How I Survived Quarantine

Quarantine is finally coming to an end. Yay! No more staying inside and while we must wear a mask and make sure and social distance, we can finally get back to a sense of normalcy.

But, now that it is over, how many of us can say we survived quarantine?

I know that my first three weeks in I was going stir-crazy. I had already run out of things to do and it felt like all four walls were closing in on me. It didn’t help that I was surrounded by people who while slowly going mad themselves were sending me crazy as well.

The solution, start a new hobby of course, but what?

It had to be mess free so anything to do with the kitchen was out. I already exercised daily, anymore and my body would stage a protest. It could not be anything overly loud as I didn’t want to disturb my roommates. So basically, everything had something wrong with it, however scrolling through Instagram for what felt like the millionth time the answer came to me in the form of an ad, Meditating.

Meditation is where one uses a technique such as focusing the mind on a particular thought or object to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm and stable state. There are many benefits to meditating, it reduces stress, controls anxiety and promotes emotional health as well as a host of other things.

I can’t lie when I first read up about it, I thought it was a hoax, but I was so bored I was willing to try anything at that point. So, I sat on a yoga mat feeling slightly silly and listened to a YouTube video recommended by a friend:

At first, I didn’t really notice a difference and it was hard enough to empty my mind so to me it was not working at all, but then small changes started happening. I started to wake earlier and felt energized as soon as I left my bed. Things that had been driving me crazy before were suddenly miniscule and easy to ignore. I felt like if my mind was clear for the first time ever and it got easier to perform tasks.

My roommates of course noticed a changed and asked what was different. I immediately told them, and they now enjoy a morning routine with me.

During this trying time, I have come to realize the importance of mental health as well as physical health. It is important to take care of ourselves in all the ways that count.

So, I ended up surviving quarantine and so did my roommates and while it was a long and difficult journey to get to this point it was fun to learn something new that impacted my life in such a positive way.

While I don’t regret what I went through hopefully we don’t have to go into quarantine again as one lesson was enough.