COVID-19 was the most unexpected twist of our lives last year. We all have plans for the
year ahead, events we’re looking forward to, and opportunities we want to take
advantage of, but suddenly, the whole world stopped.
The pandemic forced us to stay at home, affected our careers, hindered personal
development, and made us adapt to rapid changes in our routines.
The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been asymmetric across age groups and
social statuses. Let’s take a closer look at its impact on young professionals.
Employment
Many small to medium enterprise companies, especially those considered non-essential,
had to downsize, close, or suspend their operations due to the pandemic’s effect on their
business. And this resulted to our one of our worst nightmares - losing a job in a world
crisis. Being unemployed can affect a young professional’s career path by hindering skills
and personality development. It may also affect future financial health as skipping
mandatory government contributions would result in lower pensions.
To cope with this problem, Millennials and Gen Zs were forced to shift careers or get a
side hustle to make ends meet. Work from home jobs or opening an online business
became the alternative to most people.
Missed life events
The COVID-19 pandemic compelled us to limit physical interactions. We were introduced to
social distancing, and it has affected our ability to join friends or family to celebrate
significant life events in person. Celebrating promotions, birthdays, graduations,
engagements, and weddings are some of the events we missed experiencing due to the
pandemic. Among the important events in our lives, the worst one is not being physically
present for your grieving loved ones.
The limitation brought a rise in using social networking sites or video conferencing apps.
It also got an opportunity to open online communities to help us create relationships with
people with the same interests. We realized how technology plays a significant role in
keeping the human connection. While seeing each other in person is preferred, we have
to keep our distance, for now, to help our community recover faster.
Relationships
The Covid-19 pandemic made us closer to some while distanced us from others. We all have
different love languages and ways of keeping up with our friends, family, workmates and
communities. Losing face-to-face contact can be stressful to some as we tend to
disregard messages, lost our authenticity and get misinterpreted when things are
communicated online. Having closer contact with some people like our family can also
be insufferable, especially those who experience abuse at home.
During this challenging time, we should consider additional ways to improve and protect
our relationships. We all need to talk and listen to each other more than ever. Stay
connected with the people you can’t meet at the moment through social media apps.
Break the ice, and communicate your feelings with your family. It may be challenging, but
the situation requires us to adapt.
Mental Health
Most of us didn’t know about cabin fever until we were isolated at home 24/7 to prevent
the spread of the virus. While work and chores keep us busy, we also found ourselves
feeling more irritable, restless, demotivated, hopeless or have trouble concentrating.
Cabin fever is not a diagnosis, but the symptoms might point to a disorder. Many young
professionals also feel anxious because of uncertainties with their health and job
security.
At times like these, it’s perfectly normal to feel anxious and stressed. Don’t be afraid to ask
for professional help when you feel powerless.
COVID-19 has undeniably affected our lives negatively, but it also taught us to be
resilient, creative and tough.
Carry on! We’ll get through this.
This blog was written by Emy Figueroa, one of our winners for the Asproutling Writers competition and she is a Customer Success Managers here in Sprout!
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