She looked across the room at her clock and anxiously waited for the alarm to ring. She turned to look at the window, but instead she found herself gazing at the calendar on the wall with red crosses all over it. “A new day, a new week, but the same old routine,” she said to herself. She was still anxious; she kept looking at the clock. It felt as though time had slowed down that morning. The alarm was her only motivation to get out of bed, so she waited. She became restless and impatient. Two minutes later she shoved the covers off and jumped out of bed. She swiftly moved towards the bedside table while cursing her alarm, picked up her phone, and walked to the balcony.
She stood at the window and scrolled through her phone. Notifications and posts about the COVID-19 updates, and the struggles people were facing flooded her phone. It felt as though her phone was infected with negativity. This was not helping her anxiety, but she did not stop scrolling. She finally saw a post which made her smile. It was John Krasinski’s post about his next episode of Some Good News (SGN). She went on to read the caption and her smile began to dull. The show, after 8 long weeks, had decided to take a break.
She stood still. A sudden cool breeze passed and she looked up. Silence surrounded her, she felt strange. It was a moment of realization. It had been 8 weeks since her life had changed, since the world had changed. It was surprising that time had gone by so quickly but it still felt slow. It was overwhelming.
She looked around; her tired dark brown eyes captured the blue sky dotted by minuscule clouds and the trees that looked like they were painted green. The silence was replaced by chirping birds and sounds of the leaves moving. She began reminiscing. She tried to think about how life was before the world had come to a stop. Memories came back to her in fragments. Everything before the lockdown seemed blurry. She could only think of how she spent 8 weeks of her life indoors.
When the quarantine period began, she looked at it as a break from the monotony and fatigue of her regular life. But nothing could keep her from feeling that way. Right now, instead of going to class, she attended classes online. The assignments and work continued. As day passed, she was feeling the pressure and was slowly getting tired of it all. The break from monotony and fatigue seemed like a façade.
However, the past 8 weeks had been like no other. When the monotony consumed her one Monday morning, she discovered Steve Carell on Youtube, attended her first prom in her favourite PJ’s and even witnessed Lin-Manuel Miranda perform the Hamiliton lead track with his entire crew! She realised how hard it was to keep the house clean, and how easy it was to stay in touch with people. While her first love – sports – was rudely snatched away from her, old videos of the several world cups and historic games kept her sane. Video calls with her near and dear ones made her feel loved. Her bad days were made better by people coming together during a world crisis. This had fueled her with positivity. She felt happier than usual in these 8 weeks. That’s why, right now, things before the lockdown seemed blurry.
It hit her that though everything still looked tedious and boring, she had not felt this happy in about a year. The faint sound of her alarm ringing brought her back to reality. Her tired eyes had drops of unshed tears in them. Her heavy head felt lighter. She smiled again, took a deep breath and relaxed. Her anxiety had vanished. She walked back into her room and apologised to her alarm.
With a cup of coffee in her hand she snuggled into bed, opened her laptop and braced herself to watch the final episode of Some Good News. While the video buffered, she thought about hugging her best friends and creating new memories which wouldn’t blur with time. She thought about life after this crisis came to end, and tried to imagine how she would feel when she reunited with the love of her life. As she almost transcended into a dreamland, John Krasinski yelled, “Good evening everybody and welcome back to SGN!”
