Before it was announced that schools were going to be closed to students, I was one of those people who, on every single day that I had to go in, questioned why schools weren’t closing yet. I even signed a petition and sent it to everyone I knew. That’s how much I wanted it to happen. But then came the official statement and I thought…wow, what am I going to do?

Naturally my fist day - I’m talking about the Monday - was strange, and my way of embracing this abnormality of a school day was to do no schoolwork and treat it like it was still the weekend because it would feel less strange. I battled the next day the same way. You can probably see where this is going. Or so you’d think. No. The next day I got real; I looked at my show my homework to-do list and I got going on the work that was set. It wasn’t easy; I do maths and further maths which include a lot of exercises. Learning new content wasn’t actually too bad but the exercises…they were so long and so repetitive. So, I decided to do further maths and maths on alternating days. But then it felt like I was doing maths every day. Now I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, I’m just saying it was exhausting. But I guess I’m getting used to it.

My first week, I have to admit, was a bit of a mess. I didn’t have a strict schedule and I probably wasted a lot of my time snacking. And my lunch breaks were definitely over an hour. It didn’t really help that the whole family were doing the exact same thing. My first week also was the peak of my laziness. I’m not saying I’m an active person; but I didn’t leave the house at all in the first week; everyone else in the house did; to get groceries or just get some exercise. But I refused. When I wasn’t doing something productive, I was on Netflix or my new favourite: Disney+. But the days would end, and I’d find myself thinking you have all this time; to be working on your super curriculars and become healthier but you decide to binge “Boy meets World”. As a result, my next week went a bit differently.

Sunday night I set an alarm for 7:00am, which is just fifteen minutes later than I used to get up. I didn’t wake up till half 7 but that’s a drastic difference to waking at 11:00am. I was the first to get up; the rest of my family would get up at around half 9 except for my sister who was worse than me and would get up at 11:30am - on a good day. But since I got up first by almost 2 hours, I got moments of bliss and silence. It was brilliant. I would do my usual morning routine and then sit by my fireplace and get some work out and start on it. This was a much bigger improvement to my lifestyle, and I plan on continuing it. I have also been able to do other things on my general to-do list for this isolation break e.g. drinking more water, clearing my skin and I even did some exercise. Now it’s not a lot but today, I cycled. I haven’t ridden my bicycle in what seems like a lifetime. That obviously took a toll on me since my legs were killing; I had hardly made it to my local co-operative, and I was in pain. But if I do it every day - and I plan do so - the pain will go away. I really hadn’t realised how unfit I was till today; so that’s a positive that’s come out of this experience.

Overall, although it’s been a strange two weeks, I’m adjusting, and I’ve become a better person too: I’m more tolerant of others and am more tolerable to others. I’ve also become a master of chores; I have the very important role of clearing the kitchen after dinner and I have to say I think I do it better than my mum. So, taking all of this into account, I am pleasantly surprised at my attitude after two weeks of being stuck at home.

I hope your all safe and wish you all the best!

Mahreen