The Adaptation of Young Adults during MCO

by Tan Jin Chuan

Due to MCO, young adults are facing difficult situations and having hard choices on their path in the future.

Kuala Lumpur: For young adults, this is the time of their life where they can shine as bright as possible and pursue their dreams without fear. However, for them, the commencement of MCO is like taking away the wings that belongs to a bird.

The fight between us and the COVID-19 pandemic has been going for a very long time. During this period, all citizens of Malaysia are going through hardship moment when trying to cope with the pandemic, especially young adults.

The biggest aspect that will be affected during MCO isolation lifestyle is mental health, comes along with physical health as well.

Tan Yi Ling feels lazy and also slowly gaining weight during this MCO.

An UTAR foundation students, Tan Yi Ling, said that her daily lifestyle during MCO is boring, and it slowly affects her to develop a sense of laziness towards her responsibility.

“My family and I are all complaining about getting more weight, probably because life is so boring and we need some distraction to keep our mood from getting down,” she said.

Ng Yi Zhin doesn't face difficult situation except boring lifestyle.

“I think is boring and unproductive, what I do every day is very repetitive, for example wake up, attend class, surf social media, and sleep,” said Ng Yi Zhin, who is a student in Brickfield Asia College.

Chong Li Xuan has faced some mental issues during MCO.

Taylor University degree student, Chong Li Xuan feels lonely and stress because he prefers conveying message face to face, which leads him to accumulate many emotions within himself.

“I feel pressure that I can’t go out like usual, I play video games occasionally, but is not enough for me because the attractions lose quickly if played repetitively.”

Ong Wei Han is leading an irregular and unhealthy lifestyle during MCO.

Ong Wei Han, an intern in Biofresh Hygiene Services Sdn Bhd, said that his physical health is affected by MCO isolation lifestyle.

He claims that his biological clock is messed up, which leads to constantly fatigue and minimal insomnia.

Lim Jin How is worried about his career because of his working performance.

“I feel like I’m not contributing to the company because my progress in work is lower than usual. I afraid it might affect my career,” said Planogram Executive in Jaya Grocer, Lim Jin How.

Self-improve vs fiddle around

During MCO, Tan had developed some habits in order to fill up the boredom in her lifestyle.

“I acquired some skills during MCO, such as piano, kalimba and script writing,” said Tan.

She always has the thought about these interests, but did not execute due to the regular lifestyle.

During MCO, Lim has more time to spend so her decided to do something for his room.

Lim started to purchase some ingredients to cook because he was interested in special recipes. He also did a full renovation on his room to give it a total new look.

“I did tons of house chores, for example wash my toilet, fix air-conditioner and wash my family’s cars. I realized I can actually do a good job if I focus,” said Ng.

“I think I should try doing at least one productive thing per day, it can keep me active during MCO,” he said.

Chong has an upgraded desktop set because he plays a lot of game to get away from negative emotions.

In the first month of MCO, Chong has started working out in his home, however, he couldn’t make it to the second month.

He claims that because of the negative emotions he created from his lifestyle, he couldn’t make up his mind set.

“I’m actually disappointed at my lifestyle, is just a waste of time,” he said.

Similar as Chong, Ong did not make any changes in his daily routines. Moreover, he thought that he become lazier.

“I usually don’t give much care about my lifestyle and daily routines. To me, hanging out with friends is more than enough,” he said.

Young adults and quarantined lifestyles

“Our lifestyle could be aimless and dispirited, but it could also be seen as an enjoyment. Since now we have more time, it doesn’t matter,” Lim said

He thought that everyone’s perceptions towards meaningful lifestyle is different.

“Most important is the attitudes towards lifestyle, if you think what you do is meaningful for you, just do it,” he said.

Ng mentioned that quarantined lifestyle doesn’t have much effect on young adults. He thought that the most important aspect for young adults is communication and it is still going well even though it is online most of the time.

“There are many people complaining about the first MCO, but MCO 2.0 shows that most of the people is starting to adapt,” he said.

Tan stated that working young adults would get effected more in MCO due to they may face more difficulties in their work, for example entrepreneurs may face bankruptcy.

She also thought that young adults may become more and more antisocial and self-isolation, which may lead to mental diseases.

“I think is inevitable for young adults to adapt to this kind of lifestyle, is not something we want or don’t want, it is a must,” said Chong.

“It is the same as when we change from studying to working environment, right now, we are just changing from face-to-face to online platform,” he said.

Ong mentioned that if this quarantined lifestyle is extended, it will result in young adults only know how to work but lack in communication skills. This is because it requires a lot of experiences to be good at it.