When This Is All Over...

On my thirty-fifth day of self-quarantining I can safely say that I have a new appreciation for my life before this. Would I be able to comfortably say what I thought was my best life before this? Probably not, no. But after spending the last almost month and a half home with my family, isolated from my friends and my entire life at college I've found a new appreciation for my life before.

When this is all over, I think you will find a new appreciation for the world around you. A new appreciation for even the worst aspects of your day. For me, that would be riding the bus to and from my classes, something that I used to dread doing, but now I long for a nice fifteen minute bus ride from College Ave to Cook Douglas, a time where I can relax and listen to music, or a time spent socializing with friends or even strangers. Getting caught in the rain, stuck in traffic, or waiting on a long line at a store, minor inconveniences have been taken from us, and having gone without these aspects of human interaction for so long, I would do anything to be inconvenienced like that again.

When this is all over, I will never again take for granted the fifteen-minute walk to my next class, the ability to sit in the class itself, or even the small joy I would get from running into your friends unexpectedly at a Starbucks or Surf Taco or even just passing them on campus. Never again will I take for granted the ability to hold my friends or dance with a hundred people to whatever song is playing over the frat's sound system on a Thursday night.

When this is all over, I don't think things will go back to normal quickly. People will still be afraid to congregate in large groups, embrace and kiss others, or even share a Coke. But maybe some aspects of our life shouldn't go back to normal. People will become more cautious and health aware. Society will become more grateful for those who are now deemed "essential personnel", grocery workers, janitors, sanitation workers, a group of people that were argued to not even deserve minimum wage. People will have a new appreciation for our planet than they did before, and maybe they'll start to engage in more eco-friendly practices. Because when this is all over not everything will be able to be like it was before, because we will now be aware of just how quickly it can be taken away.

I think I could now safely say that I was living my "best life" because of the new appreciation I have for every aspect of it. While being isolated from friends and normal life hasn't been the most enjoyable period of my life, I am grateful for the new way of thinking it has given me, a way of thinking that has allowed me to fall back in love with life, the good, the bad, and the ugly.