Life is beautiful.

I’m sure that this idea isn’t what anyone’s thoughts consisted of during the quarantine. During intense situations, especially those that occur in uncharted territory, finding the positive in things can often be difficult to do. During the first few months of the quarantine, life was not easy. I was blessed to be able to come to a realization that, little did I know, would change my life.

I begin my story in March, the week that we found out that we had to quarantine, to be exact. I was just going to class (virtually) and going about my daily routine (to the best of my ability being that I was at home). School eventually came to an end and I was left with nothing to do. I had told my boss that I didn’t feel comfortable working during the quarantine for the safety of myself as well as the safety of my family. Not very much was known about the virus at this time and I just thought that it wasn’t worth the risk.

Being that I was out of a job, most days I would sleep late, not be too motivated to do much and binge so many Netflix shows because I was bored and had nothing to do.

Then one day, I woke up and realized that I had not been tapping into my full potential. Little did I know, that day would change my life.

I woke up in the morning as usual, opened my phone and I just remember thinking, What else is there to do? I’m bored. As I scrolled through TikTok, I viewed a pour painting being done and thought it was the coolest thing ever. It was that day that I decided to order some canvases and paint—I was going to make a pour painting. All of the stuff I ordered finally arrived and I looked up videos on how exactly to create one. After I finished my first pour painting, I wanted to make more. It was so much fun, it became addicting. Every day it gave me something wonderful to look forward to. Eventually I started watching drawing videos and started creating art instead of just pours. I began making canvases for my family, some of my friends and even my hairdresser.

I had a lot of fun with this and didn’t even think of what was happening in that moment. All along I had been so caught up in life that I forgot what it was like to actually live. I would always “go, go, go” and never get the chance to stop, take a break and tap into abilities that I didn’t even know I possessed. I was always balancing work, school and bowling ever since I was a junior in high school. This period of time was a breath of fresh air, a breath of life for me. I know that a lot of people may not see it in that way, but it was truly a time to reflect, improve yourself and get to know who you truly are deep inside.

Looking back on it, it was just what I needed at that time and I’m sure someone could relate to that. We, as humans, are always rushing through life so quickly that we could always use a breath of fresh air in order to find ourselves, find what incredible abilities and talents we possess, or just to realize how lucky we are because of how beautiful life really is. 

So many people were so negative during this quarantine. Everyone had their own thoughts to confine. Life wasn’t easy, especially without the needed social interaction. It was easy to become depressed or anxious during that time, but we made it through. No struggle goes without strength gained and a lesson learned. I think this whole quarantine thing was a real blessing; I hope that you can relate.

I think that there are a lot of lessons that can be learned from this whole experience. Some of those lessons include not taking ANYTHING in life for granted because nothing is promised.

Did it ever cross your mind that there would be a point in life that your routine would just stop dead in its tracks?

Did you ever think that you wouldn’t be able to give someone a hug for an extended period of time?

Did you ever imagine that you couldn’t be near someone unless you were six feet away?

Did you ever think about wearing a mask? Or that masks could be so fashionable?

Did you ever think that you wouldn’t be able to attend a concert again for a while? Or that almost everything you had to look forward to was rescheduled?

I hope that someone reading this can relate to answering, “No,” to all of those questions. It never occurred to me that anything like this was going to happen—I’m sure it didn’t occur to many people either. We, as a society, were so underprepared for it that it was a panic.

I can’t speak for everyone when I say this, but I took life for granted. I took my everyday life for granted, my daily routine for granted and every little thing in between. This experience has made me so much more grateful for every single day and it has proved true that you need to enjoy all the little things in life, because they truly are the big things. 

Life is absolutely beautiful and there is always good in bad; it’s just up to you to find it. I encourage you to look back on this quarantine and interpret how it went for you: What did you learn about yourself? What lessons did you learn? What good came out of it? What did you come across? Or even how did it help you become who you are in this very moment? Sometimes it just takes time for us to reflect and realize that good things are always hidden in bad moments, but they are always there. It always takes something immense to realize how grateful we should be for life in general.

Life is so beautiful and it’s nothing to take for granted; it could be taken away at any given moment. Always be grateful and always remember to take a breath of fresh air once in awhile just to assure that you don’t get too caught up in life that you forget to enjoy it.