Different Eras of Quarantine

By: Haley Michelson

This specific time as we are all at home has no doubt gotten the best of many. Most struggles due to boredom with nothing to do with your time or finding that not socializing on such long scales of time has many having the feeling of the exact opposite of being home sick.

Within the past nine months of being home due to the pandemic and our “quarantine,” time has felt infinite as this is something that has never been experienced before. Challenges are common, but something many struggle with during this time.

Ashley Zambada, a sophomore at Redwood highschool and Autumn Marx, also a sophomore that attends Redwood have mixed feelings about the time spent being home for months on end as it is likely many have faced the common struggle of our feelings have changed on being home most of the time.

Zambada, ‘23, says, “…at the beginning of quarantine I was actually excited because we got a break from school and all I did was workout and play video games with my friends.” As being on a sort of different schedule, the first few months of being home did not feel real at all, as Marx, ‘23, says, “The very beginning was weird and it didn’t even start to feel real until a couple months in.”

The beginning of this fiasco seemed to be the ‘calm’ of the overall situation as this progressed, things started to feel completely different.

Finding ways to cope with boredom as well as the new freetime was amazing and people picked up many new hobbies along the way. Zambada says, “I began to learn how to cook other things and I would watch streams on youtube most of the day.” With some taking the advantage of their time being home, Marx ‘23 says, “I like staying home but only when I want to. When someone else is telling you, it is completely different. I just watched a lot of netflix.”

Some did look at this period lasting months on end as a time to be productive, but currently, being home at the moment is affecting everyone all over again. Marx, ‘23, says, “It’s only gotten more annoying being home, restrictions were just starting to lift and now they’re being put back into place.” She then goes on to say, “School takes up most of my freetime now and when I’m not doing that I’m hanging out with my friends.”

At this point, Zambada was feelings completely different about our “quarantine” then the very beginning, which many people have the same views and opinions as her, she says, “Now I feel isolated and desperate to go outside…I am extremely stressed with school all the time and I’m more public sick.” Without going in public, only for the essentials, it is hard to be open to socializing and feeling comfortable in public, as school is many peoples’ main priority right now.

Being home and learning is extremely stressful and challenging.

Though this time is becoming more stressful and isolated, it is important when seeing how far the overall opinion on being home has changed throughout almost a year of facing this challenge.