I’m Ben and I took my time to decide to write about my experience with COVID-19 since it is not easy to learn to write what you feel coherently. But without a doubt, it is one of the best therapies.

COVID-19 has changed my life, thanks to heaven and my angels in the universe, neither I nor my family has suffered from coronavirus but our lives have changed dramatically.

We are a middle-class family; I am 27 years old but I still live with my parents and my younger sister. She has 12 years old. My parents in their lives before this tragedy had their jobs, my sister studied at a good school, I came from a good university and worked independently. I am young, so I have not wanted to work during office hours, I have preferred to do it with temporary jobs or independently as a consultant.

But as a result of this situation, my parents and I were left without work and we had to move from the city to the countryside. Since we could not continue paying for the apartment or the costs of living in the city, city life unlike the country is very expensive. At least in my country.

So for 5 months, we have lived in the countryside, something unthinkable and impossible for me. Since I always said that I would never live in the country, that I did not like it, that I preferred the noise and chaos of big cities. I liked making plans with my friends, going out to parties, going to the movies, etc. Life here is very different, I fall asleep early and wake up very early in the morning to the noise of animals and birds on the farm. I also do not watch television, I am not interested in being fashionable nor in wearing the best clothes every day, much less go to the hairdresser to fix my hair, nor can I think about going to a gym (there is not).

It is a very small and little tourist town, so it is very residential. There are no gyms, hair salons, movie theaters, restaurants, good food, or sites of interest. I confess that there are days when I am not there, that I feel that my days are passing and life is dragging me and I am not doing anything productive, those kinds of thoughts in which we are not, or we do not find what activities to do to feel productive and efficient with the world and with ourselves …

But on the other hand, I feel good, and I realize that human beings are beings of customs and that life brought me to a place where I never thought to live to teach me a lesson. Maybe it wants me to learn more about things, which are really wonderful, like seeing every day when you wake up your parents making breakfast, eating as a family, appreciating and learning about nature in general.

As I write this I feel good, maybe a little more aware, and happy to be where I am sitting now writing this. And I only ask life and the universe to teach me how to make each day happier, and value, and to be thankful for everything. Since it is not always easy to do, but it feels good when we begin to learn it.