Some of us are still experiencing strict stay at home orders, and some of us may not be. I experienced strict stay at home rules this past March all the way through the summer. It was a lot for me to handle, and it was certainly not easy. I tried to maintain the same schedule I had back at school, but despite my best efforts, I became very sad and shut off from everyone and everything.

In the beginning, everything that was happening was very frightening and I had no idea the severity of the situation, I just knew people were dying in different countries and that I had to stay home. At the time, I had a long-distance boyfriend, I was excelling in school... my life looked very good on paper. However, something was not right. I was very unhappy and I forced myself to figure out what the problem was. Naturally, I turned to my friends to get their inputs, and ultimately, I decided (with their help) that I was not a place where I could be in a relationship. I was feeling very smothered by the stay-at-home orders, and my ex-boyfriend, so I ended up breaking up with him. This was very difficult for me because he had done nothing wrong, but I was at a critical time in my life where I needed to be alone and fall in love with myself again.

I spent a lot of time alone at the height of quarantine. I made it my goal and mission to truly focus on myself. I wrote my inner thoughts and feelings down daily, which allowed me to clear my mind and move on from certain things that went on in my life. I also took up reading many self-help books. For example, to name a few, I read, "How Happiness Happens" by Max Lucado, "Ancient Wisdom For Modern Living" by Jane Alexander, and "The Witch Doesn't Burn In This One" by Amanda Lovelace. These books really helped me evolve my thinking and taught me a lot about myself.

I also made it a point to work out almost every day. Fitness has always been a big part of my life, and I feel my best physically and mentally when I am constantly working out. I pushed myself to evolve, grow and mature in all aspects of my life, so by the time summer was over, I was a completely different person than I was a few months earlier. Taking time to myself was the best possible thing I could have done for myself.