Opinion: My experience in quarantine during my last semester of high school

I’m losing my mind.

It all started on March 13. I had a statistics test that I was unprepared for, so I decided that I would conveniently have a doctor’s appointment at that hour. Who would have ever thought that was going to be the last day.

That following weekend, it was announced by the Conejo Valley Unified School District Superintendent Mark McLaughlin that school was going to be canceled for a week.

In my mind, this sounded great. I had more time to procrastinate and cram for later on. As a high school senior who already had received most of my college acceptance letters, this was the final stage of my senioritis — absolutely no worries.

It was unfortunate news at the end of that one week that school was going to be pushed to May 4. At first, it seemed like an extra-long and early spring break. However, as more casualties rolled in, and more precautions had to be taken, I knew that we were all in for a month of hell.

And finally, it began. The quarantine.

For many kids, it would be a dream come true to be able to stay away from school all year long. In fact, this quarantine wasn’t that bad at first. I got to sleep in, eat all day, binge watch every show I missed throughout high school, catch up on movies and play all day.

But when it came time to go outside for a job and get in some fresh air, I couldn’t. Different families have different ways of tackling this situation and my family would not let me out for anything.

All my habits of freely being able to go to the local donut shop or stop by Vons to pick up a tub of ice cream and a bag of chocolate were no more. Going out to play Pokemon Go and virtually any physical activity ceased to exist.

It was a new day and age — a time of isolation. I had to learn to adapt to my new surroundings to survive. An instant evolution from an outgoing, chunky high school student to an anxious hermit.

Altering my prior schedule has been difficult. Getting used to only be able to interact with other human beings through a screen has become the norm. Rationing what’s left of my sweets is driving me insane.

But this is what has become of the world. Everyone is handling this new situation differently. We suffer. We learn. We adapt.

But hopefully, in the end, we all come out of this unscathed. All we can do is hope for the best, despite all the ongoing casualties. I, for one, hope when this all ends, to actually attend my last day of high school if it ever resumes.