How I’m Making My Quarantine a Positive Experience

A lot of people, including myself, were really looking forward to the year 2020.

A new year and a new decade: what better time for everyone to make positive changes in their lives, right?

Unfortunately for everyone that wanted to make changes, COVID-19 has emerged and spread worldwide, drastically changing many parts of everyday life for everyone.

Want to go out with friends? Stay six feet apart. Want to get an education? Welcome to Zoom High School. Want to go to the bathroom? Well, I hope you have enough toilet paper.

The majority of the United States is now staying home unless they have an “essential” or valid reason to leave their house.

Virtuality has become the norm for everyone and human contact seems like a distant memory. The quarantine is absolutely essential to protect everyone’s health. From the moment the COVID-19 quarantine began, I have been thinking to myself, When will this be over?

This quarantine has made a big impact on how we negatively view this year as a society, but we have to realize that there are still plenty of months left in this year to turn our viewpoints to positive.

I believe that this quarantine can give everyone a chance to improve something about themselves. Whether that be your physical health, cooking capabilities, or crocheting skills, everyone has something they can improve about themselves.

As someone who values their physical health, this quarantine has given me ample time to improve my fitness.

For example, I have taken many walks since quarantine began. It is a great excuse to leave the house and get some well needed fresh air, without putting myself at risk of coming into contact with the virus. I try to take a different route every time I take a walk, and it has really given me an idea of how much of my neighborhood I have not seen up close.

I have also attempted to change parts of my diet to include healthy foods. I have been eating a lot of fruit, drinking more water, and eating less junk food. Being home for long periods of time has given me plenty of time to make this beneficial change.

Quarantine has also been helpful for my academic life.

I have so much more time to complete my school assignments. I feel like I can really put my entire focus on them, but getting distracted is easy to do while working from home.

Teaching myself new content has been rough, but I am glad that teachers are consistently providing us with the feedback that we need to be successful.

Quarantine has definitely challenged me to stay social and to keep in touch with my friends. I miss seeing all of my friends from school on a daily basis, so I like to text them every so often to make sure they are doing good.

As someone who loves being around others, the social distancing rule has affected me heavily during this time. But even so, I never thought a pandemic virus could be so beneficial for my overall quality of life.

Of course, I wish that this never would have happened, but I am glad that something gave me the motivation to improve things in my life.

It is hard to look on the bright side in times like these, but we have to keep in mind that this is all temporary. We have to unite as a community to beat this.

As Governor Andy Beshear would say, “This will pass.”