This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Utah chapter.
You’ve just finished your homework after working on it for a few hours, scrolling through your phone a little, perhaps listening to music or a podcast, and now you’re ready to turn your light off and go to bed. As you do this, you check your phone one last time out of curiosity of what time it is. It’s 4am…again. Sounds like it’s time to brace for another day of sleeping until noon.
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If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. Since quarantine has begun, forcing me to drive back from school in Utah to my family home in Pennsylvania, this is what most of my nights have consisted of. On the opposite end of the spectrum, my days have been comprised of sleeping halfway through the day, watching endless TikToks or mediocre shows I find on Netflix, hardly eating, and ultimately feeling unaccomplished before I force myself to do work at midnight. But while I have been looking at this as a bad thing, we can’t compare our days now to what we are used to in a normally-functioning world.
Almost immediately after quarantine had begun, people were reposting quotes about positivity, taking this time to pursue other avenues or interests in life, being creative, and making extra money. But I’m here to say the exact opposite.
If you want to sit in your pajamas all day and do absolutely nothing, BE LAZY! If you want to do the bare minimum that you are required to do right now, do it!
The key to managing this type of lifestyle while also still getting your schoolwork done is to flip-flop your schedule. Rather than focus on homework as the first thing on your list of things to do during the day, set time aside at the end of the day to do it before assignments are due. Of course, I am a night owl, so if you are more of an early bird you probably are still on more of a “normal” schedule. But by doing this, it allows you to reduce your anxiety, enjoy your day while still accomplishing things you need to, and also to move to other items on your to do list without getting caught up in work as the first thing. If this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, set alarms and be sure to eat according to your normal daily schedule. This will help you stay on a familiar sequence while you are in an unfamiliar setting and time.
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Overall, these times that we are living through are extremely uncertain and unprecedented. If we continue to hold ourselves to the same standards that we do in a normal world while simultaneously being restricted from the human interaction which serves as an outlet for our stress, we will continue to increase our stress levels while deteriorating our mental health. At a time like this, we are defining a new normal – something that isn’t shared across wide sectors of society, but instead is unique to each individual. As if influencers and bloggers did not warp our expectations of reality enough already, we cannot allow these unrealistic expectations set by what others post weigh heavy on us. This is absolutely critical at a time when social media is one of our only interactions with other people. So, if you have been feeling down on yourself recently because you think you’re not doing enough during quarantine, this is me telling you that it’s okay to do nothing right now and you are not alone in that. Find your new normal, do what works for you, and stop worrying about the hypotheticals of a world we are no longer living in.
Emily is currently a senior studying Marketing with double-minors in Writing & Rhetoric Studies and Political Science. Following her undergraduate studies, she hopes to attend law school. Aside from schoolwork and Her Campus, Emily participates in Greek life, student government, Women in Business, and the American Marketing Association. She is also an avid skier, camp counselor, and a part-time fashion blogger.
