In March 2020, I was an eager freshman in college, excited for what the future had in store for me. However, I remember my anticipation being cut short when my entire school was sent home for what the administration predicted would be an “extended spring break.” Little did we know that this break would turn into a global pandemic and we wouldn’t see each other in person until January 2021.

Much of that 10-month period was a haze of anxiously watching the news, wistfully thinking about the new school and friends I’d been torn away from, and panicking about how all of this would impact my future — a future I thought was pretty clear-cut and established. The pandemic came and uprooted all of that, and the years that I was so often told would be “the best of my life” felt stolen from me and replaced by constant fear, anxiety, and uncertainty.