Extrovert:

The COVID-19 outbreak has caused millions of people around the world to shelter in their houses and self-quarantine. Without much worry about the pandemic initially, the U.S. has now also jumped on the train and told millions of Americans to stay inside and avoid outings or gatherings of more than 10 people. Of course, this means schools were cancelled. With online school in full swing and staying inside all day being the norms, it’s safe to say that some of us are doing better than others. I have friends who are doing great, but as an extrovert, I am not thriving. Although I consider myself an extrovert, I didn’t think I’d have this hard of a time with staying inside. I love to be at home taking a nap, playing video games or spending time with my family. But by day three, it’s safe to say that COVID-19 had completely uprooted my life, and I was ready to lose it.

I get annoyed pretty easily, but I don’t show it. I never considered how hard it would be to be surrounded by my entire family all the time. Every little thing started to bother me. My sister left the shower curtain up, and I got agitated. My mom made breakfast without telling me, and I got agitated. My dad went to the grocery store without me, and I got agitated. It’s like being trapped indoors just made me annoyed with everyone and everything. It got to a point where I was tired of being passive-aggressive towards everyone, so I started isolating myself in my room, which wasn’t much better. Staring at the same four walls for hours just made me more upset overall.

I remember before my sophomore year I considered switching to online school so I could keep working my summer job and have more free time. After the first week of quarantine I can say without a doubt that I’m very happy I chose not to take that path. I like the change of schedule, but I’ve been more stressed doing school online than actually going to school. I was having a hard time finding a balance between actually doing school and doing life, which resulted in me doing schoolwork from 12-3 in the morning on most days. The teachers don’t really know how to convert their class into an online form, which is in no way their fault at all. They aren’t online teachers; they’re used to working with children in person. I appreciate them doing their best, but I don’t think they realize that at this point, they’re giving us more work than they would if we were still in school. Online school isn’t supposed to be schoolwork and homework combined. This is a stressful time for everyone, and adding an excess amount of work doesn’t help this situation overall. I’m at a point now where I miss going to school. I miss leaving my house and sitting at a desk for eight hours a day. I never realized how much I took for granted the physical act of going to school.

Although it’s not ideal being inside all the time, I understand it is for the greater good. I have found that taking a walk daily has helped me immensely. Being outdoors has helped me feel more in control of my life when everything else is spiraling because of COVID-19. As long as you’re still practicing social distancing, there is nothing wrong with going outside for a little bit. As the rest of us extroverts out there maneuver surviving quarantine, let’s remember at the end of the day, we’re all just doing our civic duty by preventing the spread of this gruesome pandemic.

Introvert:

If you’re an introvert, online classes and social distancing can be no problem at all. I’m used to spending a decent amount of time in my room already away from the rest of my family, and I’ve mastered the art of distracting myself and wasting time. Although that might not necessarily be healthy or good for my grades, it sure is handy during the apocalypse.

While my parents certainly aren’t the easiest people to deal with, the increase in time with them hasn’t necessarily ticked me off any more than it usually would, since I typically keep to myself. Hanging out with my friends hasn’t necessarily been affected either. I never hung out with any of my friends aside from one outside of school anyway. I can still text her, so my schedule has actually hardly been touched on that front.

I try to do all of my schoolwork for a day in one sitting, with varying degrees of success. I won’t pretend that I’ve actually done my math work, but that’s not because I find online schooling difficult to keep up with; it’s because I’m not good at math. I find it much more fulfilling to sit down in one place, get all my work for the day done, and then go back to my room and play Splatoon, rather than spend eight hours carrying a painfully heavy bookbag between buildings with no snack breaks. Sometimes online schooling does stress me out. My teachers certainly shouldn’t be making us read two chapters and answer 30 questions after copying vocabulary all in one day, but this is a strange time for everyone. Most likely, teachers genuinely don’t know if the work they assign is appropriate for a day of online schooling rather than a day of in-person schooling. They’ve never had to deal with this situation before.

Generally, I try to go outside for at least an hour every day. Sometimes I’ll just walk around in the backyard, and sometimes I’ll help my mom out with the grocery shopping. Social distancing is important, but you don’t need to stay inside 24/7, even if you’re introverted.