If you’re feeling anxiety, depression or loneliness during this whole pandemic thing… you’re not alone! Approximately 70% of young people reported feeling this very way about Covid and all the unique circumstances it can bring about. Remote learning and lockdowns can bring about isolation for a lot of young people and it’s hard not to be around your friends and doing all of your normal routines and activities! I’m sure most of you had a full schedule even after school with sports, clubs, lessons and friends. So not being able to be in school or partially remote, and staring at a computer screen for most of the day can be pretty boring, isolating, and can bring about feelings of anxiousness that maybe you never experienced before.

According to a New York Time’s article from November 12th, Aya Raji’s days were jam-packed, pre-pandemic. She woke up at 6:30 a.m. and took the subway to school. At night, she practiced kick-flips with her skateboarding club and hosted “Twilight” movie nights for friends.

Once her school in Brooklyn turned to remote learning, starting last spring and continuing this fall, the days grew long and lonely. Nothing could distract her from the bleak news, as she stared at her laptop for hours during virtual class. She couldn’t sleep, up until 4 a.m., her mind racing with anxiety.

“I felt like I was trapped in my own little house and everyone was far away,” Aya, 14, said. “When you’re with friends, you’re completely distracted and you don’t think about the bad stuff going on. During the beginning of quarantine, I was so alone. All the sad things I used to brush off, I realized I couldn’t brush them off anymore.”

Students like Aya felt some relief earlier this fall, when their schools opened with a blend of remote and in-person learning, although the rigid rules and social distancing required during the pandemic still made it rough to connect. And now, with coronavirus caseloads at record levels across the country, many schools are returning to remote classes, at least temporarily through part of the winter.

A lot of teens really depend on their friends and socializing in order to navigate their high school years, as well as to maintain a sense of self-worth and help manage any anxiety or depression. So if you’re feeling like this, you’re definitely not alone! Especially if you’ve been experiencing any of these symptoms, like severe risk-taking behavior, significant weight loss, excessive use of drugs or alcohol and any drastic changes in mood… please reach out to one of your parents or guardians or another trusted adult to get some help!

I think it’s also helpful to just remind each other that this is temporary, right? I know we thought initially it might only be a few weeks or months, so now that it’s dragged on for almost a year, I feel like it’s getting harder to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But keeping things in perspective and that it might only be a few more months, helps me to have hope and think more positively for the future and not just focus on my circumstances at the moment.

Lauren C. – REALife Teen Director