Changes in a life of a 19 year old during the pandemic

BY:- AVI ARORA,19

We are in the middle of a pandemic and it’s been a scary ride till now. Some are scared, some are irritated and confined to their homes while others are taking time off their usual lives to try unusual things.

If we ponder on that, we realize that this is the time to recreate yourself. It's a blessing to stay at home, breathe and learn whatever you want to. Boredom and overthinking happen only when your mind is an empty place. Occupy it and take up new hobbies. I feel that quarantine is a very luxurious version of a famous short story “The Bet” by Anton Chekhov. One of the themes of the story was that the person has time to build character and gain knowledge.

 However, the resources we have are far better than those in the story, we have the internet to surf, quality music on YouTube among many. Being a guy of nineteen, I have never been interested in philosophy or retro music. I didn't master any hobby I undertook. My habits were of a typical teenager who was unconcerned about everything around him except materialistic entities. When the lockdown was announced on 19th March in India, I realized that the plans I had with my friends were going to go down the drain. I prepared myself. 

The first few days were spent mostly on Netflix and gaming. However, on the 6th day, I opened my journal where I used to sketch and scribble. Going through it gave me an urge to sketch, so I sketched a nude back of a human and later realized it was from Leonardo Da Vinci. The sketch had me reading about Leonardo DaVinci. I was astonished. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it. After surfing the internet for a while, I found myself reading about Socrates. I even downloaded a book of essays about him. This wasn’t what I had thought I was. I was felt nerdy and it made me happy.

 The last time I was felt this was in 9th or 10th grade maybe. In this lockdown, I start my day and the first thing I notice is the silence. It is enchanting and I enjoy the birds chirping around my house. I live in Dehradun valley and I've never seen Mussoorie hills as beautiful as right now in the nineteen years that I have spent here. I started enjoying sketching in these times. One day while sketching I decided to play a song called “Hotel California by The Eagles”. Old memories rushed at me with the chorus of the song. It is the first song I ever learnt on guitar. I was nine. 

This one song led me to others like – “Can’t Help Falling in Love- Elvis Presley”, “Snow- Red Hot Chilli Peppers”, and others. Presley’s song motivated me to sketch him and I spent two hours in that. These things satisfied me. Although the typical teenager always lingers inside of you, you need him to let go for a while. I went straight from Hip-Hop and Rap to the best of the 90s and 80s. Being confined in space gives you time to think about yourself. You introspect and decide to improve yourself. I was the kind of person who would do anything to party and blow some steam off with one's friends.

 But I failed to realize that while I was busy with that, I had buried the possibility of developing an interest in music and sketching. I deprived myself of many good things I was capable of enjoying. There is nothing in this world you cannot absorb. Many of us are blessed with a functional brain, given to us by the most potent energy of this Universe. But most of us do not try to tame it and utilize it well. The human mind is like a supercar, it is fun as long as we have control over it. Hence, always try to push yourself to try things you think you won’t like. Make the best of these holidays.