Editor’s Note: Alexis Vassilakis is a student enrolled in Dr. Leo Jeffres’s Specialized Writing class.

Coping with the current situation has not been easy. It’s scary because, though I have been through different obstacles in my life, there’s never been a time when I felt so hopeless. I feel as though I have no grasp on life.

Though I’m alone, quarantined in my apartment, I know that I am not alone, that there are others out there who feel the same as I do, probably even worse.

In this scary time, I’ve decided to change my perspective and use this quarantine to become closer with God and to appreciate the little things I have taken for granted. In anxious times, I pray. After I wake up, I thank God for another day.

Once having to rush out of the door in the morning, now I can sit and enjoy my morning cup of coffee, reflecting on life and slowing down, just taking my time with daily tasks.  

In the back of my mind, I know that everything will be okay and we will come out of this stronger than ever before. I’ve decided to not live in fear anymore because I’ve learned that what we can’t control, we shouldn’t worry about.  And that has given me a feeling of freedom.

Even though I can still feel anxious at times, I am controlling it better than I ever have.