The past few weeks have been a rollercoaster of emotions for me. I felt heartbreak once I read the email stating we were no longer allowed to return to campus. I felt happy when I was allowed to see my boyfriend and high school friends the first week home. I felt anger when my county went under lockdown and I can no longer leave my house. I felt boredom when I was locked in my house with what felt like nothing to do. Finally, I felt stressed once classes started and I had to try and learn to adapt to a whole new way of learning. Being home is not the ideal situation for me, and I have definitely not been making the best of it.
One day comes and another goes, and it just feels like the same thing over and over again. I wake up, eat breakfast, workout, school, dinner, lay in bed on my laptop, and sleep. No interactions with anyone other than my family, the same routine over and over again, and on top of that not knowing how my grades are going to look with this new learning format. Because of this repetitive routine, I often find myself in a slump. I don’t have anything to look forward to and if I had to explain in one word how my mood has been for the past week or so, it would simply be “bleh”.
If you have ever met me, you know that I love to plan every little bit of my life and not knowing how long this quarantine will last is driving me crazy. I am supposed to go to Disney World in the beginning of June, and the more days that go by, the less and less I think that I will be able to go. I don’t like how I cannot have that plan set and stone. Not knowing how the next few months are going to play out is making me very anxious.
Though most of this prompt is simply me complaining about how this quarantine is messing with my life, I hope to try and get something positive out of it. I am hoping that I can slowly start going with the flow and I don’t need to have every little detail planned out for the next month. I hope that I can adapt to the online learning curriculum and use it to my advantage. And I hope that I can get out of the slump I’ve been in and enjoy this time with my family while we are all home at one time.
-Grace Smithmyer
English 110 Spring 2020 10:10-11:00 
Hi Grace! You say you felt anger when your county went on lockdown, where do you live? I feel like all of the towns and counties will soon be going into lockdown mode. The town of Syosset has not yet and we are still allowed out if we need the supermarket or necessities and we are allowed to drive places just everyone is keeping social distancing to “flatten the curve.” What do you do to keep sane due to the fact of having the same routine with the same people? I am beginning to go crazy with my family and need strategies to keep myself calm and relaxed. One line that really caught my eye in your post is “..Not knowing how the next few months are going to play out is making me very anxious.” I am exactly like that also! I am very OCD planner type and a way I keep planning is I plan my weeks with the amount of school work and working out. Your post was really interesting and the title plus the picture really caught my attention! Alexis Lichten
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Hey Alexis! I live in York county in Pennsylvania. I’m having a bit of a hard time trying to remain sane while trapped inside with my family but i will take my dog for multiple walks during the day to get out of the house and to get fresh air.
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Hi Grace. Reading about your trip to Disney land possibly being canceled makes me upset for you! Disney world is one of the best places on the planet. I have been watching a lot of the news and doing a lot of research on this pandemic. It appears that the number of cases is peaking this week or next week. After that, it will be a steady decline. I’ve heard by early June the cases will be all the way down. I would hope lock-down would be done by then, and you are able to go on your trip! The most we can do is be optimistic and have hope! The lock-down’s occurring around the country appear to be helping tremendously! Not only in preventing the spread, but it is helping the environment as well. I feel for you Grace! Just hang in there and we can hope that this thing will be over soon:)
-Max
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