What COVID-19 is doing to my dream
Essay from Jeremiah Lucas Opira Memorial Contest 2021
Author: Rubangakene Joseph
4th Runner Up, Category 2
Life during this time is substantially different from anything I have ever experienced. Life changed suddenly for the whole world when covid-19 arrived and with it came the need for me to quarantine myself in our home. I became immersed in a new reality which has had a huge impact on my dream and life. In the meantime, I have been practicing personal hygiene and social distancing to avoid getting infected, though my dream is being infected by this pandemic:
Mental health consequences and emotional strain.
The corona virus is having a pretty significant impact on me physically, it’s reducing my daily physical activities to the point where the most exercise I get is walking around my house and dancing around my room to songs that makes me feel like I’m not in the middle of the pandemic. Emotionally, it’s also being very straining. My mom is a substitute teacher and she is out of work for the rest of the school year with no pay. I myself am missing my closest friends a lot right now and I feel lonely often and this affects my dream. I’m struggling a lot with mental health, I’ve had a depression as well as anxiety for years. Seeing people outside my family is what is what keeps me sane, especially those closest to me. Everything is weird, I cant find a better way to describe it without being negative. This is a really strange time and I don’t like it. I’m trying my hardest to stay positive but that has never been one of my strong suits thus in one way or the other interfering with my dream.
Over night therapy.
The content and tone of my dream is also probably being affected. My dream is more likely to incorporate memories from recent, waking life that is emotional. Dreams are thought to be the brain’s way of working out emotional problems and the more anxious I become, the more vivid the dream images become.
It’s a frustrating time for me, because I should have been I form six, something I was looking forward to. I was going to experience that change of class that is form five to form six, a candidate ready to do Uganda Advance Certificate of Education (UACE) and now I’m not going to this year at all. I need to share with my friends, classmates and go to class. For me being cooped up at form five is suffocating sometimes. However, my life is on hold. What is changing my dream is the time I have to achieve them. Because of covid-19, I had to be in form six ready to sit for the national exam.
Financial strain.
In the past year, the pandemic hit some of my family members pretty hard financially and my family was really affected. I am fortunate to have such caring and generous family who will step up and help anyone in need. It is though seeing some family members struggling mentally and emotionally though. Especially with pandemic, previous feelings of anxiety and depression are amplified. Even though it hurts me to see my family going through difficult times, I try to do my part to help. Through this experience, I have learned that having someone that will listen to you and comfort you is one of the greatest to have. Throughout this year, if there’s something that have changed in my dream then it’s to always try and find the light even in the darkest of times.
My dream was stressed up. Overall, life during this time is substantially different from anything most of us have ever experienced, and at times it can be extremely overwhelming and stressful, especially in terms of school for me. Online classes don’t provide the same environment and interactions as in every circumstance. There is always something to be thankful for and I’m appreciative for my situation right now. While the world is slowing down, my stress is ramping up and slowly adjusting to it.
Location change.
I dreamed to be in a holiday in another district but it didn’t work my way. I’m living in a northern region and my environment changed which interfered with my dream.
In conclusion, covid-19 affected my life and mental health. I had certain related dreams like location changes, dream imagery here in as indicative of waking day-anxiety. That waking day concern and anxieties regarding covid-19 were reflected in dream imagery.