What I Miss Most: Feels Relatively Small
Women's golfer grateful for what she has and how situation was handled by her team
Saga Traustadottir
In their own words, Colorado State student-athletes share what they miss as the coronavirus pandemic has put life on hold globally
These past few weeks have been something else, something that none of us have even imagined -- let alone experienced -- and none of us really know how to react to.
I am on the women’s golf team at Colorado State University and before going home, every day we got updates on our new plans for the semester. We did not know what we would be doing or where and if we would be traveling, which is weird for student-athletes who normally have every single hour planned out for the rest of the year, and even longer.
But I am thankful that our coaches always kept us in the loop and eventually allowed us to go home to spend time with our families when the situation appeared to become progressively worse with restrictions on travel looming. I booked a one-way ticket home to Iceland the same day without knowing if I was coming back or not. I had to move out of my house in about seven hours and was home a day later. It was not fun at all to miss those three months of school, trainings, travel and competitions, but most of all not saying goodbye to my seniors, Jessica Sloot and Fiona Hebbel, who were the best leaders I could imagine to find, and I’m so thankful that I got the chance to learn from them.
When I first heard about the COVID-19 virus, I have to admit that I did not think it was that big of a deal, but every day has been a reality check since then. This time has really helped me put things into perspective. It has made me think about how extremely fortunate I am. I am safe and surrounded by my family and friends in Iceland, I am able to study, go on hikes, workout at home and overall find tasks that keep me busy.
Thinking about what I personally miss at this difficult time feels so insignificant compared to what people elsewhere in the world are going through.Saga Traustadottir, Women's Golf
On March 27, there were 890 confirmed infections of COVID-19 in my home country, Iceland (as of now, there have been fewer than 2,000 reported cases and 10 deaths). The highest alert level, an emergency phase was declared here in the beginning of March and the authorities have implemented strict measures of social distancing to limit the spread of the virus. I am grateful to live in a country that has the ability to have the highest number of tests per capita performed by any country, and to carry out contact-tracing of each case. Even so, it all comes back to us, the people, to follow the guidelines so that we actually slow the spread of the virus, in addition to making sure that those at a higher risk do not get infected. I am grateful that that my grandparents can be in self-quarantine and are staying safe. Top of FormBottom of Form
Thinking about what I personally miss at this difficult time feels so insignificant compared to what people elsewhere in the world are going through. I simply feel selfish writing about something that I miss when thousands of people are dying or losing their friends and family members. I feel that what I miss the most is the time where everything felt in order and communities weren’t literally being closed down.
I am truly grateful to CSU for taking things seriously and early, and for my coaches to allow us to travel home right away to be with our families. I am also grateful that I am still able to finish this semester online. At the same time I count my blessings, my heart goes out to those who are struggling during this difficult time. I am confident that we will overcome this, and that the world will be more unified in the end.