A Year in Lockdown

March 2020. I remember standing in my kitchen, phone buzzing with notifications, group chats firing off panic and memes in equal measure. Two weeks of lockdown they said. We’ll be back out by summer. A year later, I'm sure i'm not the only one that doesn't feel like the same person.

The thing is, I knew something was coming. My brother was living in Malaysia at the time, and because of him, I was more tuned into what was happening in Southeast Asia than most people around me. Since November, I’d been hearing about this virus, the lockdowns in Wuhan, the masks in Hong Kong, the growing panic in Singapore. While most of my friends were making New Year’s plans without a care, I was watching updates roll in, wondering if it would ever reach us. By March, it had.

Before COVID, my life was loud. Like many graduates, I was out more nights than I was in four, five times a week, maybe more, ready to take on the world. Then the world shut down.

At first, every weekend felt like a battle against boredom. Zoom calls weren’t the same as pre-drinks. TikTok trends weren’t the same as dancing until sunrise. The days blurred into each other, and with job applications piling up and rejection emails rolling in, the silence felt deafening.

But then something strange happened. I got used to it. The stillness, the slower pace. I started to appreciate mornings, not the ones I used to sleep through, but actual, peaceful, sunlit mornings. I picked up books I never had time for, learned to cook more than just pasta, and sat with my thoughts instead of drowning them out with music and crowds. For the first time in years, I wasn’t rushing anywhere.

Lockdown forced me to face myself. Without the distractions, I had to figure out what I actually wanted, beyond just the next night out. The job hunt is still tough, but I’m thinking bigger now. I’ve learned patience, resilience, and the value of just being present.

If there’s one lesson from this year, it’s this: slowing down doesn’t mean falling behind. Sometimes, it’s the only way to truly move forward...