A Student's Battle with Mental Health

Lu Calzada stand on a bridge over the Chicago River on an excursion downtown in August. Photo courtesy of Lu Calzada

When Loyola announced that all classes would be online junior English major Lu Calzada began to worry.

Calzada made the decision to come to Loyola because of the people and now, in her second to last year on campus, she wouldn’t be able to truly see people her mental health took a hit.

According to Whatismentalhealth.org, mental Health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices.

Calzada struggles from anxiety and she knew it would be a hard adjustment.

“I’m an extremely social person so having to stay inside and not see my friends is very difficult,” Calzada said. “Especially because almost all my friends are bad at virtual communication.”

Abiding by Chicago’s COVID-19 restrictions, Calzada found ways to hang out with her friends despite the challenge. They would gather in someone’s backyard and hang out from a safe six feet away.

She also said her and her friends indulged in a lot of Netflix Watch Parties — a Chrome extension, lets you watch videos with your friends and chat together at the same time.

Luckily for Calzada her social life wasn’t the biggest hit to her mental health, rather it was the academics.

Having already done half a semester online in spring of 2020, Calzada knew what worked for her and what didn’t. She said it was still an adjustment, because it’s hard to find the light at the end of the tunnel.

She — nor anyone — knows when she could have an in person class again.

“I got very lucky with professors who have handled the semester fairly well,” Calzada said. “However [my mental health] would obviously have been better to have no pandemic bc then i would've left my apartment more for classes.”

The Dallas native recently changed her major from journalism to english, meaning she had new class requirements. Her schedule went from an easy 12 credit hours to 18. All on zoom.

Calzada said in order to stay mentally healthy she needed to change her mindset according to the unprecedented time.

“I had to grasp pretty early on that grades aren't the end all be all and my own health is what's important,” Calzada said. “I definitely didn't do an A+ job on all my assignments but I accepted letting myself rest and take breaks was what mattered.”

Calzada continued by saying she definitely had some dark times, going days sometimes weeks with little to no motivation to keep up with her assignments or her job at the Loyola Phoenix.

She said the thing that got her through it was knowing that at least she wasn’t suffering with COVID-19 like many others.