ai generator.

COVID-19, caused by the coronavirus, significantly impacted global health and daily life. Action plans focused on prevention, treatment, and vaccination. Some sought religious exemptions from mandates. A health thesis statement might explore the pandemic’s effects on mental health. The tone is informative and serious. This paragraph highlights the comprehensive response to COVID-19.

Checkout → Free Paragraph Writer Tool

Short Paragraph on Covid-19

Covid-19 is a global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus. It has significantly impacted daily life, with governments worldwide implementing lockdowns, social distancing, and mask mandates to curb the virus’s spread. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of healthcare systems and the need for vaccines. It has also emphasized global cooperation and resilience in facing unprecedented challenges.

Medium Paragraph on Covid-19

Covid-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, has had a profound impact on the world since its outbreak. The pandemic led to widespread lockdowns, social distancing measures, and mandatory mask-wearing to prevent the virus’s spread. Healthcare systems were overwhelmed, emphasizing the need for robust medical infrastructure and preparedness. The development and distribution of vaccines became a global priority, showcasing the importance of scientific research and international cooperation. Economies faced significant challenges, with businesses closing and unemployment rates rising. Despite these hardships, the pandemic also brought communities together, highlighting resilience, adaptability, and the critical role of healthcare workers in combating the crisis.

Long Paragraph on Covid-19

Covid-19, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, emerged in late 2019 and rapidly spread across the globe, leading to an unprecedented pandemic. The virus’s high transmission rate prompted governments worldwide to implement stringent measures such as lockdowns, social distancing, and mask mandates to control its spread. These measures, while necessary, significantly disrupted daily life, impacting economies, education, and social interactions. Healthcare systems were strained, underscoring the need for better preparedness and robust medical infrastructure. The rapid development and global distribution of vaccines became a beacon of hope, demonstrating the power of scientific collaboration and innovation. The pandemic also highlighted the disparities in healthcare access and the importance of public health initiatives. Despite the immense challenges, communities showed resilience and adaptability, finding new ways to connect and support each other. The dedication of healthcare workers and the collective effort to combat the virus underscored the importance of global solidarity. Covid-19 has reshaped our world, teaching valuable lessons about preparedness, the significance of science, and the strength of human resilience in the face of adversity.

Tone-wise Paragraph Examples on Covid-19

Formal tone.

Covid-19, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, represents an unprecedented global health crisis. The pandemic has led to widespread implementation of public health measures such as lockdowns, social distancing, and mandatory mask usage to mitigate the virus’s transmission. Healthcare systems worldwide faced significant strain, highlighting the critical need for robust medical infrastructure and emergency preparedness. The rapid development and distribution of vaccines have been pivotal in controlling the spread of the virus, underscoring the importance of scientific research and international cooperation. The pandemic has also revealed existing disparities in healthcare access and emphasized the necessity of coordinated global public health strategies to effectively manage such crises.

Informal Tone

Covid-19 has really shaken things up since it started spreading in late 2019. Caused by a new coronavirus, it led to lockdowns, social distancing, and everyone wearing masks. Daily life changed a lot, with schools and businesses shutting down, and everyone trying to stay safe. The healthcare system was hit hard, showing us just how important it is to be prepared. Vaccines were developed super quickly, giving us hope to get back to normal. Even though it was tough, people came together, supported each other, and adapted to the new normal. Covid-19 taught us a lot about resilience and the importance of healthcare.

Persuasive Tone

Covid-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, has highlighted the urgent need for better healthcare systems and global cooperation. The pandemic led to widespread lockdowns, social distancing, and mask mandates, disrupting daily life and economies. Our healthcare systems were overwhelmed, underscoring the critical need for robust medical infrastructure. The rapid development of vaccines showcased the power of scientific research and international collaboration. Now, more than ever, it is crucial to support and strengthen our healthcare systems, invest in scientific research, and promote global cooperation to ensure we are better prepared for future health crises. Let’s learn from this pandemic and build a stronger, healthier world together.

Reflective Tone

Reflecting on the impact of Covid-19, it’s clear that the pandemic has reshaped our world in profound ways. The novel coronavirus led to unprecedented global lockdowns, social distancing, and mask mandates, dramatically altering daily life. Our healthcare systems were tested like never before, revealing both strengths and weaknesses. The rapid development and distribution of vaccines highlighted the importance of scientific innovation and international cooperation. Amid the challenges, communities showed remarkable resilience and adaptability, finding new ways to connect and support one another. Covid-19 has taught us valuable lessons about preparedness, the significance of healthcare, and the power of human resilience in the face of adversity.

