By Brittany Bosworth
In the dawn of Covid, there was one question that seemed to crowd the mind of each new quaratiner: What am I going to do now? After shopping for necessities like paper towels, water, and an excess amount of toilet paper, people were left wondering what to do while kept in isolation. Spending time inside helped many busy-bodies find a new niche or even work on one they already loved.
I know during my first couple weeks of quarantine, I was scrambling. Not seeing my friends every day scared me and although the idea of not having classes be in person was intriguing, I quickly learned how much I really needed those things to have a normal, happy day.
Coming into week 50 of the CoronaVirus pandemic in the United States, I became curious as to what my former peers have been up to since normal-life.
*Profile section*
Jassy McKinley
Journalism major
“Junior in credits, super senior at heart”
“My new hobbies include: painting, playing Sims 4, looming beanies (I made 16 in two weeks as xmas gifts) and I also am flipping a miniature dollhouse. I created my first miniature room from Hobby Lobby a few months ago, and it was absolutely terrible. But it's inspired me to follow dollhouse and miniature accounts on instagram, I just wish I was a lot better at it. Overall I think I've improved in all aspects for my hobbies. Especially Sims 4, discovering Mods and cheats has been the highlight of the game.”
Sarah Barr
International Studies major
Senior
“My new hobby is embroidering and sewing. At first, it started as just a way to make my friends and family masks and save money, but then I realized it was a very relaxing hobby. I started embroidering pillowcases, clothing, and old sheets. Working on a larger project, especially during early quarantine, helped me stay optimistic and positive about how I spent my day. Since being social distanced, I have improved a lot, and it feels nice to work at a slow pace. It's a hobby that is easy to pick up and put down, and you can truly create work that represents anything you want it to.”
Allie Holt
Journalism major
Junior
“I recently started writing a sci-fi fantasy book! One of my dreams is to be a published fiction writer, so I figured why not start writing during quarantine? It's still a huge work in progress, but because of covid I've had more free time to write.”
Gustavo Ramirez
Advertising Major
Senior
“For my hobby, I finally got to get into digital illustration! I've been working towards learning graphic design over the past two years, but I recently got an iPad and was able to start exploring illustration - a medium that terrified me, especially traditional (pencil and paper). I’ve been able to explore some themes in my illustrations, but am still learning some basics. I've definitely improved a good amount since getting it and will surely invest more time in it as my schedule frees up!”
Vidar Alexander
“I picked up meditation because I was looking for ways/methods to enforce confidence and positive thinking. I also worked on it to calm myself and increase my focus on other tasks or activities. Once classes started in the Spring I found it more difficult to focus on just one thing and as a result, I started feeling very worrisome. It also made me feel insecure of myself and my ability to accomplish other tasks such as learning. Meditating on a regular basis helped me to overcome that hyper-concerning type of thinking. Even if it was just once a day for ten minutes, it helped to sit and do nothing.”
Sara Pardy
Advertising major
Senior
“My new hobby that I started over the pandemic is sewing. I had been wanting to start it for a while, but the pandemic definitely gave me a lot more free time to actually get into it. I thrift a lot and sometimes I find things that don't fit quite right, and I always wished I could sew so I could alter the things that don't fit. So around June I was bored and finally had the motivation to teach myself how to use my mom’s sewing machine (without any help except for a youtube tutorial showing me how to thread the machine) and ever since then I have slowly improved, but I definitely still have a lot to learn.”
If it weren’t for quarantine, people would not have adapted to these newfound, or long-lost hobbies. There were so many more responses from people eager to share what they have been working on the past year. I’m grateful they are letting me share their interests with you and hopefully, this inspires you to learn a new one or even reach out to others virtually who are interested in the same things you are.
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