Today marks my 67th day of quarantine. It’s been two months, six days and just about 12 hours since I shoved what little essential things I could fit from my dorm room into the trunk of my car and started what I thought was going to be an extended spring break. On my first day of quarantine, I was happy — I was back in the comfort of my own home, enjoying the extended reprieve from the stressors of campus life. I spent those first two weeks sleeping in, binging new movies and shows on Netflix and soaking up the glory of having free time.

But by day 14, I was getting a bit restless. Lying in bed with my constantly closed blackout curtains creating a cave-like atmosphere within my room, got pretty old, pretty fast. I spent the next seven days getting my life together — I rearranged my entire room, decluttered and color-coded my closet and rolled every single item of clothing that I own into neat little rolls that would make any Pinterest-lover envious. I went to sleep on day 21 feeling accomplished, only to wake up on day 22 with one question plaguing my mind: Now what?   

Today not only marks my 67th day holed up in my house, it is also the last day of my junior year at St. John’s — I’m all out of work to force myself to do. Now it’s official: the academic school year is over and summer has just begun. The question I asked myself on Day 22 still remains: I’ve got a clean(ish – I won’t lie … it’s not nearly as clean as it was before) workspace … now what? 

I spent an hour today after submitting my last final trying to find the answer to that recurring question: What do I want this summer — one that will more than likely be spent in quarantine — to look like? I found my “answer” in creating a list of goals that I want to spend my time stuck in this summer quarantine completing. I’ve decided to spend time paying attention to the one person I always forget to check on — me! I want to master a TikTok trend or two, start a Depop store and much, much more, solely because I know doing these things will make me happy. Use this summer in quarantine to cater to yourself!