Inspirational Tone

Covid-19 has been a challenging journey, but it has also shown the incredible strength and resilience of humanity. The novel coronavirus led to global lockdowns, social distancing, and mask mandates, changing our daily lives dramatically. Despite these hardships, the rapid development and distribution of vaccines brought hope and showcased the power of scientific innovation and global cooperation. Communities came together, supporting each other and adapting to new realities. Healthcare workers became heroes, showing unparalleled dedication and bravery. Covid-19 has taught us the importance of unity, resilience, and the ability to overcome even the toughest challenges. Together, we can build a brighter, healthier future.

Optimistic Tone

Covid-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, brought significant challenges, but it also highlighted the resilience and adaptability of people worldwide. The pandemic led to lockdowns, social distancing, and mask-wearing, changing our daily routines. Despite these difficulties, the rapid development of vaccines brought hope and demonstrated the power of scientific progress. Communities came together, supporting one another and finding new ways to connect. Healthcare workers showed incredible dedication, and the world witnessed the strength of human spirit. Covid-19 has been a tough journey, but it also reinforced our ability to overcome adversity and work towards a healthier, more connected future.

Urgent Tone

The Covid-19 pandemic, caused by the novel coronavirus, demands our immediate attention and action. Since its outbreak, the virus has led to widespread lockdowns, social distancing, and mandatory mask usage, significantly disrupting daily life. Healthcare systems have been overwhelmed, highlighting the urgent need for better preparedness and robust medical infrastructure. The rapid development of vaccines has been crucial, but we must continue to prioritize public health measures and global cooperation to combat this crisis. Now is the time to invest in healthcare, support scientific research, and work together to overcome this pandemic. Immediate action is essential to protect lives and prevent further devastation.

Word Count-wise Paragraph Examples on Covid-19

Covid-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, has had a profound impact on the world since its outbreak. The pandemic led to widespread lockdowns, social distancing measures, and mandatory mask-wearing to prevent the virus’s spread. Healthcare systems were overwhelmed, emphasizing the need for robust medical infrastructure and preparedness. The development and distribution of vaccines became a global priority, showcasing the importance of scientific research and international cooperation. Economies faced significant challenges, with businesses closing and unemployment rates rising. Despite these hardships, the pandemic also brought communities together, highlighting resilience, adaptability, and the critical role of healthcare workers in combating the crisis. The rapid development and distribution of vaccines became a beacon of hope, demonstrating the power of scientific collaboration and innovation.

Covid-19, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, emerged in late 2019 and rapidly spread across the globe, leading to an unprecedented pandemic. The virus’s high transmission rate prompted governments worldwide to implement stringent measures such as lockdowns, social distancing, and mask mandates to control its spread. These measures, while necessary, significantly disrupted daily life, impacting economies, education, and social interactions. Healthcare systems were strained, underscoring the need for better preparedness and robust medical infrastructure. The rapid development and global distribution of vaccines became a beacon of hope, demonstrating the power of scientific collaboration and innovation. The pandemic also highlighted the disparities in healthcare access and the importance of public health initiatives. Despite the immense challenges, communities showed resilience and adaptability, finding new ways to connect and support each other.

Covid-19, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, emerged in late 2019 and rapidly spread across the globe, leading to an unprecedented pandemic. The virus’s high transmission rate prompted governments worldwide to implement stringent measures such as lockdowns, social distancing, and mask mandates to control its spread. These measures, while necessary, significantly disrupted daily life, impacting economies, education, and social interactions. Healthcare systems were strained, underscoring the need for better preparedness and robust medical infrastructure. The rapid development and global distribution of vaccines became a beacon of hope, demonstrating the power of scientific collaboration and innovation. The pandemic also highlighted the disparities in healthcare access and the importance of public health initiatives. Despite the immense challenges, communities showed resilience and adaptability, finding new ways to connect and support each other. The dedication of healthcare workers and the collective effort to combat the virus underscored the importance of global solidarity. Covid-19 has reshaped our world, teaching valuable lessons about preparedness, the significance of science, and the strength of human resilience in the face of adversity. The pandemic emphasized the need for robust healthcare systems, scientific innovation, and global cooperation. Despite the challenges, the collective resilience and adaptability of people worldwide have shown the strength of the human spirit in overcoming adversity.

