Currently, I am sitting in my bed, Spotify blasting into my headphones. My dog, Louie, is snoring next to me like he has been doing all day. Today Louie discovered the window behind my bed looks out into the front yard. He saw the mischievous squirrels running up the trees, families walking their dogs, and the birds who are making a nest in the wreath on my front door.

Today I discovered things too. I realized that my neighbor cut down the tree that grew in their front yard. I found a stash of old lights, just waiting for me to hang them above my bed. I saw some of my favorite songs, not played in ages. And I discovered my old Pinterest account, filled with unmade recipes.

I’ve been baking. I haven’t baked in a long time. I made a vanilla cake and put sprinkles in it to make it funfetti. I also made a cream cheese cookie dough dip, that you can dip fruit into (I highly recommend trying this). My mom made a dinner of shrimp and asparagus, even though she doesn’t like seafood. My dad made space for his work in the office in our house.

Now, you may be thinking, Ella, why are you telling us this? Recently I have found myself struck with a new feeling. A feeling of stress over everything I have to do, and confliction about all the time that I have to do it. My bet is, a lot of people have been feeling this way. With so little information on online schooling, we have almost no idea what to expect. The most important thing I keep reminding myself is that that’s ok, because everyone else is in the same boat. I miss my friends. But so does everyone else.

While not everyone’s home environments are the same, we are presented with a rare opportunity to slow down. So let’s make the best of it. Let’s listen to the old songs, make the recipes, redo parts of our rooms and take time to discover the little details that may be overlooked.

If you are understandably bored, try something new! Recently, I have started using an iPad to draw portraits of people. I watched some Black Mirror episodes on Netflix, and I FaceTimed my friends. We live in a world of technology, we can Snapchat, text, or FaceTime anyone we want. My dad got my mom AirPods for Christmas. I caught her using them for the first time to listen to music while she cooked today. She taught herself how to use Zoom to have a cocktail with all of our neighbors. All I am saying is if she can learn to adapt to a technological world, so can we.

Let me leave you with one thing: we are together in this. Anything you are feeling right now, I can guarantee someone else feels the same way. Stay positive and healthy!