photo by Molly Benson

Creating new fun food options is a creative way of staying busy during these hard times.

Times like these past weeks have been stressful, saddening and overall boring. It is hard to rearrange your daily routine that you have been following for years. For athletes, finding something to keep your body in movement can be challenging with such limited options. Most people are struggling just to keep their mind busy instead of drowning in their own thoughts for however long this Coronavirus halt continues.

Painting and other art projects have become increasingly popular over this quarantine. Creative-spirited people are now able to take the time and patience necessary to make beautiful art pieces without interruption. If there is a silver lining in this pandemic, it would be that there is finally no excuse to not have the patience for these tasks.

Another suggestion is picking up an instrument. Maybe you have a guitar or grand piano in your house from when you were little, or maybe you want to order a cheaper instrument from Amazon.

“I have been practicing my ukulele,” sophomore Lianna Rosman said.

Playing an instrument, or even learning for the first time, can be stress relieving and soothing with all this time on our hands.

For athletes, staying in shape is crucial. Unfortunately, it is hard to do that while gyms, blacktops, swimming pools, etc. are closed. But, exercise can happen anywhere! This is a great time to go on runs alone or six feet away from a friend, or even set up a spot around your home to do some jumping jacks and abdominal workouts.

“Since I don’t have swim practice, I have been working out in my house a lot to keep in shape,” Rosman said.

Unfortunately there are some athletes that had their spring season cancelled due to the virus and have to plan accordingly at home.

“With the lacrosse season over, I have been trying to keep up at home doing some workouts by myself,” senior class president Colleen Besche said.

Aside from more active workouts, another form of exercise would be taking walks. Going to different scenes of nature can be very peaceful in such a stressful time.

“I’ve been going on a lot of walks, which is a calmer way to get in exercise,” senior Seth Bangser said.

A less active take on this break can be fulfilled by watching new Netflix shows, baking or cooking. Baking and cooking is a fun way to plan meals for yourself and your family, and possibly try out new favorite recipes.

“I just made a lemon cake for Easter, and it was really fun, so I suggest people take on new baking recipes to try!” Besche said.

There are a handful of Netflix movies and shows that have been added to the platform for many to enjoy.

“In addition to exercise, I have watched some new stuff on Netflix, which is entertaining to do when you need to relax sometimes,” Bangser said.

Although this pandemic has dramatically altered our school year and other activities outside of MCPS, there are still plenty of ways to keep up your spirit and try to be positive when it is so easy to be negative.