This Coronavirus lockdown has been an experience I hope we never have to go through again in our lifetime. It seems simple enough to stay home. If you're considered an essential employee, only leave your house for the intended work hours. If you need food, go to the grocery store quickly, in and out. It is still encouraged to go outside for exercise, but the CDC encourages us to maintain a safe distance of 6 feet. That is almost impossible to do at the grocery store. Many stores are now only allowing a certain number of people in to shop. This is something that should've been put in place at the beginning. Maybe we wouldn't have shortages of certain essential supplies if it had.

The amount of people working from home has also drastically changed. I don't think there are exact numbers, but most of the people I know have gone home to work for now. On top of working from home, for many, they also now have to homeschool their kids. I commend these parents. I know it's not easy to work and teach your kids. I've been around parents that have a hard time just trying to get their kids to do homework assignments. I've also noticed a lot of connectivity issues with my internet during the day. There are so many more people logged on that it's hard to maintain a good connection all day. This can be extremely frustrating when you lose something you were in the middle of.

This time has also been difficult for many families with distance. I'm used to visiting with my family every few weeks or so. The only proper way to visit family or friends now is to stay far apart, and not touch anything or anyone. We can't even meet at a restaurant or have a cookout. Although we have Skype, Facetime, Zoom, etc., it's not the same as an in-person visit.

Anyone in college now has to go fully on-line or drop their classes. I'm already on-line full-time so nothing changed for me, but I have heard about so many people trying to adjust to an on-line format that has mainly spent time in a face-to-face class. There are even some professors that had no idea how to set up their classes on-line. This has definitely been a learning experience for many. My school, ECU, has provided its students with the option for pass/fail just in case grades have suffered during this transition that could impact their GPA.

Our entertainment outside of our homes has been changed. I'm an avid concert-goer, and I've had shows postponed, with no new dates provided. I've started to worry that any other shows for this summer will be canceled or postponed. Although I'll still try to make it to the concerts I've already paid for once they've scheduled new dates, many people will have other plans scheduled that make it impossible for them to attend. They'll be forced to try to sell their tickets, or lose money.

We can't travel… like anywhere. Some people are still trying to travel, but it is unsafe, and many places are closed. I was supposed to go to D.C. in May and can only assume that trip is canceled. I was also planning a trip to Canada at the end of May, but have decided to put it off until next year. Even if we are able to travel starting in May, I feel like many of the places to eat or visit are closed, or will be limited in what they can do.

I know many people say "how hard can it be to do our part and just stay home," but when all you have to entertain yourself is work, school work, housework, the yard (if you have one), and TV, you can start to get stir crazy. I feel like I need the things we take for granted to enjoy life to the fullest. It makes me appreciate many of the things we have in life that we don't seem to appreciate in the moment.

We can only hope that we appreciate what we have even more once this whole pandemic is behind us.