With the spread of COVID-19, our normal lives have been put on hold. Many businesses have temporarily shut down, and people have been advised to stay in their homes. While this will help slow the spread of the virus, one can’t help but miss normal life and all the little things that come with the freedom to leave the house.
One of the most glaring examples of this is eating out at restaurants. Many restaurants have either closed their doors completely or have switched to a “take out only” system. With this change, you begin to realize how nice it can be to go out with your friends or family and enjoy a meal somewhere other than your home.
Sure, it is still possible to get food from your favorite restaurant and eat it at home, but it doesn’t feel like the same experience. It feels like a serious downgrade. And when most stores are closed as well, you begin to feel trapped. Your shopping options have been limited to grocery stores, and that’s it. The ability to go out on a Friday night with your friends is gone, and for good reason.
At this point, I would give anything just to sit in the same room with my friends. It seems so simple, but the inability to see other people in a social setting feels crippling after awhile. We can’t even go shopping without being weary of how close we get to the people around us.
Another aspect of normal life that I’ve missed is having a normal schedule. Before the quarantine, I had a fixed schedule that remained fairly consistent. My week would consist of going to school everyday, working on my homework, and going to work every other day.
However, now that everybody is quarantined, my weekly schedule consists of almost nothing. Now my day may only involves waking up, doing homework online, then trying to entertain myself for the remainder of the day.
The boredom gets the worst around 4 o’clock. By this point in the day, I begin to feel restless and my entertainment options have been exhausted. Around this time I would typically be getting ready for work, but now I just sit and wait out the rest of the day. At least I’ve got Tiger King and Animal Crossing.
Without having a fixed schedule, it is difficult to find motivation and get done whatever tasks I may have. When discussing the situation with the other Chronicle staff, we talked about how it almost feels like we’re still on spring break. It seems like we all took for granted how nice it can be to have some sense of consistency in your everyday life.
Evidently, these are stressful times. The modern world hasn’t experienced a situation like this before, and we all have to do our part to get through it. The only way we can persevere is together, just from a distance. Wash your hands, stay home, and stay strong.
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