Coronavirus Diaries is a series of diary-type entries written by students and staff documenting the day to day activities and experiences in quarantine. If you are interested in submitting an entry, contact us at [email protected] 

You know how when some people hear something sad, their automatic response is to smile or laugh? It’s not because they’re not sad or it doesn’t hurt them, it’s simply because at that moment, laughing is the only response that comes naturally to them. Turns out it’s called something along the lines of “restoring emotional equilibrium.” It’s basically a coping mechanism that keeps you from getting too depressed or dealing with too many negative emotions at once. Believe it or not, there are times when it can actually be quite healthy. 

That’s how I would categorize my response to everything that’s going on right now. I couldn’t tell you the first time I heard the name “coronavirus,” or even the first moment I realized how serious this all was. It just kind of entered my radar gradually, until it became all anyone talked about. So when they told us that schools would shut down for the month, I took it in stride. When the death toll kept increasing and the world basically shut down, I took that in stride too. I never really panicked at the severity of the pandemic, and it’s not because I’m okay with it, but because it’s the only response that came naturally to me.

We’ve been more or less quarantined for about eight weeks now, and I can thankfully say that I’m not unbearably bored or bouncing off the walls at home. I figured, though, that this might be the time to do some things that I wouldn’t have had time for otherwise. I started by trying to find a hobby, but it turns out I have the attention span of a toddler. I attempted meditation, and all I’ll say about that is props to anyone who is able to do that for more than five minutes without falling asleep. Next was juggling, except I got tired of running after the balls and stopped. I spent about 20 minutes learning a new language at some point, which I remember a good 10 to 12 words of. I thought about art, and even got as far as taking out a drawing book, before I remembered that I can’t draw to save my life and stopped. I tried writing things down in a journal, but apparently no matter how much of a genius you sound like in your head, reading it back is just embarrassing. Suffice to say, I gave up on finding a hobby pretty quick.

At this point, if you’re still reading this entry, your boredom must have reached a new level because that last paragraph was basically one gigantic run-on sentence. Anyways, this is the part in the diary where I talk about how lucky I am, so let’s just get right to it. I share my house with two sisters, two parents, my grandmother and my dog. I like to do work outside with my dog and sometimes my twin sister so we can get some fresh air. On weekends, my family either watches a movie, plays poker (bragging rights only) or board games. Our extended family Zoom calls from all over the world every Sunday to catch up and play some sort of virtual game, usually charades or pictionary. And of course if none of that is enough to lift our spirits, there’s always John Krasinski, so I guess all hope is never lost. 

Bottom line, we’ve all got some things to be scared of, but a lot to be grateful for too. I highly doubt some sophomore telling you in a diary entry to stay safe, don’t take unnecessary risks and think positive will make you change the way you’ve been living these past two months. Just in case it does, though, here’s a reminder to stay safe, don’t take unnecessary risks and think positive.