VIEWPOINT
By Natalie Simonian
I
n March 2020, the COVID-19 Pandemic hit its first peak in Toronto. As the government coped with the economic and social ramifications of a global pandemic, new regulations were set in place day by day. For the University of Toronto IMS graduate students, this meant that lab work was halted and students began to convert to working from home. This came with its own subset of challenges and required immense adaptation on the part of students in graduate school. There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought on a host of trials and tribulations to society as a whole and uniquely on graduate students, who for months could not enter their labs to conduct research. However, it is always important to gain perspective on any issue, and a global pandemic is no different. The media has portrayed the coronavirus as a looming dark figure that has brought nothing but harm to society, however, here I will highlight some pandemic positives as experienced by IMS graduate students. I will begin with myself, a clinical researcher. With the restrictions on physically entering labs beginning in March 2020, I began to work from home. My days were spent on zoom calls and involved long hours of staring at a computer screen. However, as I live an hour away from campus, working from home meant that I had effectively two extra hours of my day. I began to write
more short stories and poetry, a hobby that I’ve cultivated since before university. The months at home allowed me to develop a sense of direction with my poetry, draft up a manuscript, and submit this manuscript to a publishing house in Toronto. All of these efforts over the past couple of months culminated in me becoming a published author this fall and being featured in a poetry paperback book titled “You’ve Gone Incognito” that is on sale right now on TheSoapBoxPress website. Similarly, in the same vein of cultivating hobbies, Rachel, a clinical research graduate student, expressed to me that with all her free time during the pandemic lockdown she got involved in a new hobby: growing and taking care of houseplants. She describes this hobby as therapeutic, giving her the chance to slow down and
appreciate each plant and how much they grew in her care. Rachel has expressed that while devoting time to this new hobby, she has virtually met a lot of like-minded people. A former IMS student gave me her two “silver linings from the pandemic.” Her wedding was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While this news was upsetting, the IMS alumna and her husband decided to jump-start their lives together and move in together. The first silver lining came here: she expressed that when moving in with her fiancé, she felt independent and the experience was freeing. The second silver lining was finally taking a pause and prioritizing her mental and physical health. As many of us have probably felt as graduate and post-graduate students, life at times can feel very
“Life at times can feel very fast-paced, and we may forget to pause”
24 | IMS MAGAZINE FALL/WINTER 2020/21 ANSWERING THE CALL
Graphic design by Colleen Paris
