It’s April 2020 and COVID-19 has totally flipped everyone's lives upside down. Unless you are going to get takeout, groceries or a prescription, everyone has been told to stay inside their homes and to practice “social distancing”.
With my introverted nature and antisocial tendencies I thought I would be pretty okay with this turn of events. My family and I are not the type to go on big outings or to large social gatherings so it seemed like we would be in good shape. I know the best ways to keep myself entertained and busy indoors whether that be brainstorming new ideas, researching an obscure topic or just watching movies and television shows. I did not, however, anticipate how the stress of not being in the know or having even the smallest thread of control over life on the large scale would heighten my already existing anxiety levels and make being creative and thinking up new ideas to occupy my brain more difficult. It seems like every thought I have is in some way influenced by a slight panic or fear. Even going on a jog around my neighborhood is a difficult decision for me to make because I have pretty bad spring allergies and having an allergy flare up could be potentially not great at this moment in time.
I’m trying to keep up as normal of a routine as possible for my days. Not that I had a super normal one before all of this since I just graduated college and have just been endlessly searching the job boards looking for new positions to apply to. But it is really interesting how not being able to go to a cafe or library makes you want to do nothing other than get out of your current environment and go somewhere new even though everything is temporarily closed at the moment.
Trying to keep life interesting and fresh has honestly been a pretty frustrating and difficult task. I have caught up on a lot of podcasts, read a bit more than normal, made many arbitrary lists of tasks to do throughout the day for the sole purpose of crossing then being able to cross them off, and have discovered some great movies and television shows. My parent’s and I have taken to watching Schitt’s Creek every evening after dinner and it has been truly enjoyable and a welcome source of entertainment/distraction.
This is the new normal for the time being and while it’s weird and somewhat unsettling, it is an obstacle in life we are all trying to navigate together. It has been amazing seeing all the outreach programs and supportive messages people have been sending each other and I can only hope this time will allow me and potentially other people get more in touch with themselves and find new ways to be productive and healthy minded.
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