So Much Time, So Little To Do

Emma Young

March 2020, seven months ago. quarantine started, and it has lasted a lot longer than anyone expected or hoped. “Yeah, I remember thinking I’d have an extra long spring break, and we’d be back in to finish off the school year,” Mateo Young ‘23, a sophomore at Whitney Young High School explained. Seven months is enough time to completely change your lifestyle, your habits and your entire identity. Throughout these seven months there have been positive and negative shifts in people’s lives. Some people’s screen time and social media usage has skyrocketed, and they feel as if they have completely lost their attention span and motivation. 

Others are trying to resist the hypnotic pulls of social media and technology with developing new habits. Claire Macellaio ‘21, a senior at Whitney Young High School expresses, “Since I haven’t been able to go out and do the things I normally do, I’ve been spending a lot of time watching tv and using my phone. But I am trying to avoid this by taking up new hobbies to stay off the screens like yoga, sewing, and painting.”

 

According to counseling today it is important to develop an optimal leisure lifestyle (OLL) that consists of one serious leisure activity, with one casual activity and one project. This routine can help combat any sort of laziness and can help start new hobbies. Finding the motivation to start new hobbies and break away from the endless cycles of watching shows and scrolling through social media can be very difficult, especially when there is no end date on quarantine. The whole concept of time has become a little foggy for everyone, including Nina Chopra ‘22, a junior at Whitney Young High School. Nina shares, “I’ve completely lost my regular routine and days just blend together at this point. Now that school and swim season has started I’m trying to build my routine backup so time doesn’t feel so hazy anymore.” 

 

The biggest struggle for most people has been keeping a routine and not losing positive habits throughout these difficult and confusing times. Although this is a great opportunity to start new habits and learn new things, like Claire, it is also very difficult to maintain your old habits and not lose your time to technology and tv.

Orientation marketing suggests building an at home workout routine in order to establish a sort of daily routine and stay healthy. Mateo also shared his experience with keeping his hobbies, “I stopped playing basketball for quite some time when quarantine started, it felt so pointless and boring not being able to play with my friends. But in the past couple months I’ve made it a habit to go outside and play basketball at least once a day, and now it’s routine.” 

Mateo’s experience shows how easy it can be to stop doing your favorite things, but how with the right mindset you can pick up old and new habits, and get back on track. His experience is similar to that of Zoe’s, from NBC News. During quarantine she has struggled with procrastination, but once she got the hang of it she has turned her life around and started new healthy habits, such as bike riding! Although quarantine may seem bleak, it is the perfect time to get up and start something new, because it is never too late.