Just recently, I tested positive for covid. Since then, I have been confined in my room for a week. My three main activities have been catching up on schoolwork, sulking, and coughing my lungs out. Being stuck in a room smaller than Kim Kardashian’s closet has been extremely claustrophobic. I have my meals, schoolwork, and napping time all in the same place. It gets very hot in my room and I am very sweaty. I never imagined wishing to be at school right now.

I forgot how easy I have it when I remember the story of Juliane Koepck, a 17-year-old girl who survived an airplane crash and survived in the Amazon rainforest for 11 days. If I were Juliane Koepck, I would slap me! There are a few small things that I have found to appreciate in my new environment that is preventing me from needing a straitjacket. After swallowing pills that taste like my grandpa’s foot cream, my mom brings me mint chocolate chip ice cream to cleanse my mouth from the taste of the medicine. It’s something I can look to every day and the crunchy chocolate bites bring me immediate dopamine.

Another thing that keeps me from going crazy is playing music on my speaker. In the morning, I play loud heavy bass sounds to wake me up and at night, I like to listen to soft electronic and Lo-Fi beats to keep me focused while finishing assignments. At school, I find it weird to break out dancing to music, but in my room, it’s socially acceptable to do it alone. It passes the time when I don’t know what else to do.

When I’m not eating ice cream or listening to music, I’m reading. Getting covid gave me more time to reread a book series that is about to be adapted into a TV series. The book series I am referring to is Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan. I’m hoping that they don’t butcher it as badly as the movie. If they do, I will give covid to Rick Riordan.

Writing this blog has made me appreciate the small luxuries I have been experiencing in the past week. I feel more at peace in my situation and less frantic to get out of my house. I can thank Juliane Koepck for keeping my first-world problems in check. If you want to learn more about Juliane Koepcke, click this link to read about the adversities she has gone through.