-Adrianna
Today I tried experimenting with fotor.com and made a collage. I’ve learned that it’s important for me to do something creative whenever I feel overwhelmed. This act of self-care helps me maintain my sanity whenever the semester gets hectic. My collage is inspired by the My Pandemic video. It was inevitable to remember my pandemic experience as I saw images of online learning, plants, people painting and others engaging with nature. I know it was a tough time for all of us, for some more than others. But I’d like to reflect on my own experience and how I was able to cope by preforming acts of care. I’ll do so by briefly explaining what each picture represents.
From left to right, the first row starts with a COVID map of Puerto Rico, a picture of Metropolitan Hospital and the front page of my MA thesis. These were my main stressors during the early pandemic days. I was away from my family in P.R. and my husband (who is a high risk COVID candidate) was working the COVID ICU. Amidst all that stress and confinement, I had to take zoom classes and write my MA thesis. The next two rows are acts of care that helped me get through everything. From left to right, the second row starts with a picture of springtime in the city, the Apple FaceTime logo, a shrimp salad and a Zoom Wedding. I started taking roadtrips around and outside the city as a way to escape my tiny apartment. I think this was an act of care for myself and my husband (Also, having quarantine at-home dinner date nights helped!). In order to maintain relationships with friends and family, the best act of care I could do was be present for them via FaceTime and Zoom. I did this with family almost every day and with friends at least every 2 weeks. Lastly, self care was crucial (and still is!). You’ll see this on the third row. (From left to right) I took up painting, bought plants, took pottery classes online, and started working out at home. I know I’m not a pro, but I have to say that pottery and painting are the best de-stressors. Taking care of ourselves is perhaps the best way we can take care of others. And care definitely started to “have a moment” during the pandemic.
P.S. I don’t have rights to some pictures. The P.R. map is from The New York Times, the hospital image belongs to the NYC Health and Hospitals website, the FaceTime logo belongs to Apple and the working out image belongs to iStock.
Fotor Review: Not the best tool. I had trouble downloading the image. Once I downloaded it, I noticed it gets blurred out whenever I zoom in.
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