My Thoughts on Life in Quarantine

If I’m being honest, quarantine has been a roller coaster of emotions for me. On one hand, I’ve had many days where I’ve experienced a lot of happiness and gratitude to have good health, a stable job, and extra time to spend at home with my boys. Knowing many people have experienced major physical, emotional, and financial hardships thanks to COVID-19, I know I’m lucky to have been minimally impacted by the virus thus far, something I’ve recognized and am extremely thankful for. On the other hand, I’ve had many days where I’ve been emotionally overwhelmed by feelings of stress, anxiety, and frustration, a result of being stuck at home 24/7, worrying about accumulating economic uncertainty, dealing with added projects and pressures in my professional job, and having minimal access to my usual stress-relieving outlets.

Despite my waffling emotions, I’ve been doing my best to remain positive, clear-minded, and focused through the ups and downs of these unprecedented times. Experiencing a global pandemic was not atop my wish list of things to experience in 2020, yet here we are. It’s been a turbulent ride, but we continue to navigate through the uncharted waters together. From my view, it’s been so inspiring to see the world come together in the way it has. The power of social media has allowed us to connect with people around the globe and e-continue many aspects of our lives in a socially distant capacity.

Things are definitely not the same as they used to be, but for me, they are about as good as they could be given the scenario. Over the past six weeks, I’ve worked really hard to adapt my lifestyle to fit what has become the “new normal”. However, I still catch myself reminiscing on the “good old days” and missing many things about pre-quarantine life on a very regular basis – things like working in an office with other people, walking along the ocean coast, going shopping at my own leisure in an actual store, brunching at my favorite local restaurants, meeting friends on Friday nights for “Fun Friday” cocktails, and of course, traveling.

It’s no doubt we’re living through a slower season of life right now. Personally, I’ve been using a lot of my spare time to self-care, relax, enjoy the little things, and reflect upon and appreciate the simplicity of life in these moments. As crazy as it is, I haven’t had to put gas in my car since I got back from my Saltillo, MX trip at the end of February, which blows my mind when I really think about it. Then again, I’ve been working from home since March 18 and really haven’t gone anywhere but the grocery store since. Exciting, right?

While it’s pretty obvious there’s not a lot going on at the moment, I wanted to share some of the things I’ve been doing to stay occupied and fulfilled throughout my time in quarantine. I’m the type of person who thrives off positivity, so I’ve done my very best to see the good, treat each new day as a fresh start, and celebrate even the smallest of victories. I will admit, the days haven’t all been breezy and easy, but I’ve continued to push myself to live life to the fullest and make the most of a bad deal.

For me, the saving grace of quarantine in North Carolina has been the a-m-a-z-i-n-g spring weather we’ve been blessed with. Most of the days have floated between mid-60s to mid-80s with partly sunny to fully sunny skies. The flower bushes have blossomed, the tree leaves have come back in vivid green, and the dandelions have poked their heads up from their winter slumber, sprinkling the yard with lots of bright yellow specs. I’ve spent a lot of time outside these past weeks, taking every moment I can to soak up all the sunshine — and honestly, this alone has improved my mental health tenfold.

On that same note, Alex and I have spent many nice evenings taking the dog for long walks in the neighborhoods surrounding our house. Even on my worse “feeling-so-unmotivated” days, it’s been so good to break out of the house, step away from the computer screen, and put a few miles under my feet. I’ve brought out my rollerblades a time or two as well and it’s been a fun change of pace to skate alongside the boys while we stroll around the neighborhood. I’m not a great rollerblader, but my clumsiness always yields a lot of laughter, which they say is the best medicine, right?

I’ve also been working hard to reclaim my mornings, using the extra quiet time to watch the sunrise, relax, take it slow, have a cup of coffee, and plan for the day ahead. The back windows of my house face the rising sun in the morning, so I’ve spent many mornings sitting in my cozy little breakfast nook with my laptop and a coffee listening to music and brainstorming ideas for my blog. These are the simple, yet fundamental pleasures that have kept me moving forward day in and day out.

Now, I wholeheartedly admit I’ve had plenty of off days too, days where I’ve wanted nothing more than to cozy up on the couch and binge watch Netflix for hours upon hours. But, most of the days have been spent doing things that lift me up and make me happy, because in the end, these are the things that help create the positive lifestyle I desire. Looking back through my iPhone photo log, it’s very apparent that I’ve been successful at facilitating happiness amid the pandemic, and it’s been so rewarding to reflect upon all the precious moments I’ve logged since all of this started.

Here’s a little behind-the-scenes summary of how I’ve been spending my time in quarantine:

It’s hard to believe nearly 50 days have passed since the start of all this chaotic madness. For me, most of the individual days have passed by at a snail’s pace, yet the time as a collective whole has passed by quicker than expected. But I guess that’s the great paradox of time in quarantine, you know? It won’t be soon before long that businesses begin to reopen and stay at home orders and other restrictions begin to be lifted by state governments. I can honestly say I’m looking forward to normalcy, but that’s just my opinion.

How are you holding up? Are you looking forward to breaking free from quarantine?

Enjoy!

JB