With schools across the nation being closed down, countries being in a state of lockdown and hospitals being flooded with an overload of patients, COVID-19 has thrown the whole world into a stupor. 

It's been stressful for everyone, especially for those directly affected by the virus and medical professionals, but after the initial shock of the severity and closeness of the virus, as a high school student, I’ve come to realize what my place is among all of it. 

It's been said, but the best and only thing anyone can do right now is practice social distancing, and with that comes times of boredom and isolation. However, as someone who is currently not personally affected by the virus, social distancing should be seen instead as a simple and easy way to help control the spread of the virus.

Without the abundant stress of school and extracurriculars, students can take this time to continue their social isolation and do something productive for themselves. 

When school first ended, my first instinct was to call my friends and complain with them over FaceTime, but when my first five calls were rudely declined, I realized I would have the next week to do whatever I wanted. 

So here are some things I recommend doing to keep yourself occupied and your spirits up:  

• Go on a run. Yes, I know it's been raining for much of the past three weeks, but running in the rain while listening to some calming Daniel Caesar provides a certain peacefulness that you can’t get anywhere else. Please don’t come at me for listening to depressing ballads while I work out.

• Take up an instrument. With all this time on your hands you might as well hop on the trend of writing a song about coronavirus and hoping in vain that it'll make the virus go away. 

• Read a book. It's a great way to fill your time and feel productive all the same. And I promise, not every book is a 90-year-old war story translated from German, regardless of what we’re exposed to in school. 

• Start eating healthy. With grocery stores emptying out faster than your living room when someone sneezes, what better way to consume expensive, highly sought after food supplies than by wasting them on your disgusting, raw-vegan-keto-paleo diet that’ll probably only last you a few days until you give up. 

• Start a YouTube channel. With everyone cooped up indoors, some bored-out-of-their-mind kid is bound to accidentally stumble over your hopelessly boring but active channel.

• But actually, all jokes aside, as disorienting and scary as the current situation can be, we’re all doing our best to help simply by practicing social distancing and doing everything we can to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Even more so, every one of us has the opportunity to donate to those directly affected by the pandemic. Donate at the World Health Organization, Direct Relief or to any local hospital or small business.    

So rather than living in a paranoid fear of coronavirus, live in an educated fear. Know that no one is invincible and take every preventative measure against the virus, but after that, try new things, learn new ideas, take the time to educate, experiment and relax.