Lockdown Saved Me

Sophie Oh
3 min readMar 14, 2021

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Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

I’m not happy the Coronavirus outbreak happened. It’s not a good situation. It’s sad, depressing, and scary for most of us. But, the lockdown put my life in perspective. I did not know that I needed the reset. It made me realize I wanted more from life than what I currently had.

College was the most motivated and inspired phase of my life before the pandemic, and that was six years ago. I love studying Physical Therapy. Maybe because I always had a love for anatomy ever since I was a kid. Yes, it was hard and stressful but I enjoyed every bit of it. Until, in my 4th year, my parents and I had a talk they can no longer afford my school. At that time, I had no choice but to drop out of college and find work.

I applied right away and was accepted as a Customer Support Representative. The original plan was to work, save money for six months, then go back to school. But things happened, your girl fell in love. Instead of saving, I spent most of my money on traveling and dinner dates for two years. It was fun but the relationship ended. I can say I fully moved on after a year. The process of moving on was hard, but you know what was the hardest? Figuring out what’s next after you move on.

I realized I don’t want to be a physical therapist. I love the studying part, but I don’t see myself enjoying the work. I also did not enjoy being a Customer Support Representative as I only did it for money. When you experienced working, you’ll realize it’s not about how cool your work looks or money anymore, it’s more of happiness in what you do.

I was lost, sad, and depressed by seeking happiness and figuring out what I want to do with my life. I have no goals and plans. I deleted my social media as I keep on comparing myself with successful people I see on my feeds. I don’t even go on dates as I don’t like to be asked about my life. My daily routine was to wake up, shower, go to work, finish work, go back home, Netflix, and sleep. That was it. For two damn years!

Then Coronavirus hit. We were all asked to work from home. In my case, our company took a month to provide a computer. So, it gave me a period of intense self-reflection and self-audit. That’s when I started and decided to work on myself. I work out again, meditate, control my expenses, read books, and took some online classes.

Today, I’m excited to wake up and grateful for life. I learned to find joy in my work. I started trading and investing in the stock market. I must say this time is the happiest, motivated, inspired, and wisest I have ever been in my life. This time off has done wonders for me figuring some stuff out.

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Sophie Oh

Dog mama. A friend to many amazing women. Lifelong learner. Work in progress.