If you gave me one word to recap the year 2020, a lot of words come to mind. Chaotic. Stressful. Life-changing. Devastating. Quarantine. Isolation. Loneliness. Mask. Testing. And many others. And though all those words would aptly describe the past year and a half, Zoom is another word and app that dominated throughout that time.

A blue app with a white camera outline. It became almost instinctual and part of your daily ritual to log on, click on Zoom, join the meeting, decide if you looked presentable enough to turn on your camera, greet the others in the room, and quickly mute yourself. When COVID-19 forced everyone into quarantine, Zoom’s ascension began. Everything was virtual, and very soon we all began to face isolation and boredom. That’s when the creativity came out. Zoom didn’t just become a virtual school, it became a place for virtual game night, meetings, talks, and even workouts. So when I think of how my community responded to the isolating effects of COVID-19, I think that we tried to get better Wifi or prayed that our current connection could sustain all the extra bandwidth.

Facetimes became longer. Phone calls seemed to last the whole day, and it seemed that blue light shone from all the electronics. We all attempted to replicate physical meetings virtually, and though we spent almost countless hours on Zoom, I think as a community we all became introspective. Because we were forced to. Isolation does tend to breed inner reflection. I think quarantine and COVID made us, as a community, stop and reset ourselves. Self-care and self-preservation became emphasized. And finally, you were able to do the things you always claimed you never had time for. Simply, because now it seemed that all you had was time. The miniature house project you’ve been pushing, the sweater you always meant to knit. It was the perfect time to dive deeper into hobbies or find new ones.

COVID-19 disrupted lives, and it’s a time that shouldn’t be romanticized or made to seem better than it was. However, it created an extra space that we all felt heavily. It made my community and probably yours tighten to realize that we don’t have to be physically there to be there for each other. It gave us room to think, to sit at home quarantining and thinking. It forced us to adjust our lives and evaluate where we were going, and it changed many of us, those around us, our communities, and the path we’re heading down on.