heredia's fight

By Kenny N

The pandemic had spread to the US, it was looking quite daunting from how preparations were made against the virus, resulting in deaths and quarantine. A 14-year-old sophomore from Yerba Buena, Jazmine Heredia Rivas, not only endured the quarantine, but now faces social anxiety as a result of the quarantine.

Prior to when Heredia was in middle school, she had friends to talk to, but she was bullied for reading books by other people. She’d be attacked for being a bookworm during her middle school years. As the quarantine was announced that it was mandatory, she felt a spark of happiness, as she could be away from everything, but she didn’t know the road ahead of her.

At the start of the quarantine, Heredia heard the news of her grandma passing away and she couldn’t cope with the loss of her grandma from COVID. She looked for hobbies to deal with the loss of her grandma and reading was one of them. She read books, such as the fantasy genre, especially Harry Potter books. During the quarantine’s duration, she read fantasy books, causing her to envision herself being in those books and starting drowning herself into those books, but making her more introverted at the same time.

Her brother reached out to her and supported her doing the quarantine. However, her brother had his own mindset when it came to talking to people. “...I find it’s hard for me to talk to people. But he kinda find that stupid and constantly tries to tell me like, ‘Oh, just get over it,’ but he doesn’t know that it’s not that easy,” during Heredia’s interview.

As a result, she had troubles when it came to expressing herself to strangers, hoping to become acquaintances. For the road ahead for Heredia, she was going to have trouble when it comes to making friends or communicating with strangers. However, one of her cousins came in and inspired her to do some more.

From playing games to gradually opening herself to her cousin, she became more comfortable around her, causing her to feel more safe, stress-free, and enjoying her time. At the end of quarantine, she still struggles with some social anxiety, but is grateful for the help she has gotten from people.