What Good Came from Quarantine

When I think back to my life before quarantine all I remember is constantly being busy.

Going to class and having homework to do. Making it to work on time. Attending practices, games, and tournaments for volleyball. While also trying to have a social life. And then maybe, just maybe, spend any extra time for me (which was pretty much none).

Then out of nowhere, the whole world was put on pause and I feel that it has turned out to be very beneficial for a lot of people, especially me. It forced me to spend time with myself. To just sit with my thoughts and listen to what I was thinking about, but never had the time to truly listen to it before.

As we all know, that voice inside your head never really stops talking to you. At least mine doesn’t. But since Quarantine I have had more time than ever to listen to my thoughts and respond to what it is telling me.

According to National Science Foundation, “An average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those, 80% are negative and 95% are repetitive thoughts. If we repeat those negative thoughts, we think negative way more than we think positive.”

It’s pretty unimaginable to think that every day we have thousands of thoughts. EVERY DAY. On top of that 80% of those thoughts are negative. No wonder why so many people struggle to feel happy. And not those fake smiles that people put on their faces when they are around others, but genuinely happy.

I know that I have put on a fake smile to make people believe that I am okay when I knew deep down that I wasn’t. I just didn’t realize how much I was faking it, until quarantine. When I spent months with myself and learned so much more about ME.

I can honestly say that I have never felt happier and more connected with myself and that is the greatest gift anyone can have.