Dealing with the Effects From COVID-19 as a Military Kid

At the start of COVID I was a sophomore in high school. I remember going to off season football practice and our coach pulling all of us in saying “there is a pandemic and we don't know what is going to happen but we have 2 weeks off of school.” I was so happy that we had no school for 2 weeks, little did I know it would turn into 1 year. Looking back on it, I was an immature sophomore. I knew I wanted to become great but it was the immaturity that was holding me back.

I come from a military family, both my parents serve. Growing up, we moved around quite a bit. My dad was in the Army, and I’ve seen him overcome the darkest of days. He is definitely my inspiration in a lot of ways because of things he continues to fight for every day, which is accessible mental health care. As a father, he always tried to instill the Army values in me: Loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, personal courage. I knew they were applicable in life outside the military too.

Pulling those values into my personal life helped me a lot. Being locked in the house for the 2 weeks at the start of COVID gave me time to reflect on who I was as a person. I felt lost at a lot of points but remembered how much my dad was able to work through. With him, I found the importance of maintaining my physical health and working out together became routine. Two weeks turned into the summer, then the next school year. I continued to learn and grow but still had a little bit of immaturity and uncertainty lingering. Then virtual school happened. At first I was happy with all of the freedom, then it took a turn.

I felt stressed and trapped with all of the school work teachers would pound me with, solely because they were never taught how to adapt in the virtual learning environment. My grades dropped and I felt tired and stressed. Soon I was looking for outlets to handle the stress and the hardships from learning online. I learned from my Dad that there is always a way to work through problems. He taught me that reaching out for help and learning different mechanisms to cope is really healthy. I needed to hone in on the personal courage value of the army and apply it to my life. I needed to find something that made me excited to wake up each day. My Dad helped me sort through my passions and I finally found it.

Sneaker restoration. I knew from working with shoes and making beat up sneakers look like new had a really healthy calming effect on me. It helped me think clearer and breathe evenly. That was my outlet, cleaning and restoring shoes was not only a passion but a form of income too. I got so good at it people started to pay me to fix their shoes up for them. Cleaning shoes was an outlet for me to survive in virtual learning.

My dad always told me that being a dependent of service members made me resilient in a lot of ways. While I agree with that, I think most of us are a lot more resilient than we even give ourselves credit for. My advice for any teens, or anyone in general, is to find an outlet for your stress and find their passion they enjoy. Make an effort to make time for your passion as well. I was really busy for a while, I would do school then flip shoes then finish homework. It was beyond worth it in the end. I can’t tell you what your passion is. That is something that only you can figure out for me.

I first handedly know the benefits of finding a passion. It was a domino effect; I found my passion, then I fell in love with entrepreneurship, then learned how to trade stocks and opened a stock account. Me and my business partner Luis, started our business, Strawberrying Resells in November of 2020 (we rebranded and now are called KickClubDmv) and were determined to grow quickly. We started at 0 followers and by January we had over 10,000. Through the process I wanted to motivate people that even through tough times, you can make it. I continue to strive to get better everyday. In 2021, I currently own Kicks Club Dmv with Luis still trading stocks, have 2 jobs and still do school.

To me Covid 19 was a blessing and a curse. While the pandemic had downfalls on us as a society it allowed me to grow and learn a lot about myself. Without covid I would have never started my business I would have been that same immature 10th grader even now. My advice is to look for the good in the bad, look for the lesson.

Find your passion and stick to it, find your outlet for your stress, your anger, find what makes you live your happiest, most fulfilling life. For me, it was flipping shoes. Without Covid, I wouldn't be the person that I am today but I also realized I shouldn’t need a pandemic to motivate me to find my passion. Always look for the good and chase your passion because you only live once.