The New Normal

Lately, times have been very different from normal life. COVID-19 has made so many impacts, not to just the world, but our own everyday lives. We are currently under a stay at home order from J.B. Pritzker, which restricts people to leave their houses, unless necessary for essential needs. That means no social events, no visiting friends, no eating out, literally everything you could think of that sounds like any type of fun!

The way my life is right now may go differently because I am an essential worker at Hy-Vee. Since we are not in school, I am putting almost the same amount of time into my job, because let me tell you, the grocery industry, during this pandemic, is rising tremendously in business. It’s nice to have a job for many reasons, like helping the community and an essential reason to leave the house. If I am being honest, I do get worried since I am exposed to so many people, but since I am young and healthy, I just hope for the best. 

My social withdrawals are really hitting. Not being able to see friends is affecting me the most mentally, but of course I try to be optimistic. My friends and I have done zoom calls and group Facetimes, along with my family members. Thank goodness for social media and technology or else quarantine would be ten times worse without it. 

My schedule has stayed pretty normal. I consider myself an early bird, so I am not one to stay up all hours of the night, so my sleep schedule has remained the same. For me, a typical day in quarantine would be to wake up and make myself coffee while I watch the Today’s Show. Now that online school has officially started, I try to dedicate one to two hours in the middle of the day to learning. If it’s a day I am scheduled to work, then this would be the time I get ready for work. If not, I usually stay in my pajamas for a little while longer. The rest of my day just consists of whatever, like baking, cleaning, Netflix, arts & crafts, exercising, etc.

The way life is going, is something I would have never expected but I am definitely thankful for the family and home I have to be quarantined with.