Dear Zoomers,

Can you believe we’re already nearing the end of the year? As a new month enters, it seems more and more unbelievable that the predicament we’re in is actually real. While the world out there has been crazy, our personal lives have been “on pause” for some time.

They have become so stagnant that it’s actually been hard to talk with people about real stuff. I miss interacting with actual human beings on a daily basis, and I miss going out without having to worry about my health. But I am starting to sound like a broken record because I’ve been saying these things since March!

Imagine how the whole Philippine population has been living through terrible hardships for almost half a year already because of higher people’s incompetence and greed. Just when you think things couldn’t be worse, they still continue to pull nasty tricks in front of our faces. Activists being killed, force-feeding manure to Aeta people, declaring a holiday to honor the country’s most notorious dictator… living in the Philippines has been a trying time.

How anyone still continues to defend these actions is beyond me.

I cannot blame anyone who has taken a social media break during this time. These things are overwhelming and can take a huge toll on one’s mental health.

When everything is falling apart, it’s easy to feel hopeless. Never in my life have I wished that I wasn’t a Filipino so many times. But once I sleep on it, I wake up with a more optimistic perspective that things are going to change.

Now why did I bring that up?

Because whether we like it or not, we have to adapt. We have to take control of what we can. If we don’t, we’re going to drown.

The fact of the matter is there are things beyond our reach. Take the pandemic as an example. You alone aren’t going to make the virus disappear (unless you’re a time-traveler with a vaccine from the future). But what you can do is wash your hands, reduce the times you go out of the house, observe social distancing, etc.

These things are within your control. This means that in some way, your sanity and well-being also lies in your hands.

It’s common sense: when a fire starts in your house, do you just wait in your room hoping that the firefighters come or do you get the hell out of there? Obviously, the latter choice will bring you more comfort than doing nothing and wishing that the world will just correct itself.

Being in control brings a sense of self-empowerment that will get you through this hellhole of a year.

And that’s what Zoomers Corner hopes to bring you this month! Aside from our usual content that hopes to entertain you, prepare yourselves for some advice and tips on how you can take control of the little things in your life.

When you’re young, it’s easy to think that all our choices depend on people older than us may it be our parents or teachers. But if you think this way, you are already underestimating what you can do.

With the articles we have in store for you, we hope that you’ll be able to see that you can make yourself happy even if the world is going down in flames.

You don’t have to feel powerless all the time.

Featured Image: Julian Jagtenberg on Pexels

The post This September, We are Taking Control of our Lives appeared first on Zoomers Corner.

Hey Zoomers,

It’s been almost five months since we’ve gone into quarantine, and it seems like the government doesn’t really have a plan to contain the virus. How is it possible that the world has changed so much and so little at the same time? Everything is opening up yet cases are still rising in huge numbers.

We are trying to go back into our old lives without really going back if that makes sense. The Department of Education even played around with the idea of resuming physical classes, not knowing how it’s a kid apocalypse waiting to happen. But the reality for most of us Filipino students is that we are entering uncharted waters as we enter a new school year.

What’s new this school year?

Some already got a taste of what online classes were like when schools didn’t realize how heavily the pandemic weighed on students’ minds and pockets. This time though, schools are more prepared for the battle ahead.

But with every battle comes unexpected tribulations and setbacks that we just can’t prepare for.

On Twitter, we are already seeing a lot of students ask for donations with the hashtag, #PisoParaSaLaptop. As the name suggests, they are simply requesting generous users to spare them even just one peso for the purpose of buying a laptop. It’s unfortunate that not everyone can afford something that should be a basic need in pandemics like these. And even if they do have one, there’s still the problem of poor internet connection in the entire country.

Online classes are not a walk in the park especially when you’re already disadvantaged in the first place.

Aside from that, businesses are closing down left and right, while people are still dying at the hands of coronavirus. If you were a student whose family was directly affected by this, could you imagine how tough it would be to continue online classes?

What are we sacrificing?

Every student is probably having anxiety or some internal squabble about the upcoming school year. I mean, it is going to be super different without a doubt. Simply going through the motions of online classes is not exciting.

Young people should be out and about, exploring the world with their friends and discovering themselves.

It’s difficult to do that when you’re stuck in the confines of your own home. The best memories I have of school do not involve going online to answer tests and listen to lectures. They involve interaction with people I consider home and spontaneous moments that just can’t be replicated through a screen. Sharing contagious laughter and giving someone comfort are things that stick with you because of the physical touch.

The clinking of beers, the sound of basic trap music blaring in college bars, the sound of the bell ringing to signal the end of the day…

To the zoomer who’s going to enter online classes, you deserve to be angry. You deserve to feel robbed. This whole “I attended school during the pandemic” story is going to be a killer story when we’re older, but let’s be real: this situation sucks.

However, there is definitely an opportunity to make timeless memories during these times. But even if we do make the best-tasting lemonade out of the sourest lemons that life has given us, the fact is: we didn’t want lemonade in the first place.

If we could trade back all the problems that we encountered pre-COVID, we would do it in a heartbeat!

What now?

In short: this school year is gonna be difficult. It might be harder, it might not be. What it is gonna be though, is different. And if you’re feeling a bit positive, you might even say unique.

Online classes are gonna present new challenges that we will help you with here in Zoomers Corner. You are not alone in experiencing this unusual and unfamiliar situation.

That said, there are gonna be problems and events all of us have never come across before… things that have to be documented and talked about. We’re here to experience these together and tell others how it really feels like to be a zoomer during this time. No one can write our history better than ourselves.

School has always been important in one’s education and personal growth. With that said, it’s important to recount how such a drastic change in our “second home” will shape who we are and who we become.

We’re here with you, zoomers.

Featured Image: Christina Morillo on Pexels

The post This August, We are Navigating School amidst Coronavirus appeared first on Zoomers Corner.

Hey Zoomers,

There are only five months left until 2020 is over, and I think we can all agree that this year might just be the worst one of our collective lives. In the Philippines alone, we have dealt with the almost-eruption of Taal volcano, the coronavirus pandemic, the shutdown of our biggest television network, and the constant threats to our democracy and freedom of speech.

The rest of the world hasn’t been any better. I don’t think I need to remind anyone that the year began with the Australian bushfires. And like the first domino that fell, we had seen an unstoppable force of misfortune follow afterwards, with floods in Indonesia, locusts in East Africa, and more recently, the poor reaction of Trump to racially-charged attacks by the police in America. Oh, and of course, coronavirus.

How could I forget?

This is a crazy world we’re living in, and it’s not getting any easier with what’s happening outside. Quarantine has forced us to be indoors all the freaking time. Even now that regulations have relaxed a bit, I think we are all afraid of getting infected by Miss Rona, so we can’t go wherever we please like we used to.

I think that has made it difficult for most of us to get some peace of mind. And being indoors forces us to be creatures of social media, but it’s not like that’s any better with all the bad news coming out. Do you ever just reminisce about the mundane things that you used to do before corona happened?

Because I do.

I think about all the times that I’d just drive to the nearest mall and treat myself to a nice meal on Wednesdays. Or the times I’d get a random call from a bored friend who just wanted to get dinner together. These were small things, but they kept me sane. And because of the pandemic, we had to sacrifice those “small things” that kept us alive.

It’s tough out here, and we have to acknowledge that there is a learning curve to taking care of mental health in these times. It’s okay not to be okay. With that said, I don’t pretend to know the answer to anything about the issues that surround our emotional capacities as human beings. All that I want to do with this platform is discuss this topic as freely as possible, without the stigma of mental health, and spread tips on how I take care of myself, because I’m in the camp that says self-care is the best care.

It’s important to learn more about mental health no matter how young you may think you are, because all of us have experienced some sort of anxiety in our lives. That has to be ranked up there with one of the worst feelings a person could ever feel. And unfortunately, it’s never going to stop from returning.

So this July, let’s talk about mental health for teenagers and children, because yes, we are facing a lot of pandemics right now (I’m talking metaphorically here), and we are going to cope with all of them together! We are moving forward with our sanity intact.

The post This July, We’re Coping with the World appeared first on Zoomers Corner.