5 Things I Learned From Graduating in the Midst of a Pandemic

The pandemic has affected people worldwide in a myriad of ways, but what about those with the added burden of coping with academic pressure?

Hordes of students graduate every year, but few are asked to do it in the backdrop of an earth-shaking pandemic. As the system of in-person learning was phased out in the initial stages of lockdown, remote learning came to the rescue and gave the education sector a new lease of life.

Official notifications from various educational institutions declared that students must continue their learning process and that this noble end would be achieved simply through a device with internet access. This pushed to the fore both uncomfortable questions and truths with regard to learning in the pandemic, and learning in general.

First, should students be saddled with the responsibility of completing coursework and maintaining their grades in the face of a global health crisis? And if so, how would they juggle academic work with attending to the needs of their mental health so that they ultimately don’t lose a grip on either? Next comes the question of whether these institutes would cut those students some slack who themselves have fallen prey to the virus or have had a dear one infected. And if so, how much? What about students with no internet access? The list goes on.

The academic stress increases tenfold when you are in the final year of graduation seeing as students like me are pressured to believe that letting one’s grades slack off during this crucial year could make or break their future resumes and launch their career into a downward trajectory. Not only do you have to contend with the fear of dying but also the fear of failing, or even worse, underperforming. With failure, you can start afresh whereas underperformance is a permanent blot on your academic record. Point is, one’s mental turbulence is bad enough under normal circumstances without the fear of mortality added on top of it.

Endless concerns frame the debate on online learning, but at the same time, the world has had to acknowledge a few uncomfortable truths it had previously turned a blind eye to. Take remote learning, for example. It has cut across the boundaries of time and space and is now widely accepted as a viable alternative to classroom education, whereas the case would have been the opposite in pre-covid times.

Knowing India’s long-standing record of failing to account for its students’ mental health as a whole (let alone each student’s individual mental health), I knew I had no choice but to go through with my end-of-term exams, and after taking my last exam less than a week ago, these are some of my takeaways as a pandemic graduate.

Don’t Leave Your Projects Unfinishe-

-d.

And I’m not not just talking about overdue college assignments.

After struggling with a reader’s block for years, I came to the haunting realisation that it was I who was blocking all the reading. Now, the satisfaction of having completed a book trumps other feelings of post-book completion melancholy. To see a project to its end is doing it, and yourself, justice. Time, newly available in overabundance, compelled me to start new creative projects and and finish them for a change, helping me break my chronic habit of aborting every creative mission post the first stage of conception.

Learning isn’t one-dimensional

Yet, it is precisely what I was led to believe in the Indian education system which equates memory retention with learning. It took me a while to understand that learning isn’t only limited to the information we consume from books or academic journals in a classroom or a library, but also extends to all sorts of human experiences. Much of what I had to learn for my exams was sourced from Google and Youtube, anyway. Informational resources on the internet for the curious or needy person are endless (and mostly free). The process is dynamic – you can learn from anyone, anything and anywhere.

Foster Your Creative Side

As sad as it sounds, being locked in is what helped my creative abilities thrive. The extra time I had on my hands prodded me into rediscovering my creative self. I drew more in the last few months than I did in the past five years combined. I read more books, journaled and wrote for pleasure, made a dress out of a trashbag, etc. You get the drill. Give free rein to your creative abilities and watch yourself mentally prosper.

Uncertainty Isn’t the End of Your World

It’s not uncommon for existential fears to set in far more often with much less difficulty at a time when it feels like you’re living a dystopian nightmare. Whether or not you are going to make it through alive is a thought that frequents the minds of most people, including myself, and justifiably so. Understand that letting feelings of uncertainty constantly rule your mind is detrimental to your mental peace, hence take it slow. If the only thing you’re certain about is what you’re gonna eat for breakfast tomorrow, that is alright.

Stop Obsessing About the Future

As a graduate fresh out of college, it often feels like a network of roads leading to different careers have magically appeared at my feet, waiting for me to pick one that would make all the other ones disappear. One step in the wrong path feels like it could swerve me off the road altogether, especially when I take into account roadblocks such as a crashing economy and soaring unemployment rates. It’s a tough choice between financial security and following your passion, especially at a time when the present is dull and the future doesn’t look much more promising. Sylvia Plath in The Bell Jar captures it best:

From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. […] I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.

Part of coping with the mental stress brought on by the pandemic has been realising that as much as this is an opportunity to reflect on yourself and make a few tough calls, it is also more than that. Utilising this time to hone your skills in different fields would help in making the decision a tad bit easier.