So this is what school is going to be like the rest of the year . . . not great, and not very fun either.

Already, a lot of students have been feeling an overwhelming sense of boredom due to the lack of physical school as well as extracurricular activities in quarantine. Social media, television and video games are getting boring, and most students are finding that they’re not sure what to do with all this excess time. 

Understandably, there is also a lot of anxiety, fear, uncertainty and stress going around in these unprecedented circumstances. For some, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before they become deranged from social distancing. 

I’m here to tell you that you’re not going to go insane; you’re going to be fine. While it’s easy to complain about the situation, the fact is that you’re already getting used to — or have already gotten used to — this new and bizarre norm. 

Instead of complaining about the duration of the quarantine and how your vision is slowly deteriorating from excessive screen time, it’s better to focus on what you can do to improve yourself.

There are always positives in any situation, no matter how grim they may seem, and this quarantine is no different; for one, this quarantine has shown us the importance of predictability and planning our day to make sure we stay on track with the things we need to do. Furthermore, it’s given us the unique opportunity to take a long, hard and non-sleep-deprived look in the mirror and ask ourselves what we really want to be doing with our lives, and then act on those potential interests with the luxury of extra time. 

Here are just a few ideas. Sign up for some online courses and read some books. Work on some project with a friend or two (remotely, of course). Go exercise. Fix your sleep schedules. Embrace the time that you can now spend with your family if you normally make the excuse that you don’t have time during the school year. 

The possibilities are endless; it’s just a matter of overcoming that mental barrier of resisting the current conditions and then going out and doing something instead of drowning in the isolating boredom.

Yes, I get it: You miss your friends, your teachers, fast food and strangely enough, school itself. But this is the reality we live in now. Complaining about it is just putting yourself a step behind in the process of bettering your own life.