What Does the Future Hold?

As finals week is approaching, I have been reflecting on what is to come. Personally, I have been taking quarantine day by day. Looking into the future is scary when you have no idea what is in store for the upcoming weeks. But lately, I have been questioning a lot of things. Will my summer job get up and running? When will I get to see my grandparents again? Will I be able to go to the beach with my friends this summer? Will I return to school for my junior year? If so, when? 

These questions come with a hard pill to swallow: will life ever go back to normal? The future has always terrified me. Even in Italy, as talks of being sent home began to arise, I did not want to think about all the possibilities. I was focused on living my life to the fullest in Rome and having not a single worry in the world. However, now, questions have become a reality for us all. I fear that I won’t go back to school in the fall. I fear that my training as a Physician Assistant will be hinged because of coronavirus. I fear I won’t be seeing my friends for a long time. 

I have realized that no one will be able to give me the answers to my questions. All we can do is pray everything will turn out okay. I have high hopes; I feel like the only thing we can do right now is hope. Hope that all our loved ones stay well. Hope our doctors and nurses are safe. Hope that everyone abides by the social distancing guidelines to slow the infection rate. Hope that there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel. Sooner or later life will go back to a new normal, a normal we must all adapt to. But one thing this quarantine has taught me: the world never stops turning, so we cannot stop living.