Covid caused, and continues to cause, incredible pain throughout the world. Most people became very familiar with the fear and loneliness those long months at home brought. However, when I started to reintegrate back into a more normal routine, or as normal as it can be after a global pandemic. I realized there were things I did miss, maybe others missed too, about being home every day.  

At times I wanted to jump back into those pajama-wearing days, that after a while, all blended together.  When I began to ask around, I found that many other people relished in those memories too. I saw that there may have been a lot to like in the simplicity of those moments, despite the dark times. The good parts of quarantine, the parts that we can learn from,  can be implicated in our everyday lives. 

I asked my fellow peers around campus What do you miss about quarantine? There were common themes in their answers. Some students missed how much time that they could devote to their hobbies.

“Not being as busy, I was able to pursue new activities that I wouldn’t  have otherwise done. For example, I was able to spend more time drawing and reading books,” Cori Stewart, a ninth-grader at MHS, stated

“I miss talking with my friends from Florida online,” Harris Conk said. When everyone was confined to their house and had too much time on their hands, they reached out to friends and family that they don’t normally talk to. He expressed that coming out of Covid gave him less and less time to reach out to those people.

The most common response was that students miss online school. They specifically noted their ability to sleep in later and a significant decrease in academic and social stress.

“Doing school on a computer in the comfort of my home allowed me to have a much needed break from the high stress environment of school,” Brooklyn Awad, a ninth-grader, reported.

As we continue to reintegrate back into a more normal life, we need to reconsider what we miss about quarantine. Then we can come up with creative ways to implement those things into our busy schedules. Like taking an hour every day and devoting it to your hobby or going for a walk outside. Just because we don’t have endless amounts of time on our hands doesn’t mean we can’t find an hour here or there to connect with ourselves and others.