Day 14:

March is almost over. Wow. It's been two weeks where we have not been allowed to leave our houses for any reason other than grocery shopping. Two weeks where the only people I see on a regular basis are the members of my immediate family. Two weeks without regular school, without sports, without seeing my friends.

This is such a weird experience. The first week of quarantine, in my head it felt like summer. The lazing around, not being very productive, feeling lethargic and generally tired. However, that soon was definitely not the case. I always have something going on, often too much to be healthy. Even during the summer, where there's no school, I have swim, waking up at 7:30 to hop in a cold pool. I even a job, sometimes. I have fun church events where I laugh too much and camp, where sleep deprivation is the norm, with my equally sleep deprived friends. I stay up too late with my friends and discuss topics that can only be discussed at two in the morning. Those summer days might pass in a haze and all blend together, but they feel very real, with emotions attached to them.

This is not summer. This is some weird alternate reality that feels dystopian and not real at all, with each day blending into the last, and no emotions presenting themselves to separate them. Summer is if someone took a room filled with sentimental trinkets and sunlight and turned it into an experience. Quarantine is as if someone took a minimalist apartment with blackout curtains and a wine cellar and turned it into an experience, passed as if in a stupor.

To combat this, my mom has been making little cards for each day, and writing on them what makes each day unique. We've been celebrating random national days, like national lemon chiffon cake day yesterday. It helps, but not enough. There is no Monday dread, no Friday happiness. Honestly, they've been switched. Monday means something meaningful to do, while Friday signals two days of monotony. I can't think of a good way to end this, so I'll end it here. Make sure to try to separate your days, and reward yourself each day for surviving the quarantine.  Quarantine will only win if we let it force us into monotony.