Text prompt

• Instructive
• Professional

10 Examples of Public speaking

20 Examples of Gas lighting

• Clinical articles
• CPD articles
• CPD Quizzes
• Expert advice
• Clinical placements
• Study skills
• Clinical skills
• University life
• Person-centred care
• Career advice
• Reflective accounts
• Practice-related feedback
• Patient view
• Revalidation articles
• Cancer Nursing Practice
• Emergency Nurse
• Learning Disability Practice
• Mental Health Practice
• Nurse Researcher
• Nursing Children and Young People
• Nursing Management
• Nursing Older People
• Nursing Standard
• Primary Health Care
• RCN Nursing Awards
• Nursing Live
• Nursing Careers and Jobs Fairs
• RCNi events calendar
• CPD webinars on-demand

How to use your COVID-19 experience for reflective practice

Erin dean posted 12 may 2020 - 17:36.

Amid the upheaval of the pandemic, nurses can use reflection to process their experiences and improve practice

• The COVID-19 response has seen nurses adapt to different ways of caring in different environments, and reflection can help process these often stressful experiences
• The usual mechanisms for reflection have been disrupted by the pandemic, but reflective practice is an ongoing process that individuals and teams should not overlook during this time
• Nurse managers can support teams by building reflection into the daily routine, using initiatives such as Team Time to support this

As the COVID-19 pandemic – and the pressures facing the NHS – continue, many nurses may feel they have less time than ever to reflect on their work.

But with many working in different roles, in different ways, and in stressful and challenging circumstances, reflective practice is more key than ever, expert nurses suggest.

The usual ways that nurses reflect with colleagues have been disrupted

Nurses may usually access reflective practice through chats with colleagues on tea breaks, in team meetings or meetings with managers, or through clinical supervision and large group meetings such as Schwartz rounds . But in the current circumstances, many of these approaches may be inaccessible.

According to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), reflection is how health and care professionals can assess professional experiences, both positive and when improvements may be needed, and find insight to aid their learning and identify opportunities to improve.

‘Reflective practice is not something that is switched on and off. Being a reflective practitioner is something that you are, and it is especially useful in times of stress, extreme situations and uncertainty’ Philip Esterhuizen, nursing lecturer, University of Leeds

Reflection allows an individual to continually improve the quality of care they provide and gives multidisciplinary teams the opportunity to reflect and discuss openly and honestly, a joint statement from nine health regulatory bodies , including the NMC, said in 2019. 

Reflective practice can help build resilience during stressful experiences

This approach is also intended to benefit and protect staff. The Point of Care Foundation suggests that reflective experiences help to build resilience, improve well-being and deepen professional commitment.

But how should this approach be continued by staff in the NHS and social care during the pandemic?

Throughout COVID-19, nurses have found themselves facing extreme pressures and unfamiliar situations. They have faced worries about personal protective equipment, redeployment, risk to themselves, their families and patients from the virus, and of course, the impact of losing colleagues and loved ones.

In a recent Nursing Standard survey , eight out of ten of the 1,650 nurses who responded said their mental health has been affected by the pandemic, with some reporting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

• RELATED:  2020 – a year like no other for the world in general and nurses in particular

University of Leeds nursing lecturer Philip Esterhuizen says that clinical colleagues have told him about the extreme and often traumatic experiences they are dealing with every day.

‘Nurses are experiencing things they have never experienced before and that will bring all kinds of emotions. So it is important to structure that in a constructive way, rather than fretting,’ he says.

 Reflection should be an ongoing process, not just a tick-box part of revalidation

He says reflective practice is an approach that nurses should be using at all times, not just reaching for it to complete the paperwork every three years when revalidation looms.

‘Reflective practice is not something that is switched on and off,’ he says. ‘Being a reflective practitioner is something that you are, and it is especially useful in times of stress, extreme situations and uncertainty.

‘When things are so pressured it is valuable to be able to reflect on what we have done, how we have done it and whether we met the standards or criteria we wanted to meet. Or where we could have improved things, or just to think “I did that really well today”.’

• RELATED:   Understanding reflective practice

Reflection does not have to be an elaborate or formal procedure 

The NMC’s decision to make reflective practice a key part of the revalidation process that all nurses have to undergo to maintain their registration shows the importance placed on it by professional leaders.

But it doesn’t need to be a formal, written exercise. Reflection can be a solitary activity and should be done frequently to help protect nurses from burning out emotionally, Dr Esterhuizen says.

• RELATED:  What we can all do to help identify and prevent burnout among nurses

‘Even before the pandemic there was a huge amount of pressure on staff and resources, so to look after and protect yourself emotionally, it is important to reflect on how you are feeling and coping. It is quite easy to become alienated from yourself when there is so much risk to yourself, your patients and your family. That causes risks for everyone concerned.’

