This is a pretty tough question, but I think there’s one answer that stands out. It’s an experience unique compared to every other, yet ironically we’ve all gone through it together. If I could experience something for the very first time again, it would have to be the very start of quarantine.
In case you don’t remember, this was around March of the 2019-2020 school year, right around spring break. Covid hadn’t yet ransacked the area and the idea of shutting down was only a possibility at this point. I remember the teachers told us about how we might have to stay at home for “a couple more weeks” after break if the virus got worse. We know how that went. At the time though, I’m pretty sure everyone secretly or maybe not so secretly hoped to extend their break by a couple weeks.
Partway through our vacation, we all got hit with our first lockdown order. If I remember correctly, the first lockdown we had in the area was only planned for around two weeks. That eventually got pushed to the end of the school year and beyond of course. However, it was that period between our break and the end of the school year that I found really special. Something about that moment in time was so surreal. School stopped being so stressful, and we became less and less busy as things shut down. We didn’t have much to do, but we didn’t care. Every day sort of blended together and it was really the only time that we didn’t have to worry about most day to day things (except the pandemic of course). I think that it was maybe the only moment that I can truly describe as timeless for most.
As I’m writing this, I think I’m realizing why I want to revisit specifically the start of quarantine so much. Ironically, it was at the start that I felt I had the most freedom to do what I wanted. It sounds stupid considering we were all locked up and struggling at basic things like buying toilet paper, but at that time, our entire life structure had been essentially reset. In the start of quarantine, there was a lot of excitement and buzz about the situation. We still held onto hope for an exciting lockdown, but were happy about spending the unexpected time gifted to us. It was exactly the break that we had all asked for.
Before I began writing this post, I thought that there were so many things I could mention about the start of quarantine. However, I’ve found it harder than expected to articulate how it really felt. This technically happened less than two years ago, but it’s felt like ages since then. If anything, I guess that just goes to show how crazy of a time it was.
I completely agree with your description of quarantine. It felt like the first time in a while that the responsibilities of life weren't holding me down. That sounds more depressing than I mean it to but you get what I mean. And yea we couldn't go and hang out with friends cause we might catch this virus or whatever, but there was so many fun things and memories made as a work around. Like Among us. That game is dead now, but during quarantine, absolute banger pass time.
ReplyDeleteAlthough your description is accurate, covid school totally ruined me. I transferred from central being under a simple lock down with no zoom or anything however I came to Uni which was a complete shock on its own but being online made stuff so much worse and it still affects me today because I don't know anything. For me, my spring break was just extended then we just never went back to school, teachers really just stopped teaching because there was nothing in place for it, no zoom or anything, I would just wake up play video games walk around my house and walk my dog. There were no due dates! No real tests, everything was just bland and I got over it pretty quick it just felt like I had 0 responsibilities for way to long and that ruined my sense of work ethic and care for school. It is definitely something that at a fundamental level is cool but when you look into it more the effects are bad.
ReplyDeleteI love how optimistic your view of quarantine was. Although I didn't like it at the time, I agree that I had much more time to do what I wanted to do (except socialize in person) and school didn't completely engulf my life. If I could go back to when the first lockdown happened and school closed, I would try to be a lot more productive and make better use of my time.
ReplyDeleteI find your hopeful view of quarantine to be quite amusing. I agree that when it started, it was terrible not knowing what to expect, but that as time went on and things settled down we had more time to do what we wanted, making it an almost experimental time to be alive. Your descriptions of your quarantine really helped to jog my memory. Great Job.
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