Life throughout the pandemic has taken me through a pretty rough ride since the start of quarantine and everything that has come since. For one, it was insanely eye-opening how exposed the world had become through my lens. This past year-long purgatory showed how little care many have for their neighbors’ well beings, how nationwide government systems have done very little to protect their citizens from life and death circumstances, and how the words of black Americans still fall on deaf ears as we continue to be murdered by racist people, institutions, and bodies of government. To state the words, “I’m tired”, would be an understatement. This is just me bringing up the at-large issues first. I haven’t even introduced the depressive hell I’ve had to struggle with over the past 6 months that has only been made worse by current social circumstances. Dealing with family problems with the potential loss of my dad, struggling with identity disassociation as I moved on from being a college athlete, and a whole slew of other problems that came with these things. The isolation definitely took its toll and made things worse as I no longer really had the friendly support environment I had grown so accustomed to being around while being back at school when things were normal. Even now I still seemingly have more bad days than good ones. My hope is that sharing my story with this community can help others know that they’re not the only ones struggling and having to overcome their own interpersonal and societal challenges during this period of time. How have some of y’all experiences been over this last year? Good and/or bad? I Look forward to hearing from yall