This is a message to all. 

This is a testament to the strength and loss you have felt. To the lack of normalcy. To the abrupt interruption of our lives. 

This is not a statement that says “pity you” but rather an acknowledgement of how you feel. 

Maybe, you are a student. The school year is closed. There is no date, no possibility of returning to what was once a place you were required to stay. Perhaps now, that place no longer feels like a requirement, but a distant reality. 

Your life has changed, along with the rest of the world. This is no isolated incident, one where you feel alone. Rather it has become a commonality with no definite end in sight. That’s the scary part, right? You feel like you have no control over the situation and that scares you. There are few answers. There are few certainties in a world where you like everything to be certain. 

Your feelings of disappointment are valid. It feels like your hard work will not be recognized, it feels like you are missing out on so many opportunities that you would have carried with you for a lifetime. This reality is not meeting your expectations. This was not supposed to happen. You feel… lost. 

Maybe, you are a teacher. You’re working diligently to create a semi-normal learning environment for your students. You are holding up a front because your students look to you as a representative of how life is going, to them you are always a professional, helping them learn and grow.

But you are also human. You might feel stressed, overworked, confused just like your students. Your job has adapted to one you were not expecting. Your life has changed just like everyone else’s. 

Or maybe, you are a parent. You are watching as your life’s changing around you. This has never happened before. Nothing like this has ever happened in your lifetime. 

Your children might be looking to you for answers, for support, but you are just as lost. Maybe you are watching as your senior in high school has their senior year taken from them. 

You are just as confused as the rest of us. 

We are all the same. Disappointing news washes over us in waves of tsunami caliber. Will life ever return to normal? Why is this happening?

We certainly don’t have the answers to our questions right now. 

Whether we are thinking about what we have lost, what is happening, or what is to come, this is a reality that none of us expected. And all are validated in how they feel. 

There is no shame. There is no judgment. There is no right way to feel. 

I feel like my senior year is now nonexistent. My fellow seniors feel as though our high school career ended with an unprecedented abruptness that is still shocking. My teachers are working more so than ever, making decisions and adapting to help their students continue to learn with such diligence – I can’t help but feel proud. 

Life is changing and adapting – who knows what it will be like when we return to some type of normalcy? Who would have changed for the better? For worse?

All we can do right now is sit. Try to flatten the curve. Attempt to adapt with whatever life throws our way. We can try to keep our lives as normal as possible, but normal is no longer what it used to be. 

This is for everyone, all who feel affected. I’m so sorry. 

All I can say is, you are validated in how you feel. You are not the only one that feels this way.