❝ Surviving Quarantine: 5 Tips & Tricks ❞

I  remember literally a month and a half ago I  was at school, planning so many fun adventures this summer. I  am finally 21, and this summer was going to be my summer. I  struggled a lot in the last year with my emotions and with my school. I  debated back and forth whether or not I  wanted to transfer to a school closer to home because I  thought I  was extremely unhappy at my current university. Turns out, the place I  was living at school just wasn't working for me anymore. I  needed change, and I  found that change. I  planned on moving in with two friends, to a house closer to campus, and I  was finally going to be living like a normal college student! I  took steps to make myself happier every single day and I  was getting there.

Then Coronavirus hit, and quarantine hit and I  felt like I  was spiraling again. But I  wouldn't let myself! The Sagittarius in me would not let me stoop to negativity, whether it be my own or someone else's, not again. It wasn't hard in the beginning, because part of me still felt like it was a joke, or a dream. This is not a joke, nor is it a dream and so I  had to find ways to cope with this major change that was sprung on everyone so quickly. 

My heart goes out to anyone affected by this horrible virus. Everyday is progress, and every day is a new opportunity to get closer to a cure, a vaccine, whatever it may be to get us through this. However, since we aren't the scientists, we have to find other ways for us to cope personally. Here's what I  have been doing to keep myself sane in an extremely insane time: 

1. Hobbies

I  have taken the time to really hone in on my hobbies. That is why I  have been working to get my blog back up and running. 

Thanks to Krystle for helping get my pictures back!! 

Writing is what I  pride myself on. I  have been working on my books, back and forth between the two as I  get inspiration (which is lacking but we will get to that!). Before this quarantine and lockdown, I created a poetry book and my g-little in my sorority has been designing my book cover. The last thing that needed to be done was my book cover and then I  was ready to publish! So Natalie and I  were back and forth discussing the book cover and she created the most beautiful book cover for my first poetry book ever. I wanted nothing more than to publish it this summer, and I  was going too, but I  refuse to publish my first book during a lockdown. The bright side of the situation is that I  now have time to overly perfect it!

Inspiration is definitely something that is lacking because I  am an extreme extrovert who gets my inspiration and my energy from being out in public around people. I  find inspiration by reading and sitting outside in nature. Here are some book suggestions if you're bored: 

• It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover (Realistic Fiction)
• Shatter by Michael Robotham (Psychological Thriller)
• Black Butterfly by R. M. Drake (Poetry)
• The Dark Between the Stars by Atticus (Poetry)
• Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Spiritualiy/Romance)

Or just watch Eat Pray Love but that is a great movie/book for being locked inside. We can all live vicariously through Elizabeth Gilbert! I've also been playing video games a lot, which has been fun. I  started streaming on Twitch a while back, but that has been on and off. Once I  can get a nice set up at home, that will be another thing I  get back into and hopefully get to grow again. 

I  just started playing Dead by Daylight, after having it for 6 months and being too scared to play it!!! 

2. Friends

If it for all my friends, who are just a text and a call away, I  would have lost my mind by now. It is so important to stay connected with your friends. Yeah, we're all used to talking to them everyday, and we never thought much about it. Now is even more important to make sure you schedule those facetime calls, or go to a park and stand six feet apart. My best friend Jasmine and I  went to Taco Bell, ordered food, took it to a parking garage (it was kind of cold and windy so the coverage was beneficial), and we parked a space apart and just yelled at each other from car to car!
But seriously....
It was nice to be able to see my best friend and catch up with her on all of the things we didn't get to talk about because lockdown happened so fast. I  look forward to my facetime calls all the time. Although schedules are still busy, and personally for me a little unorganized, the one facetime call between my sorority family and me did so much for my mental health and sanity.
I  have a zoom call meeting to play song association with my cousin and her friends (whom she introduced me too) that I've never even met and that live across the world. Just because we can no longer travel and see each other does not mean that communication, socializing, and fun needs to stop. We are lucky enough to have luxuries that connect us. 

3. Family
My family and I  are very close, and I  say that with pride and confidence. They are my rock, and my support. It has been really hard not to be able to go over to my grandmom's house whenever I  want to see her, or to see my family because grandmom's house is our meeting ground. However, just like friend meetings, families can have meetings too and it's so nice to get in on a zoom call and talk to everybody. We did it for Easter, which was a lot of fun. We cracked open wine in our houses and had a glass and some food over zoom. For my little cousin's 3rd birthday, we had a zoom party where we played family jeopardy and it was the highlight of my day, being on that zoom call.
I  know we all feel like we're trapped (at least, the extroverts like me), and being trapped in a house with the same people every single day for every single minute of every single hour can be difficult. But family is family and nothing will change the way they love and support.

4. Nature
I  DEFINITELY took this for granted!! I  promised myself I  would go outside every single day when lockdown is OVER. It's amazing the things we take for granted when the outside world is closed off to us. Nature has always been there, and yet the benefits of just being outside, in fresh air go unnoticed. Unless you're a super nature person, but I  definitely wasn't.
Feeling trapped? Step outside, even if it is just your front yard, or your backyard. Like I  said earlier, coffee shops (and my school's library) are the only places I  can knock out my homework without having any problems, and those are the two places I  get the most inspiration. Since I  don't have that,I I have been sitting outside every time the weather allows me too. I  take my coffee or my tea out into the backyard, and I  sit at the table and knock out all my work and then I  feel good afterwards. I  don't feel stressed or fatigued from a boatload of work, I  feel good.
I've also heard that actually touching the earth, like actually touching the earth with your skin, is really great for your health. So I  will try it! Maybe you should too!

5. Kindness, Love, & Compassion
This may be super cheesy but hear me out. Being kind not only to others, but to yourself, is a very key component here in surviving the quarantine. We can sit here and sulk and feel sorry for ourselves and hate ourselves and treat our bodies like crap, but we're only hurting ourselves. There's nothing that we can do to control this but stay home and social distance, which is tricky, so we have to be kind to ourselves in the process. On top of that, we need to be kind to each other. Which, we should have been doing that before quarantine. However, this is an extremely difficult time for literally everybody. Nothing is solved by beating each other down. Now is the time to start lifting up and showing the love that is all embedded in us.

Bonus tip: A little retail therapy never hurt anybody either ;)