Life can be chaotic. Chaos, in all its shapes and forms, distracts and holds us back, whether it be friendships, school, or most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. While it can be a huge struggle to overcome confusion, the benefits of doing so are even more immense. So, I would like to tell a personal story about how I overcame my own pandemonium.  

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I spent most of my time at home. The different government restrictions about social distancing and the constraints to our ability to leave our homes only fed to my laziness. And this laziness really took a toll on my studies. As the rest of the world could probably relate, my productivity was unbelievably down, and I was so bored that I was on my phone and computer all the time. Even though I knew I had to be busy studying and preparing for applying to boarding school, I lacked the motivation and desire to pull myself together. Accordingly, my study time gradually decreased, and eventually, I found myself only watching YouTube videos on my phone. This toxic habit continued every day, even up until the day before a very important final exam. And to no one’s surprise, I ruined the exam. 

After the initial global breakdown from the pandemic, the world started to focus on recovering, and healing. Food drives were being made, vaccines were being developed, and people started to gather again, remotely. As the world started to move on, I felt that I should do the same. I realized that it wasn’t some government restriction or ban that pushed our society forward. Instead, it was the collective desire of the people to pull themselves together. Thus, I was inspired to change, and to regroup and study hard, rather than being held back from the initial breakdown from COVID-19. I realized that I could not succeed if I did not try without real earnestness. Since having that mindset, I have completely changed my lifestyle. 

The first thing I changed was to cut down on my YouTube watching time. I usually watch 3 hours of YouTube a day. However, I cut it down to only 30 minutes. It really helped me to focus on my studying because I was able to use the time I spend watching YouTube for more studying. Unintended but nevertheless a benefit, my eye health also improved from watching less YouTube.

I even adjusted my sleep schedule to find more time to study. Grades and schoolwork are ultimately a battle of who studied longer at greater depths. Thus, I tried to sleep for only four hours a day. As a result, I was extremely tired all the time, but even when I was sleepy, I pinched my thighs and pulled myself together to concentrate on studying. With the extra time, I reviewed, memorized, and practiced more material, a little more, and a little harder than others. This change to my sleep schedule truly changed my study habits. 

Lastly, I made efficient use of the situation at hand. Before and at the beginning of the pandemic, the severity of the outbreak and the following restrictions were minimal, so I used to meet and hang out with my friends at least three times a week for at least three hours. But once the pandemic became serious, it was impossible for me to meet and hang out with my friends. I used this to my advantage and invested the time I would have spent with my friends into studying. While it was really inconvenient and difficult to not see my friends at all, I got used to it bit by bit and eventually felt okay. 

The result I got from these changes was true happiness itself. Not only did my grades in most subjects improve, my weakest subjects, science, and history, also increased tremendously, both improving from D to A. But grades aside, I was happy and proud of myself for pushing myself to rise up after a downfall. Knowing that I could overcome this chaos, leads me to believe firmly that I can overcome any other chaos that comes my way.