How COVID-19 affected me?

As a current athlete who plays basketball for the University of Tennessee, I have played sports for most of my life. As a kid, I was not able to enjoy most things normal kids could do because I often traveled to play basketball out of town. I have always been on a tight schedule and only able to do mostly basketball related things. I was finally able to take more time for myself, be on my own schedule and focus on what I wanted to. It was honestly the moment in my life I never knew I needed. I adjusted well by navigating to online tools. I was able to complete my last semester of course for my bachelors degree and apply for online internships. Rather than having to balance school work, travel for basketball games and tournaments, relocate for an internship,my busy schedule was immediately put on hold. I did not allow the pandemic to slow my progress of achieving several short term goals, I took advantage of the situation by staying focused and determined to complete any academic and fitness goals that I had in front of me. I was not able to get my nails, eyelashes, and hair done but I was able to find ways to play basketball, exercise, shop online and socialize with friends during the pandemic. Overall, I became mentally stronger. Stay tuned for more live blogging posts on how COVID-19 affects my life in a positive way.

I was able to ask a poll question on my Twitter account to see how COVID-19 affected them. I asked four questions I believed was most common affects during this pandemic which were

1. Were you able to create more "me time"

2. Discovered new hobbies

3. Fell into depression

4. Developed new outlook

When analyzing the data, I found interesting that 26% was the second highest percentage and was the amount of people who fell into depression. Definitely want to reach out to anyone out their who feels this way and say to keep going and you got this! It was times where I felt down and had to thin positive thoughts and take it day by day. Continue to do what makes you happy and I encourage you all to try to create more "me time", discover new hobbies and interest, and develop a new outlook!