How a High School Student is Making the Most of Coronavirus

If you had talked to me a month ago, I would have said that, right about now, I would have been studying for midterms and preparing to leave third quarter behind and enter the fourth and final quarter of my junior year. Never did I think that schools would close, and my once consistent and steady routine would disappear just like that. My school closed about three weeks ago, and we start online learning next week. These last few weeks has officially been our spring break; it’s been a little startling, to say the least, to transition so quickly from a steady school routine to being at home. As a junior in high school, I’m quite anxious about the impacts that coronavirus will have on college applications and admissions next year. However, as of now, I don’t really have any information about that yet, so I’ve decided to make the most of this time! Looking for more COVID-19 student-impact information? Find it here. I’ve struggled a little to find a schedule that works for me, a schedule where I don’t feel too anxious or stressed about the current situation. It’s taken some time, but I believe my life under Coronavirus has finally become somewhat stable. I will admit, I’ve spent a lot of my time just sitting back and doing pretty much nothing. At first, with the sudden closing of schools, I didn’t really know what I should have been doing. However, a few days into the break, I started making schedules for each day, really thinking that I would stick to it. I quickly found that strict schedules just were not working for me. Instead, what I found was that I got more done if I just identified one or two things that I wanted to get done every day. For example, I’d tell myself that before the day was done, I would have the assigned textbook readings for APUSH completed, or I would have taken a practice SAT/ACT. I found that having a few things to get done each day was more reasonable than trying to plan out every minute of my day. This trick has made me feel much more productive because as long as I finished those few tasks, I wouldn’t feel as if I wasted the day entirely (even if I went on my phone or binged Netflix for hours). As I’ve said before, online school hasn’t begun for me yet, so after about a week, I got all caught up on my schoolwork. With all my work completed within the first week or so, I saw myself being less and less productive with each passing day. With that said, I’ve been keeping myself busy and productive by doing a few things I normally wouldn’t have time for. Here are some of them! Baking and cooking I’ve made just about everything there is to bake at this point. I always enjoyed baking, but I never really had time for it before, so this time has been great for me to get back into that! Baking is a really great way to pass the time and do something fun! Applying for scholarships on Fastweb Applying for scholarships is a great way to spend this time; it’ll keep you busy and can have huge payoffs. Even better, you’re already here on Fastweb, where you have access to thousands of scholarships! Catching up on favorite shows or movies Let’s face it: some of us (myself included) are spending all our time binge watching TV series on Netflix- and that’s totally cool! Staying connected with friends and family Being stuck at home with your family probably is going to lead to some good, old-fashioned family bonding. Watch a movie together or go for a walk—just remember to stay six feet away from others. You should also definitely stay in touch with your friends. Group FaceTime and Zoom calls have never been handier! Learning a new language I’ve been taking Spanish classes at school for a number of years now, but I’m not that fluent when it comes to speaking. I’m looking forward to using this time to hone those skills. Reading Books I know that it’s been a while since I’ve had the time to fully sit down and read a book. Even if you don’t have any hard copies of books in your possession, a lot of local libraries offer online books you can read via your portable device! Finding a Hobby Now is also a great time to work on your hobbies! Again, with the fast pace that life takes, with school and extracurricular activities, I’ve had barely any time to do the activities I used to enjoy a lot as a kid. A few of those things are included in this list, like reading and baking, but I also used to enjoy photography and writing too! I’m sure you probably have a lot of childhood hobbies you’d love to get back into. Some hobbies could include drawing, painting, scrap booking, blogging/vlogging, technological design; the possibilities are endless! These are just a few of the things that I’m currently doing to stay busy. Once online school begins next week, no doubt that I’ll have to find a new routine that works for me. It’s probably going to be a struggle for me to find the motivation to complete online school. Honestly, I’m shocked at how much our lives have changed over the last month; from going to school daily to quarantine, but I’m looking forward to making the best of it. I’m definitely going to use this unexpected time to take a step back and relax a little. I want to spend my time doing things that I always say I’m going to do but never get around to, and I encourage you to do the same! Whatever is going to happen in the coming months, at least we’ll have some time to ourselves!