SEAHO Report - Fall 2020 - 22

FEATURE ARTICLES

COVID-19 REMINDERS
AND REFLECTIONS
Anastasia Chaky, Morehead State University
The mass movement of students
out of their residential communities
in the spring 2020 semester is
something people will talk about
for a while. This experience was
hard as a live-in professional.
There were often times when I
was physically tired, mentally
exhausted, and emotionally
drained. The methods I used
for self-care and relaxation
predominately involved going to
off-campus locations. Not only
did my students lives changed, but
so did mine. I had to adjust and
transition to this period of constant
unknowns, all while supporting
everyone else.
The fear of the unknown snaked
through with my life personally
and professionally. I had numerous
colleagues who were graduating
from various universities and
were in the job search process -
nervously searching for jobs with
limited opportunities available. I
have seen other colleagues who
lost their jobs, whether that was
through contract expiration or
through budget cuts from their
particular institution. Then, grocery
shopping was something else.
Stores were so quiet when they
were normally lively. I have noticed
that most places that used to play
music stopped doing so, as if to
discourage customers from staying
longer in that space. Shelves were
empty (and frankly, some items are
still extremely hard to get - like a
thermometer) and that seemed to
incite panic in some folks.
There has been so much that has
happened in such a short amount of

22

time. Here is a list I put together to
help me process the uncertainty of
this time. I hope it can help you too.
1. You cannot control everything.
Our expectations changed as the
university got updates over what
our new policies were. We suddenly
had to move everyone out in the
course of a week, along with
accommodating appointments for
students to gather their items if
they had already left campus. Since
we could not force our student
staff to work, I went from having
a staff of 19 to only having a staff
of seven. While we were able to
get everything done in a timely
fashion, it still was unexpected.
I focused on what I could control
to assist my students best. I made
sure to answer my emails quickly,
supported my student staff as they
needed, provided trash bags to
anyone who needed them, among
other tasks.
2. Routines are important. There
came a point when I was not
interacting with students regularly.
I was able to stay up later and wake
up later if I wanted to. Not having
a set routine affected my quality
of work and my ability to focus
when I had certain meetings I had
to attend. While not everything
in housing can be routine-based,
having some structure to my day
helped my mental peace.
3. Self-care looks different at
different stages of your life.
Navigating a lot of unknown
territory can take a lot out of you.
Prior to having limitations of where
I could travel and what businesses/

services I could go to, I went out
frequently to get my nails and hair
done. This is how I treat myself
because I find both relaxing and the
results make me feel good about
myself. I had to adjust my typical
self-care routine to activities that
I could do in my apartment or
in social distancing situations in
which I had few people to interact
with in person. While I knew I
needed to find other ways to relax, I
did not expect a sudden adjustment
to a new way of life. Luckily, I
was able to continue some of
my self-care methods such as
reading numerous books, watching
Hallmark movies, and writing
"snail mail" letters to friends.
Some new ways I am caring for
myself include trying new recipes
and taking longer walks with my
fur baby.
4. People's expectations of you can
change. I work hard and I try my
best in everything I do to ensure
that my quality of work leaves a
good impression. I quickly learned
that our expectations as hall
directors changed, and the normal
work that had been expected of us
was unable to be done because of
the lack of residents present on
campus. Our summer expectations
changed as well because we could
not let just anyone stay on campus
and host camps and conferences.
The expectations of what we needed
to do each week changed because
everything else was changing. I
anticipate those expectations will
continue changing because of the
protocol we will need to follow to
ensure the safety of our residents
and ourselves. While change can be
SEAHO Report - Fall 2020

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