Dear J: How will I cope with being home for at least two months and not coming back to campus until February? Also will we even have a spring semester?
J: The situation with COVID-19 is hard for everyone right now. After living alone or with a roommate in college, it’s a weird transition to be at home where you are under your parents’ roof and rules. For now, you’ll still have two weeks of classes and then finals to go through. Write up a schedule of when your classes are so that your family members know when not to disturb you. Writing up a schedule for alone time, exercise or whatever else you might want to do might also be a good idea for when classes are over. It’ll be helpful for you to still have some sort of structure in your life and also for your parents. For me, it’s really important to stay in touch with friends, so I have been doing a lot of Zoom calls and FaceTimes. My roommate and I try to do virtual yoga together every morning.
Nobody knows what the situation in the spring will be like. For now, I’m optimistic that we will have a spring semester on campus, but the responsibility is on all of us. Try to limit your outings and contact with others as much as possible — this is especially important since we will not be getting tested every other day like at school. The holidays should definitely be virtual this year so we have a chance of being at Tufts.
Dear J: How do you know the path you're choosing for school or your major is the right one if you keep hearing different voices from friends and family telling you things contrary to your dreams/desires?
J: The fact that you said your friends and family are telling you things contrary to your dreams and desires tells me that you have a clue as to what your dreams and desires are, and whatever they’re protesting is the right path. I mean, I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you mean something along the lines of choosing a major, profession or something like that, and that the dreams your friends and families are against aren’t harmful or dangerous. If I’m correct, then you should fully follow your dreams unapologetically and tell your friends and family that you’re going to do what you want, and they can deal with it. Let them know that you’d be very happy to have their support, but whether they choose to support you or not has no effect on your decisions.
