I came home on Monday afternoon. Given the situation, I’m about as lucky as I could get—since I live only 20 minutes from campus, I didn’t have to change flights or worry about overweight luggage. My mom and I piled everything into her car and we drove home. Over and done in an hour.
Time passes more slowly at home, and it’s easy to get to the end of a day and feel like I haven’t done anything. I’ve started setting timers when I begin a task, whether it’s schoolwork or guitar, to keep me focused on that one thing for a set amount of time. Otherwise I might open a textbook, scroll through Instagram, read an article about the virus, and all of a sudden it’s been an hour and I haven’t done anything. There is merit to doing nothing, but I want to be more intentional with my time.
Despite the semester having been cut short, I have plenty of positives to focus on. I’ve started training for my second half marathon, date very much TBD, and I want to break my records at shorter distances along the way. Eight miles yesterday made for my longest run since last summer.
We found benches on a little path along a river!
My mom and I are lying low and going for walks together. One of our doggos is happy to have me home. I’m happy to be making my own food again, though I do miss Claflin Bakery’s incredible brownies. Now’s the time to use up ancient cans of food from the pantry. Sometimes I get sudden bouts of motivation to organize, so I’ve unpacked completely, tidied up my bedroom, and reorganized some kitchen cabinets. I now have plenty of time to hang in the hammock chair my mom and I installed right before I left. And I’ve written a couple letters and reconnected with friends from before Wellesley. My dorm even had a Zoom community engagement hour the other night. This would be a very different story without the internet.
Please stay home, but remember that you can still go outside.
Shafer CE on Zoom!
To the new Class of 2024, congrats! I’m sorry you won’t be able to visit Wellesley in all its normal glory, but I’m looking forward to participating in some events for prospective students. Stay tuned!