An Open Letter to Confined Teens

by Lhasa Posada

Do you feel as though you’re behind bars? An inmate in a pandemic-induced jail? Masks, social distancing, vaccines— that’s all those around you ever talk about. You look outside your window. There lies the view of the world you once took for granted. Then, you glare at your computer’s screen as it brightens up with notifications about newly assigned work. The assignments are piling, yet your mind drifts off into a daze when you think about actually doing them. Take a deep breath, it’s okay. The same life you feel was taken away from you will be back soon.

In the meantime, you’re spending a lot of your days at home. Here are five words of advice: use it to your advantage. Get your homework out of the way and think about the things you’ve always wanted to do. Throw yourself into a new hobby or teach yourself how to do something. Learn how to use and share your talents. In simple words, just create. Your life in quarantine will feel just as genuine as it was before. As people with things to do, we aren’t used to stopping to look back at ourselves. Our days just consisted of following daily routines. This transition has led the world to experience the enormous changes. It is no wonder it has left some of us feeling out of place. If that is the case with you, trust you will soon get in touch with who you are again.

When the day comes that you can step outside mask-free, you will only feel more connected to your surroundings. You’ll sit back and remember all of those Zoom meetings and be grateful you didn’t let your productivity end there. Throughout this period of lockdown, you’ve witnessed life itself transform into something unimaginable. But in the end, the person who was once allowing the misfortune of the world drag them down will have come out a greater, stronger person. The only thing that can keep us grounded amid the chaos is staying true to ourselves. It’s time to look forward and see things in color again.