Eat, Sleep, Quarantine, Repeat

May 1 2020 Lucy Bradley 5^th Year

So, I’m sure today’s topic can be guessed before I even mention it. Yes, that’s right, the coronavirus. I think we can all agree we’re up in arms at this stage, with all the talk about it. It really is the topic of everybody’s conversation. Coronavirus this, and coronavirus that. Let’s just say it definitely is NOT what the doctor ordered (pardon the pun)!

When this whole pandemic began, I felt tremendously overwhelmed by the sudden and drastic change it made to my life. Being honest, if someone was to tell me a couple of months back that this was going to happen, that we’d all be confined to our own homes, that the city centre would almost become a ghost town and all businesses would shut down and that online school would actually become a real thing, I most definitely would have laughed in their face.

For me, this whole situation is eerie. It really is just strange. It’s as though the entire world has just pressed pause. I feel like I’m re-living the same day, day in and day out, just proceeding in circles. Waking up in the mornings, spending most of the day on Zoom calls (I didn’t even know what Zoom was before this), doing homework and study, getting my daily exercise in, for some reason ending up eating my meals at the exact same times every day, every new day feels as identical as the last. I mean, on the bright side, at least I have some bit of a routine going.

There are several negative aspects of this virus that will have an awful impact on our society. The economy is 100% going to go into another recession and unemployment rates will rise like there’s no tomorrow. Many people are suffering from the loss of loved ones, or the temporary loss of their close ones who are working in the HSE. Of course, I can’t forget to mention that all of our sensational plans for summer, that have been getting us through this tough school year, have been unceremoniously dumped down the drain. No festivals or concerts, living life and listening to our favourite artists play under the sunset, no holidays abroad to the sunny skies and warm beaches. I guess Inchydoney and Garretstown will have to do!

Personally, despite this whole thing being a bit of a disaster, I have to be the devil’s advocate here and say that I’m actually partly enjoying this odd experience. Yes, I want my summer. I want to see my family and friends, just like every other teenage girl wants, but I’ve also benefited from this. The fact that I’m spending my days all by myself and I’m not rushing and racing from place to place has enabled me to take life more slowly and actually grow as a person. I have found that I’m discovering more and more about myself each day. I’ve started to do things such as painting, yoga, learning dances from YouTube, things that I would’ve considered ‘boring’ only two months ago. Sometimes we can depend too much on the company of other people to create our happiness, but really, being an introvert is kind of fun.

Exercise has become a huge part of my daily routine over the last few weeks. I think I can speak on behalf of everyone here. I’ve found myself going on runs, doing workouts almost every day more than I’ve ever done in a whole month in the past! Before this, I didn’t really exercise often, as I didn’t have the time due to my busy lifestyle, but now that I have time on my hands, I’ve finally been able to focus on myself. I also feel like it has made me appreciate the smallest things in life, and I will never even take a trip to the shop for granted ever again.

At the end of the day, we can take a few positives and a whole lot of negatives away from this, but we all just need to stay positive and hope that all of this will come to an end soon. When it does, we’ll all be able to live our lives normally as better, stronger and more appreciative individuals. Just stay home and stay safe:)