My Experiences in the Pandemic

Written by: Nicole Ho S.W

Edited by: Rishik S. Bedi, Karyn Sethi

I remember the early days of the pandemic, when everyone was sent home and no one dared to step foot outside their homes. Honestly, the first few weeks

were very enjoyable, as school was cancelled and I did not have lessons for an entire month. I used to just meet up with some of my close friends to complete our tasks, order food and just relax. There really was no stress during the time.

Eventually the COVID-19 cases in Bali started increasing, but we never took it too seriously until we heard our relatives, friends and other people we had connections with started getting infected too. Weeks later, the death count was increasing as well, and my family thought it was best to stay at home.

My plan to celebrate my 14th birthday went to scrap, as the cases were constantly rising, and I didn’t want to get myself exposed to the virus. I stayed at home on my birthday, unable to meet my friends. Just ate a slice of cake and went to my room after I blew the candles out. I just stayed in the darkness of my room, listening to music and staring at the night sky.

The next few weeks, I would lie in bed, watching Netflix for 5 hours a day, eating junk, and basically wasting every day of my life. Weeks later, I suddenly felt sick, it was as if every time I ate, I found myself wanting to throw up. I couldn’t digest my food properly, I constantly had cramps and stomach

pain. Though I lost 4 kg within 2 months of this happening, I managed to not eat any unhealthy food for so long. I ate lots of fruits, vitamins, vegetables, and managed to maintain a healthy diet from then on. That was some good that came out of it.

A few days later, I felt like I had difficulty breathing. If felt like a heavy block was placed on my chest, and the strange part is I didn't know if I was actually having shortness of breath, or if it was all in my head, and I was just overthinking. It felt like my breathing had just suddenly stopped, and it scared me to the point where I could not stop thinking about it. I thought I had asthma at one point, that it was a possibility. Or maybe it was all the stress building up inside that caused it.

I distracted myself from the thought by playing games with my brother, and watching YouTube. Without those 2 things, I would have stayed in bed and just stare blankly at the air, reminiscing past memories of feeling free and going out, then feeling the need to sleep every 4 hours.

All of this happened from April 2020 until June 2020. Yes, 3 months, and all those days to me were like walking through hell. The worst part was that all of these problems were building up inside of me, and I had absolutely no one to talk to. I was afraid that if I talked to my friends, I would sound like I was being ridiculous, or dramatic.

Or maybe I was the one overreacting about everything. But that’s just it. I found myself drowning in a pool of fear and anxiety, where I had no one to pull me out. There were so many times I wanted to pull out my phone to call my friends and ask them to hang out, but I never did. “Maybe they're busy and doing something more important. Maybe it’s safer to stay at home, during this pandemic, as Covid-19 cases are rising,” I thought to myself. I was scared of what people would have thought about me then. Even until today, the memories lie in my head, remaining as an insignificant idea to bring up at such a random time.

However, everything changed on the 30th June, when my mom talked to me. She knew how I looked like I was trapped in some sort of misery for the past few months, and how I was doing absolutely nothing other than lying in bed. She told me to try and start cleaning my room, and get rid of old clothes. That was when an idea was born, and idea to create and run a business, as it would be good to occupy my time, and I would be able to learn how to earn money. I decided to give it a go, and created “Stormy Wear”, where I sold my preloved clothing that I no longer used. The growth of Stormy Wear was slow at the start, and I decided that if I constantly sold my old clothing, it was not going to get a wider audience. And so, I expanded my business and became a reseller, having suppliers from overseas and selling “pre order” clothing.

Today my business, with its name being changed to Stormy The Label, has sold over 700 orders, has been recognized by verified people and TikTok influencers, and has a growing amount of 6K followers currently, all within a span of 365 days. I must say that my business has really saved me, because without it, I would have wasted the entire year just questioning life and being alone, not doing anything and wasting every day. My business allowed me to interact with so many great people, meeting new friends online, knowing how to deal with customers, and I even found my passion in what I want to do in the future, that is being a business woman. After this, I was taken out to play golf and do more sports to get more physically fit, and just get away from home for once and enjoy nature. It really was relaxing, and I never thought of getting into sports, especially in the pandemic.

But what I am most thankful for is my business, because it brought me happiness during my darkest days, and instilled confidence in me, something that I had been lacking all my childhood. I also am in the process of creating my own brand called Florawinkle, another business idea :). Creating Stormy the Label, and running and managing it was like finding a diamond in the ocean, something I never expected to find, but the joy it brought me was unmatched, it was truly the best feeling of accomplishment I could ever experience in my life. The feeling of maximum satisfaction. I guess 2020 wasn’t so bad after all... All my experiences of feeling isolated and alone during the year made me realize how far I've grown from it. It taught me various lessons, and gave me the chance to also find myself, know my purpose and who I was as a person.