It’s safe to say this quarantine has caused a lot of things. It has given and taken many things from many people. Whether that’s good, or bad is your decision. 

From, daily life, to school, graduation, social outings, and even going to the grocery market. How we approach all these events has changed drastically. If someone were to tell me that there would be a shortage of toilet paper due to a pandemic 3 months ago I wouldn’t believe them.

It’s safe to say most of us are feeling a little down with this quarantine. Not being able to see our friends, having to work from home, not being able to walk at graduation, and most of all not being able to spend these sunny springs days outside. There’s no telling as to how things will change when this is all over. I hear constant talk of what the “new normal” will be. The thought can be frightening at times, but it also puts into perspective everything we were doing wrong when it comes to sanitation. 

Quarantine affects different people in different ways. Health care workers and first responders have come to face life-threatening situations these past few months. Teachers and students are faced with the trial and area of learning and teaching through a digital screen. Companies are no longer working at an office with computers and dividers, but instead in a dining, or bedroom or daily household items in their surroundings instead. 

Big to small, good to bad many changes have been made. 

Now, if I were to talk about a change that has affected me personally, but might not be as big as the environment in the hospitals or grocery stores, it would be sleep. To put it simply my sleep schedule is whack. I go to sleep when the majority of society is just waking up for work and wake up when people are just getting off of work. If you want the exact numbers, my bedtime ranges from falling to sleep sometime in between 4-7am, to me waking from sometime between 1-3pm. Definitely not healthy and it definitely messes with my mental health. It is not that it leaves me feeling depressed when I wake up, but more disorientated if anything. I’ve become nocturnal, I’ve become a vampire. It’s a different feeling going to sleep when the sun has just barely come up. Or working on my laptop when there’s nobody around but me and the kitchen lights. 

I’m aware that I am not the only one who has been affected by this. I’m sure they’re many of us who just don’t sleep at a normal time. How do I know? Well because when I sent a text at 3am and someone responds away you just kinda know. On a rare night when I’ve completed all my tasks for the day and try to go to sleep at 1:30 am, I end up tossing and turning in bed all the way to 4:30am. It’s horrible, the feeling of endless tossing and turning trying to tire yourself out. We wish we would fall asleep at normal times, but it just doesn’t happen anymore. 

But because my sleep schedule is suffering, so are my meal times. If I wake up at 2:00, I won’t get out of bed until 2:30. By then I’ll make my rounds around the house and see how everyone in my household is doing. By them it’s 3:00 sharp and I’m hungry. I’ll ask the simple question of “what should I eat for breakfast?” and everyone will look at me funny. The common response is “it’s a little too late for that.” So now, not only did I miss out on breakfast, the most important meal of the day, but lunch too. Which leaves for a light meal in the afternoon so I can still eat dinner at a normal time.  You’re wondering if I get hungry at night, and surprisingly the answer is no. If that ever happened I usually just look for snacks or drink water. It’s not like i’m trying to starve myself, it’s simply just that I’m not really hungry. I guess you don’t build much of an appetite if you do nothing but sit all day. 

Many people had the ideals and hopes of becoming a more organized person, of becoming better at the skill of time management, of becoming more redefined. The only really big thing this quarantine has done is bring out my peers and I’s true nature: vampires.