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Calixto Fernandez

Prof. Carter

English - 1A

24 October 2020

First-year college students during the pandemic

The pandemic was a surprise to everyone and it caused the world to stop and take a step

back and evaluate how it was going to move forward. Many Countries started to mandate a

quarantine and the United States followed in those steps as well. For this reason, many students

during their senior year of high school like myself had their year cut short. Sports began to be

canceled, soon after prom was canceled as well, and finally, our graduation followed the same

fate. High school ended and now we had to look to our future and hope that maybe we could still

go to college on campus. Instead, colleges and universities adapted to this change and all classes

became online until further notice. The experience of going to college on a campus was taken

away and many students didn’t know how to deal with the negative that was being thrown at

them as of recent. Many students found themselves reacting to this sudden situation in sadness

rather than looking at the positive this quarantine can bring. I believe that first-year college

students during this pandemic can benefit from Sigmund Freud’s coping mechanisms to find

some happiness in their life. They will benefit more from Viktor Frankl’s, Man’s Search For

Meaning to understand how when faced with an unfortunate situation where one is deprived of

everything they can still find meaning.

Coping mechanisms can help create happiness especially when stuck in quarantine during

this pandemic. The most beneficial coping mechanism for this group is to throw one’s self into

work/creative work. In his book Civilization and Its Discontents, the father of psychoanalysis,
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medical doctor, physiologist, and psychologist Sigmund Freud writes, “Ones gains the most if

one can sufficiently heighten the yield of pleasure from the sources of physical and intellectual

work” (11). Freud emphasizes that focusing on any type of work can benefit in creating pleasure

which will help people find happiness. While we take online classes students can find happiness

by finding pleasure in doing their work. Maybe some students don’t feel like they want to find

pleasure through their work, so instead, they can find pleasure through creative work such as art.

I have found pleasure and happiness through building computers, working on cars, and painting

during this pandemic. Freud also states that “A satisfaction of this kind, such as an artist’s joy in

creating, in giving his phantasies body, or a scientist’s in solving problems or discovering truths,

has a special quality which we shall certainly one day be able to characterize in

metapsychological terms” (11). Freud wants us to feel pleasure and satisfaction at the same level

that artists and scientists feel when they create and solve. A personal example I can give is that

during this quarantine I decided to learn to paint. This was the first time I attempted to ever do

such a thing and the result was surprising. I was proud of what I accomplished and It helped

create some happiness in my life even if it was only for a short while. I believe that students can

benefit from this coping mechanism by finding something that can boost their happiness through

satisfaction and pleasure. That being said I understand and acknowledge that not everyone can

throw themselves into their work.

After dealing with the negativity of losing out on their senior year of high school and now

missing out on their first year of college how are students supposed to react to the pandemic and

life in quarantine? They feel deprived of their friends and family and they feel like their freedom

has been taken away. In his book, Man’s Search For Meaning, Austrian psychiatrist and

psychotherapist Viktor E. Frankl states that “Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to
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make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to those

powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined

whether or not you would become the plaything of circumstance” (75). This is such a positive

message because it helps encourage students to take control of the freedom they still possess.

Whether it be taking advantage of whatever opportunities present themselves during online

classes or just keeping in touch with friends and family to feel less isolated from the outside

world. Even though Frankl wrote his book using his personal experiences from when he was a

prisoner in Auschwitz, many of his strategies can still be applied to help students in quarantine

because in some ways they are prisoners as well. In his book, Frankl states that he met a young

woman that had a unique view about her situation; "I am grateful that fate has hit me so hard,"

she told me. In my former life, I was spoiled and did not take spiritual accomplishments

seriously… This tree here is the only friend I have, one branch of a chestnut tree, and on the

branch were two blossoms” (78). When ripped of her freedom she found positivity in her

situation. It allowed her to reflect on her past life and all the little things that she would take for

granted. Students should take this time in quarantine to think about what people matter to them

and what they took for granted before the pandemic hit. It will change them for the better

because it can allow them to live their life slower and appreciate life in the moment. I know once

the pandemic is over I'm going to appreciate the memories I create. It shouldn’t cause them to

feel sad but to feel happy and find meaning to look to the future after quarantine once they can

finally be free once more.

In an article by The New York Times titled On Coronavirus Lockdown? Look for

Meaning, Not Happiness, Emily Esfahani Smith writes that when in quarantine you should find

something that will give you meaning rather than finding something that will only make you
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happy for a short period of time. Smith writes that “ When researchers and clinicians look at who

copes well in crisis and even grows through it, it’s not those who focus on pursuing happiness to

feel better; it’s those who cultivate an attitude of tragic optimism” (April 7, 2020). What Smith is

trying to say is that through tragic optimism people in the quarantine can maintain hope and find

some meaning while living life during this pandemic. She cites Viktor Frankl which further

emphasizes the importance of his writing, which we already saw can benefit first-year college

students. From my own experiences I can say that Frankl is the most beneficial when it comes to

dealing with the pandemic. I took time to evaluate the relationships I had with my friends and

family and It's what helped motivate me. I wanted to keep in touch with the friends and family I

didn't talk to as much because I wanted to build stronger relationships with them. This gave me

meaning because it motivated me to look forward to spending time with those people once the

pandemic has finally blown over. Smith also writes that “even in the darkest of places, they see

glimmers of light, and this ultimately sustains them… adopting the spirit of tragic optimism

enables people to actually grow through adversity” (April 7, 2020). Students should be adopting

tragic optimism to help motivate them through their studies and mental health. They can accept

the negative for what it is and then look at the positive to help give them meaning. Their

meaning can be that they are healthy and that they were able to have the opportunity to be in

school so they shouldn’t waste it. They should find everything that they have left to hold onto

and look to the future once the pandemic is over.

In conclusion, both Sigmund Freud and Viktor Frankl can both benefit first-year college

students during the pandemic. Frankl was more beneficial to this group because it helped show

how to react when in an unfortunate situation. Freud's coping mechanism can be beneficial but

not every student can throw themselves into some type of work. Lastly, the article further
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emphasized the importance of Frankl’s work and demonstrated how tragic optimism can help

motivate and be the driving force to keep moving forward when stuck in quarantine during this

pandemic.

Work Cited

Freud, S. (1962). Civilization and its discontents, Sigmund Freud. Newly translated from

the German by James Strachey. New York: W.W. Norton.

Frankl, V. E., Lasch, I., Kushner, H. S., & Winslade, W. J. (2019). Man's search for

meaning. Boston: Beacon Press.

Smith, Emily E. (April 7, 2020)

On Coronavirus Lockdown? Look for Meaning, Not Happiness, The New York Times