Simply put back in March I was miserable. My drinking had increased and it almost cost me my 3 year long relationship. I made a promise to her that I would stop drinking in April. Since April I have stayed true to my sobriety and have not had any alcohol since April. I plan on reevaluating in 1 years time. Since I have stopped drinking I have lost weight and have had some depressive episodes but have mainly stayed happy and clear minded. When the university shut down I had lost all my sources of income. I filed for unemployment but for 6 months I saw no paycheck or government assistance due to an error In the way they processed university employees. This month I was lucky enough to finally get a job and the government assistance finally came through and gave me back pay. This month has been a good thing to happen but I'm not looking forward to these next couple months as S.D. State has adamantly refused to go all online despite there being 30+ new cases each day and 246 people in self isolation. They have publicly stated that "The good long term benefits outweigh the bad short term" that us getting sick is less important to the education that we will receive and that is a small risk in the greater scheme of things. I have been protesting my in person classes by just showing up over zoom during class as my girlfriend works in the hospital and I cannot have her getting sick. I also can't risk being unable to work due to the virus again with no way to earn money. If you want to see the glorious shit show that is my universities updates. Here you go https://www.sdstate.edu/covid-19/covid-19-dashboard
In another note I do love this community and have spent all of college here. This is the first fourm I have felt a part of an I'm not wanting to have it end anytime soon. I'm fine with waiting. I just need to know for how long I have to wait. This site brings me joy and happiness in these dark times and is a great distraction from the outside world. Communication in a community is a make or break deal when having an online presence. Transparency is important to making people stay. It's not about the content overall, but how one reacts with the community. I want to see this site do well I love new members when they join and seeing if they stick around to see things develop. I have been here for the best and the worst of times. And to put things lightly I'm not going anywhere anytime soon and I hope a majority of people feel the same. We just ask for communication.
