Written by Chrissy Getts

Published on April 3, 2020

I am the first person to acknowledge how much this quarantine sucks. I don’t leave my house often, my parents work all day so, as a result, I am alone most of the time, and I’ve gotten so ahead on my work that I quite literally have “nothing to do.” After moping around my house for about five days, I decided to make a change. 

It all started when I took my dogs for a walk on the beach in Milford. I immediately felt better just from being in the sun, which sparked some thought about how I could be using all this extra time to my benefit. I got home from my walk, poured myself a glass of wine, and started reading. 

My biggest insecurity throughout my life has been my skin. For all of us health gurus out there, I inherited combination skin from my dad and developed facial rosacea in my early teenage years. In layman’s terms, my skin suffers from both dry patches and too much oil production, on top of being prone to acne and redness. I’ve dealt with this skin condition for years and, luckily, it has improved with age to the point where I thought it’s as good as it’s going to get. Recently though, I’ve decided to use my extra hours of free time to both research and try new skin and hair care routines until I developed what I call “The Ultimate Chrissy Morning and Evening Routine!” I’ve introduced collagen, toner, and acne spot treatments into my routine and, regardless of how this new set of products changed my life, the new routine has given me a fresh and revitalized outlook on this quarantine.  

This quarantine is an opportunity for each of us to fix, change, or implement a certain part of our lives for the better, be it routine, attitude or worldview, organization, or what have you. Think about a part of your life that you’ve always wanted to change but never had the time before. Want to try yoga every morning or a new daily workout? Check {interest for organized instructions or even YouTube for guided workouts! Have you been planning to adjust to a healthier diet and work meal planning into your schedule? Now is a great time to start! Many professional chefs, such as Gordon Ramsey and Bobby Flay, are spending their free time by hosting Instagram Live events where they teach their fans how to cook the meals they are preparing for themselves and their family every day during quarantine. How about setting aside some extra time for reflection, prayer, journaling, or meditation? In the mornings or evenings you have the freedom to consciously put aside time for those activities without feeling like you could better use your time doing something else, like getting ready for work or doing homework! 

Having this extra free time also gives all students a chance to reorganize themselves, in an effort to be more productive in school. Teachers and students alike are struggling with the new transition to online classes, so make sure you use that as an opportunity to catch up on missed assignments, and work out a different approach to studying if you find that your current strategy is not resulting in the grades you’re hoping for.

In an article by Harvard Medical School analyzing stress levels of college students, results showed not only that rates of stressful life events were high and associated with mental health disorders, but also that, in a pool of 67,000 students from over 100 institutions, 1 in 5 students reported thoughts of suicide in the last year. If you find yourself feeling like one of these struggling students, now is your time to recreate study habits that could help relieve one source of stress for you. In fact, the American Psychological Association highly recommends the following three principles that will help you get the most out of your studying hours: space your study sessions, interweave your subjects ,and test yourself. 

There are so many different ways that we all can use this quarantine for our benefit. Whether that be by implementing a new self-care element into your daily routine or creating new study habits, everyone should be jumping at the opportunity for self-improvement. Here at Horizons we are challenging all students to make the best of this quarantine by putting yourself first. Trust us, we’ll be here to celebrate with you when it’s all over and we can return to our normal lives with our new and improved routines!