Staying at home due to COVID-19: a disaster or an opportunity? (Part One) If you told someone the same time last year that, a year later, people around the world would have to stay at home doing self-isolation due to a worldwide pandemic, I believe most people would regard it a big joke. Sadly and sarcastically, this is "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" at this moment of history. However, instead of whining and complaining about the situation, we can choose to look on the bright side and make efforts in doing meaningful things that benefit not just ourselves but people around us. In other words, we should try to make the best of the situation and turn it from a disaster into an opportunity. Staying at home affects our lives deeply in so many ways. I remember the first few weeks, after having watched tons of movies, I was so boring at home and really craved to hang out with my friends. I was gloomy, upset, anxious and even angry at last. But later one day, when I woke up in the morning and looked out of the window seeing the blue sky, feeling sunshine and breeze touching my face, I felt calm, peace and true happiness. I know it may sound exaggerative, but at that very moment, I swear, I felt "being" instead of just "living". You see, we have spent so many times living: work hard, study hard or even play hard, but the truth is that we don't spend enough time being with ourselves and introspecting: who I am? Being isolated at home is a fantastic opportunity for us to really look into ourselves and try to figure out the truths inside us. Because whenever we are with people, be it strangers, colleagues or beloved ones, we are always wearing masks with which we protect ourselves from being hurt. I don't imply that we are faking or being hypocritical, but wearing an invisible mask to pretend to be someone perfect and easy to get along with is our shared mechanism to cope with the outside world. So back to that morning I spoke of earlier, I was asking myself: what is my true passion and aspiration?; what is my pure desire without a monetary consideration?; and most of all, who am I? Luckily, I got my answer, which I should get long ago, but I believe it is never too late to know yourself. (p.s. I just found out that there is a restriction on the length of the article. So I will divide my article into two parts and above will be the first one. To be continued.)