The world is going through trying times with lots of difficult obstacles to overcome. Although we are not physically allowed to be around each other, people have found ways to stick together in these gloomy days. The coronavirus has everyone, for the most part, homebound, in ways we have never experienced before. For me, the quarantine life serves as a time for reflection on who I am as a person. I have always been the type of person to look for the positives in everything, and I thought this case would be impossible to see the bright side. Yet after some time of being alone with my thoughts, I have come to realize that this situation has taught me a valuable lesson. First, you can never take anything for granted. Something you cherish is not permanent, and just like my senior year of high school, it can be ripped away pretty quickly. I have learned through this experience that cherishing worldly things can sometimes be foolish because you never can put your trust in the fact that they will always be there. Instead, I have tried to find time praying to God and just letting out my emotions. Doing this, I have built my faith that the world will come out from this crisis on the better side. Time at home has also given me more time with my family. With school and extracurricular activities, I sometimes got home late at night and had no time to devote to my family with homework. Now, my family and I have been doing various activities together to make up for that lost time. The time we spend together now allows me to find comfort in this difficult state of crisis. And with these activities, I have also found new hobbies to enjoy. Activities such as painting and reading are things I have always enjoyed, I just never found the time to do them during the school year. Although the world outside is in a state of panic, I encourage everyone to look on the positive side. Seeing the world through a kaleidoscope of happiness can change the way we as a society and world as a whole, overcome this virus.

Bored on quarantine? Don’t worry! Here are some activities you can do to pass the time. Many teenagers prefer to binge-watch a TV show, doing that can consume many boring hours of being stuck in your house and could make the time pass faster. If you are tired of watching TV, there are lots of movies you could binge instead. Whether they are stand-alone or a part of a series, movies have a different feel than TV shows and can be a refreshing change. If you ever get tired of staring at a screen, I suggest reading a book. Books can be an outlet for creativity and can inspire you to be productive while homebound. In fact, reading is one of the best activities in my opinion. Unlike television, you can control how long it takes to get through a book. You can dive in and read an entire novel in one sitting, or you can spread it out to cover a long portion of quarantine. But books and screens aren’t the only things you can be putting your time into during this crisis! You can draw, paint, put together a puzzle, or do anything that you can put your imagination to. Quarantine may be boring at times, but keep these options in mind the next time you need something to do!