When the pandemic first hit, everyone was thrown into a loop. Those first couple weeks, nobody had a real good grasp on what was happening, let alone what their new schedules or routines would look like. In those early days, it was easy to put things off into the future with the simple phrase, "When all of this is over" or "When everything is normal again" in order to get us through the uncertainty of the beginning.

We are not in the early days anymore, going on month six or seven, this is still by no means normal but it is the way our lives are right now. Coronavirus will end and things will be able to return to normal, but until then I don't want to live in a limbo of putting everything I want to do into a future of "When all of this is over" because honestly, nobody can say for sure when that will be. I don't want to miss out on six months of life experiences just because I couldn't do the things I used to do "until everything was normal."

In the span of the past few months, I have moved back across the country for college, started my nursing clinicals, gotten two jobs, done service with my sorority sisters, and seen and celebrated life's moments with my friends almost every single day. None of those things look the same as they did pre-Covid, but that does not mean that they weren't worth doing.

In no way am I advocating for ignoring safety in order to have experiences. My clinicals include masks and face shields, my job is health screening and sanitizing our campus gym to keep people safe, our sorority service was socially distanced and partly virtual- but still impactful, and seeing my friends has included things like outside lunch/dinner/coffee dates, masked movie nights, hang outs with the university approved number of people in an apartment with sanitizers and masks (unless someone is actively eating or drinking), masked trips to the mall, outdoor picnics, distanced girls nights and many more things that look different than hanging out did last year but are still fun ways to experience your life and make memories with the people you love, while keeping everyone safe.

Do I miss some of the activities I could do last year? Of course! But what I am supposed to do, not make any memories just because we can't do things the exact same way? That is so silly. Our college could send us home any day, and then I would regret not having that masked meet-up with my friends. I am looking forward to the day I can rip my mask off and see all of my friends smiles but until then- I am going to be making (safe) memories because this is our life. Right now we are living, it's up to us to make memories and not push everything off until things are normal again.

Live your life now- no one is promised tomorrow!