Thank You, COVID19, But An Even Bigger Thank You To Me

Today, all my essays are about other people. My mother often tells me that I should have spent my time taking care of the boys and more time earning money or something else. But my specialty is making others cry through my moving poetry and prose, inspired by and dedicated to the people I love. I'm hardly the star of my own writing because it's all called "self-essay."

But this time will be different. This time, my enemy isn't an ex-boyfriend. In 2020, the global pandemic that shook the world was - say it with me - COVID-19.

My story with Covid-19 started like many: I was excited when I learned that school would be closed for a week. It was midway through the spring semester of high school. I was preparing for the SAT because it was important to score well enough to get into an Ivy League college that my parents demanded. When I heard about the virus, I was sitting in the health room (funny, I know) excitedly talking to someone I had never met before. I wanted to teach him to play volleyball.

And you already know what's next, because you've experienced it: weeks turned into months, and months turned into more than a year and a half break. Fresh out of a very academic high school, teenage Claire suddenly finds herself with free time she can't deal with. At first I treated it like a normal school holiday, watching YouTube all day, going to bed at 3am and waking up at noon. In my Minecraft hardcore survival world, I accomplished more in three weeks than in an adult's lifetime: I built four skyscrapers. I have killed the Ender Dragon 12 times; I got every achievement in the game except one; I built a zoo full of strange creatures. Before it shut down, I lived off Sidemen's videos and socialized with YouTube Minecraft creators like Dream and Technoblade. I spent more time on screen than in real life.

Then boredom hit me like no other. After the last day of high school, my mind flips like a switch - from always to never. My mind did not take it well; I started getting headaches and chest pains from sitting in front of my phone or computer screen 24/7. I felt tired. I started eating only once a day and at an irregular time. I need to introduce something new in my life, other than a new YouTube channel.

Looking back, it's amazing how much screen time inspired me to try new things in real life. Wanting to use my free time to relive the joy of my childhood, I rewatched one of my favorite cartoons, Adventure Time. One of the fans is Marceline, a beautiful and entertaining vampire queen who can fly, transform into a titanic monster and forget her enemies. But above all, he owns the bass. He is a musician.

Music is central to Adventure Time, and the songs in this rock show don't hurt. But I wanted to do more than sing these songs: I wanted to be like Marceline. I couldn't handle the bass and the walls were too thin to play punk rock cuts. So I decided on the ukulele and the rest is history.

Every person on this planet is a gift - God's gift to contribute to this world. My ukulele, my voice and free time after closing time were the triple threat I needed to realize that music was my contribution. I didn't care about my grades. I started writing songs on the ukulele, combining my words with the melody. As I started to learn more songs, I recorded them on my YouTube channel, something I always wanted to do but was too afraid to do. I joined virtual music shows, met producers and made crazy connections in the industry. The craziest thing is that I started telling people I'm a songwriter; If you told Claire as a freshman in high school, you wouldn't believe her personality!

Looking back, I realized how big the world was when I found myself holed up in my 100 square meter bedroom. Looking back, my school's brick walls, Spanish exams, teenage drama, and "Will I make it to the Ivy League?" I'm relieved to have so many options beyond the question.

In hindsight, COVID-19 is worth it because it forced me to do something I've always been afraid to do. This led me to a great and beautiful world of art. "Good results, good work and good pay" to extend the conveyor belt. But with Covid-19, I'm not happy it happened. After all, am I not? Am I not the one who took the rhythm of the life you destroyed and wrote me a song - a song to finally enjoy, not to my parents who judged me or my Asian relatives or someone else who told me about life and suffering? It is permanent. The only way?

I'm not glad this happened to you, but I'm proud of the way I treated you.

Thanks for that, COVID-19, but thanks to me.

Claire Sheen '25 is the editor-in-chief of 'Prince' Hope magazine. He can be reached at: claireshin@princeton.edu, @claireshin86 on Instagram or @claireshin86 on TikTok.

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