Dr Esterhuizen is keen to stress that it needn’t be time-consuming.

‘It is very easy,’ he says. ‘It can just mean taking a few minutes when you are reliving part of your shift on the way home, walking to your car or catching the bus, and you can use a simple approach, such as the Gibbs model, to provide structure.’

• RELATED:  Reflective practice

The Gibbs model: a reflective cycle

Nurses can use this as a guide when reflecting both informally and formally.

It can help nurses consider what they did well, even during difficult experiences, and help them consider what they would wish to do differently in the future.

It covers six stages:

• Describe the experience
• Think about the feelings and thoughts prompted by the experience
• Evaluate the experience, both good and bad
• Analyse  to make sense of the situation
• Conclude – what you learned and what you could have done differently
• Consider an action plan for how you would deal with similar situations in the future, or general changes you might find appropriate

Source:  University of Edinburgh: Guide to the Gibbs reflective cycle

The Gibbs model suggests six simple steps to work through, starting with describing to yourself the situation, followed by thinking about the emotions and feelings the situation prompted, and then what went well and not so well.

Then briefly analyse to make sense of the experience, before considering what you learned and what could have been different. Finally consider an ‘action plan’ of how you would do it differently in the future.

Reflection can be built into the working day for nursing teams

‘Using a a model to structure your thoughts is really helpful. As there is so much going on and because it is so traumatic for everyone, the risk is that your thoughts get into an ever decreasing cycle of negativity,’ Dr Esterhuizen says. ‘By using a structure you can get a foothold to work constructively through your experience without losing your way and beating yourself up.’

Reflective practice is a chance to work through experiences in a constructive manner, agrees Alison Finch, assistant chief nurse at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and a National Institute for Health Research clinical doctoral research fellow.

The value of reflection is recognised at her trust in a number of ways, including facilitated debriefs at the end of a shift and group supervision with hospital psychologists. The careers service has also been supporting staff to reflect on their practice in a way that helps identify, or nudge them to connect with, their personal strengths.

Such reflection needs to be built in to nurses’ daily lives as the workforce prepares for long-term change, Ms Finch says.

• RELATED:  How COVID-19 is affecting nurses’ mental health, and what to do about it

‘This is all about building resilience,’ she says. ‘We don’t know how long this will go on. It is not going to be a finite period of time and then everything goes back as it was.

‘In the future, many clinical services will work in a different way now we have proved that they can work. Things like patients doing more self-surveillance and nurses seeing more patients remotely are likely to stay.

‘But to capture the learning and the positives, while recognising the challenges of these changes, staff need time to reflect in real time, rather than waiting until next year when this is all done.’

How nurse managers can support staff to reflect

Nursing managers can play a key role in helping nurses build reflection into their daily work.

Alison Finch suggests supporting this by:

• Checking in with staff at the start of shifts, inviting them to share how they are feeling
• Sharing reflective insights in conversation with others to model such practice
• Working with coaching techniques when speaking to colleagues. Rather than offering advice, ask ‘What are you noticing here?’, ‘What amid all this is there to feel proud of?’, ‘How can you build on this?’
• Protecting time for a 5-10 minute debrief at the end of a shift and ensure it happens to reinforce its importance

Recording responses in the moment for your reflective accounts

Ms Finch recommends keeping a diary, making voice memos or taking notes to help organise thoughts for reflection.

These entries can also be useful for revalidation, which requires five self-reflective accounts from the nurse’s previous three years of work.

• RELATED:  How to revalidate: a step-by-step guide for nurses

For this element, nurses must use the NMC form , which is divided into four sections – describe the event or experience, say what was learned from it, how practice was changed and improved as a result, and how it is relevant to  the Code .

‘Why wait?’ says Ms Finch. ‘The reflective accounts form can be used in the present, and help nurses to think what they are learning right now to guide their practice in a way that helps us to work responsively.’

‘This is a time that will be a poignant period in nurses’ careers. Many people have drawn on capabilities and strengths they didn’t know they had or have not used for a while’ Alison Finch, assistant chief nurse at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Ms Finch says the pandemic could also have a fundamental impact on people’s future career choices. For many nurses, including senior and research nurses and clinical nurse specialists, COVID-19 has brought a return to bedside nursing, and this has often been a positive experience.

Opportunities to consider what this means for their future could be lost if they don’t get a chance to think it through, she says.

View our COVID-19 resources centre

‘This is a time that will be a poignant period in nurses’ careers,’ she says. ‘Many people have drawn on capabilities and strengths they didn’t know they had or have not used for a while. Many nurses are finding it really fulfilling, also career defining and they are flourishing.

