The Mundanities of Quarantine, A Year Later

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Kenzo Cogswell, Staff Writer

With Spring Break approaching soon, it will mark about one year since the coronavirus quarantine lifestyle went into full force, putting us to accomplish daily matters of school and life in our own houses.

If Quarantine life felt bland and uninteresting back then, then those feelings are put into place now, but twice as stronger. No matter how many brand-new hobbies or interests one decides to immerse themselves into, the simple fact that it is all done towards the confines of the home is excruciating to many. The fact of the matter is that people are absolutely vying to escape their homes, and it absolutely shows. Just a couple of days ago, Texas and Mississippi have decided to lift most of their COVID-19 restrictions that have been put into place. Many object to this decision, and twitter user/voice actor Khoi Dao is no exception. In a tweet of his own, he states the following: “ …again, wearing a mask isn’t an issue of personal freedom. It’s an issue of public health and safety. Whether or not your state mandates it, please keep caring about others.”

Quarantine life itself has been very painful for me, personally. If I had one penny for each time I said that I wanted this time to be over, I would have several dollars. School is nothing more than a series of screens and mouse clicks. There really isn’t much movement involved, and yet that feeling of exhaustion goes into overdrive the same way. It’s an endless cycle of going
through the motions, and after doing that for nearly 365 days, each one starts to feel the last. It makes you think about what an amazing year 2020 (and maybe even future years) could have been. I say this because I am 100% sure that I am not alone in this method of thinking. In a response to a reddit post asking about the most difficult thing to deal with in quarantine, a user named James Holmes said the following: “I feel like I’m losing all the stupid experiences I’m supposed to be having right now and I’ll never get that time back.”

Even with all the events, or rather the lack of events, that are occurring as of right now, many people, as well as myself are finding ways to break these mundanities. After all, this quarantine has been an eye-opener to find new ground and interests. Time is irreversible, and while it may not exactly be the best way to utilize it, we need to make the most of what we have. Some would opt for something akin to gardening or building computers. I myself have broadened my music taste a lot by listening to many different genres and subgenres. In a response to that same reddit post, Bria Cass responded to Mr. Holmes, saying that “On the bright side, you have soooo much time to develop a new skill and become good enough at it to make money off of it in a few years.”

After a year of essentially staying inside 24/7, there is no mistake that it’s taking its toll for sure. With every day comes the thoughts of it being wasted. But there are initial waves of a vaccine coming soon, so here’s to escaping the mundanities of everyday life. We’re going to make it through this, one way or another.