Lucy, 14, Belfast
I’m a very overthinking person. When I first heard about a virus it made me really shaky. It set my anxiety to a nine or a 10. When they shut school, I thought it might be five or six weeks at the most. I didn’t think it would span months.
School is definitely more difficult now I’m going into Year 11, and there’s a lot to deal with when it comes to online lessons. People my age find a lot of stuff difficult. You can go from being at your highest point and, a few hours later, after some extremely challenging online lesson, you’re at your lowest point. That’s affecting everyone. Being trapped inside a house doesn’t help at all. It definitely puts a dampener on how you see things. During the winter, when Christmas was coming up, there were periods where I felt really burnt out. But I’m getting used to it. I’d say I’m coping a solid 7.5 now.