For the past month or so, everything has been at a standstill due to the COVID-19 outbreak. And to be quite frank with you guys, it (expletive) sucks.

This past month of being at home taking online classes because campus shut down, and not being able to just hang out with my friends has been depressing, but it also got me thinking that all the things we are lucky enough to do in life are not a given.

To be honest, I have taken watching all my sports teams for granted. Even to the point where I sometimes said, “Oh I don’t have to watch today, they play again in two days.” But you know what, I can’t say that anymore. All of these things that we enjoy on a day-to-day basis just might not be there when we wake up on any given morning.

This outbreak thing was funny at first (not funny because people were getting sick) because of school getting canceled for a week and our spring break extending #score. But then out of nowhere, it KO’d us like it was Mike Tyson and we were Michael Spinks.

School was canceled for the remainder of the semester, all non-essential stores are closed, people are getting laid off, and even worse, they’re going to take away the one last thing we all had to cling onto while we’re isolated in our houses. You took away baseball, basketball, hockey, football, soccer, and UFC. You all know it’s bad cause it even took tennis and golf too.

But this whole situation has got me thinking now about me and where I am in life. I’m doing well in school, I have a great internship with people I love to work with and spending more time with my parents has made me realize I have two of the best parents out there.

I’m now 22-years-old, and I’m always thinking about the past and what could have been. Sometimes I do wish I could go back and do some things over, but that’s not realistic. I got to live the life I have now and live it to the fullest. I have also said “I want to do this better” or “let me change this aspect of my life,” but I never do. I am what you call a procrastinator, just ask my parents.

But with all this shit going on in the world, I see that I have to start making these changes because, you know what, if I don’t do them now, I might not be able to make them. I have been taking life as a whole for granted and it’s time for me to start getting right and making my short, but long experience a great one.

The first thing I need to do is get in shape. I have wanted to do this since high school (it’s been five years since I graduated). I have been “out of shape” since I stopped playing football in middle school, but while I do still play flag football and basketball here and there, I’m nowhere near the shape I want to be in.

I want to be able to run for five minutes and not feel like I’m going to pass out. I want to be able to go to the pool or just outside in general and be like “yeah, I’m looking good” (even though I already do that lol), it just always feels better to have a six-pack and be in great  shape

Number two for me is to spend more time with my family and friends. I take my parents and all of my friends for granted. Like with my friends, we’re getting older and seeing each other less because, you know, we got our own lives to live now, and we have to make that bag somehow. I always wish it was like high school again when I would see my friends every day, from doing stupid shit in class to partying with each other to even just chilling and talking about life. As I look back now, I know I took those days for granted. So now when I see my friends, I know to cherish those moments even more, because life moves quickly these days.

As for my family – my parents specifically, I have definitely realized that I really have the two best parents a child can ask for.  For some time, even though we’ve lived in the same house, I really wouldn’t see them that often because I was in school, hanging with friends, or doing some other things. But now with this isolation thing, we’ve been able to hang – just me, my mom, and my dad.

We’re eating dinner together more, we started having movie nights, and we just talk more in general. I have to spend as much time as possible with them because, as every child knows, parents aren’t going to be around forever. And I’m not going to lie, I cry every time I think about that time in the future. So, I just want to say, I love you, Mom and Dad. And to all my friends out there (you know who you are); homies for life.

Third and finally, I just want to be more open in general. I have always been a self-isolating person. Why? To be honest I couldn’t tell you. This social distancing thing is not that big of a problem for me. Also, a lot of times I never express myself the way I want to with my friends, family, and even new people in my life.

I’m a really awkward person if you don’t really know me and that’s probably one of the reasons that I don’t do well in social situations, but hey, it’s all cool – it doesn’t bother me. In the future, I just want to be me and be more expressive so I don’t have any regrets when it’s all said and done.

It’s time to better myself, not just for me, but for the others around me. I need to stop taking these things in my life for granted and start to really appreciate what I have and what I hope to have in the future.