‘It goes back to the very core of why you became a nurse in the first place. Nurses need a chance to reflect on that, and this could positively inform their careers.’

Team Time: enabling reflective practice during unusual times

A new programme to support reflective practice in a team has been developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Team Time has been designed, piloted and implemented rapidly as a way for teams to come together and discuss the emotional burden and impact of the care they are providing.

Developed by the Point of Care Foundation, it draws on many aspects of the well-established Schwartz rounds.

Schwartz rounds are a forum for all staff members in a care setting to come together to discuss the challenges of their work, and usually take at least an hour.

• RELATED:  Researchers publish guide to help implement Schwartz rounds in UK

Team Time is designed to be shorter, involve smaller groups of people and can be done remotely, but still involves a trained facilitator and someone sharing a story or experience to prompt discussion.

The foundation says the idea is to provide a non-hierarchical space for staff to process and share what it is really like to do the jobs they do. The premise is that all staff, other than those whose turn it is to provide skeleton cover, should attend the sessions.

Sessions forge a space for nursing staff to share their experiences 

Schwartz round trainer and mentor Rhiannon Barker has helped train 300 Schwartz round facilitators in the new approach over recent weeks.

Nurses have expressed their appetite for the programme through the online training, she says.

‘It is interesting to see how valuable people find any sort of reflective practice,’ she says. ‘People have been incredibly receptive to the programme. Hearing people’s stories and narratives, it is clear that life has changed for us all. People deal with things in different ways, but it is a healthy reaction to share some of the pressures. ’

She says the kind of stories and experiences that participants share would ‘normally happen while the kettle is boiling, but people don’t have the chance to do that now.’

‘We try to help tell everyday stories, but everyday stories have become so unusual – and some are pretty harrowing,’ she says. 

• RELATED: Free CPD – Developing resilience: the role of nurses, healthcare teams and organisations

Erin Dean is a health journalist

Further information

• NMC statement on reflective practice 
• NMC: How to revalidate during COVID-19
• The Point of Care Foundation: Schwartz Rounds
• Point of Care Foundation: Team Time
• University of Edinburgh guide to Gibbs reflective cycle

Register for free updates

We have made it easy for you to stay up to date with the latest developments in nursing, including relevant COVID-19 information .

Register with us for free – it takes less than a minute – and you'll receive news and updates straight to your inbox.

Register here today

What I wish I’d known as a nursing student

Using critical reflection to enhance the care of older people, cpd: how the fight for protected time puts your revalidation at risk, protected time for clinical supervision: which nurses will benefit from new rules, 5 most read articles, general election: bite-size guide to parties’ promises on health and social care, nursing apprenticeships and associates: are the programmes fit for purpose, newly registered but leaving nursing: is more support the answer, job applications: how to write a strong supporting statement, other rcni websites.

• RCNi Learning
• RCNi Nursing Careers and Jobs Fairs
• RCNi Nursing Jobs
• RCNi Portfolio

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

What Happened When Brooklyn Tried to Integrate Its Middle Schools

A new report found that many schools enrolled more racially and socioeconomically diverse groups of students without sparking a major exodus of families from public schools.

By Troy Closson

Seeking to solve a problem that has vexed public schools around the country for decades, one progressive section of New York undertook an ambitious plan to better integrate middle schools that were among the most homogenous in the city.

Selective admissions were scrapped. Every child got a lottery number instead. Schools adopted targets to admit certain numbers of disadvantaged children. And unlike in many places where integration attempts faced fierce opposition, parents led the effort.

Now, five years later, the plan appears to be working.

Middle schools in a section of northwest Brooklyn that stretches from Sunset Park to Cobble Hill went from being the second most socioeconomically segregated to 19th out of the city’s 32 local districts. Teachers and students say friendships are emerging across income lines.

And while opposition to integration efforts is often focused on concern that middle-class and white families will abandon public schools, the area — District 15 — has not seen a major exodus. The city’s public school enrollment has dropped as families leave New York or move to charters, but the district’s declines have been less extreme than elsewhere.

Across American public schools, more than a third of all students attend a school where most of their peers share the same race or ethnicity. But the Supreme Court has also limited how schools can use race to sort students among schools, and efforts to address racial segregation have mostly stalled.

Instead of using race, the district employed other categories to diversify student bodies and bring students with different life experiences and resources together. Specifically, schools prioritized students who are homeless, learning English or from low-income families — factors that are often correlated to race but that do not pose the same legal challenges.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .