It’s no secret that since October hit, morale on campus has been low. Even more significantly so since the return to campus in late August, in which students’ feelings of uncertainty and overall adjustment to differences at Lehigh infiltrated our community.
A large increase in coronavirus cases, a stressful point in the semester with midterms, no pacing break and a long time since we’ve seen our families, it’s safe to say that life around this time of year has been difficult. Pile that onto the fact that we are grieving what this year “should” be looking like, the Lehigh we are used to and the overall impact of the pandemic on both our country and our personal lives, and you have one giant storm cloud of emotions, most of which are rather negative.
We as people are weathering a lot right now. There is zero doubt about it. As cliche as it sounds, how we react to the adversity the pandemic and the semester has brought upon us will define us in ways we can’t even understand yet. This goes both for how we treat ourselves as well as our friends, family, neighbors and classmates.
In a world in which there is so much hardship and downright bad news, it’s easy to fall into the negativity trap. Prior to the pandemic, being cold and closed off was fairly normalized, and the events since March have only furthered that sentiment.
In a world where being withdrawn is the norm, being nice is almost seen as a sign of weakness. On a national and community level, we have lost so much niceness and amiability for both internal and external reasons.
It’s about time we check in with ourselves and take a step back from our day-to-day tasks and difficulties we are experiencing right now.
Our daily lives are rather isolating, and we’ve lost interactions we may not even realize were so vital. That 10-minute walk across campus between classes, running into your friends or an old hallmate or even a quick pit stop at the library rather than the desk in our bedroom all enhanced some of the more mundane parts of college life.
Life is a lot more of a set schedule, and the scarce social interactions we do have are far less organic than they would be were things normal right now.
We encourage you to find the positives where you can. Despite the differences of this semester, there is still so much to take advantage of during this last third of the semester.
Although access to campus may be limited, access to the greater Bethlehem area is not.
There’s a plethora of mom-and-pop, family-owned stores throughout both the North and South sides. Restaurants are still offering outdoor seating next to space heaters to allow for patrons to continue dining in a way they feel safe.
The South Bethlehem Greenway hasn’t gone anywhere. A quick walk, run or bike ride is great not only for your body but for clearing your mind as well.
The silver lining here is that our relationship with the Bethlehem community has never been more important and we may appreciate it more now more than ever. These businesses rely on students, and we rely on them to keep this aspect of our Lehigh experience alive.
So go out and find those things to do that will continue to create a memorable semester in new ways you may not have had the opportunity to explore if it were business as usual. Take that hike. Check out that new store. Try a new restaurant. Or even just appreciate the local neighborhood more.
It is so easy to sit inside on your computer for hours on end. So much of our academic experience now requires those digital interactions, but it doesn’t have to be all of what we do.
Make the effort to make your life here a bit better while you still can. Ten weeks at home from Thanksgiving to February is a long time and you don’t want to be thinking about things you could’ve done while you were still in Bethlehem with your classmates.
There’s only a few weeks left before the end of in-person experiences at Lehigh until 2021. Despite all the differences and difficulties we as a community have faced this fall, there has been a lot of greatness in the strength and perseverance of each and every member of this community.
Give yourself that credit. Give your peers that credit.
As you reflect on this fall, do you like what you’re seeing?
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