Submitted by Sara from the U of C Lab Schools in Chicago.
Hi, I’m Sara Kumar, a 9th grader at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. Quarantine has definitely provided me with extended amounts of time in my schedule, and has proposed the question, what am I going to do with it? During a normal school week, my time would be filled with homework, extra curriculars, projects, and too many more to list. The problem a few months ago wasn’t having too much time, but having too little. Hobbies were never an option, and in my free time I would always resort to Netflix. But now that we are stuck in quarantine, I am desperately searching for a hobby that isn’t just 10 hours of binge watching a day. I know my problems seem insensitive compared to the pandemic around me, but this abundance of time has made me shift my perspective on how I view a plethora of things in life. I realized that reading a good book can be just as interesting as Tik Tok, Instagram, and Snapchat. Although I hate to admit it, after entering the 7th grade, reading kind of got lost in the shuffle of my busy schedule. However, with all this time, I am currently Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Most nights after I’ve finished my schoolwork I would shower and head to bed, never having enough time to spend with my family. But now, I’ve started to bake, play cards with my parents, and paint with my sister, things I never had the time to do before quarantine. Although the prospect of social distancing has been rough for me, my newfound passions and hobbies have really brightened the situation. And while we wait for the curve to flatten and the number of cases to decrease, I think we should all look at this experience with our glasses half full.
Sara :)