Of all the things I’ve learned in high school, the most important one has been understanding the value of sleep. Quarantine has only reaffirmed this thought with each day that I’ve forcefully woken myself up before 1pm. Classes feel different when you attend them while still in bed. I would open my laptop, do my work for forty-one minutes, close my laptop, sleep for four minutes, and repeat that process for nine more classes.

Though I was never fully asleep for those four minutes that I normally spent rushing between classrooms, they were, in a way, more relaxing than the other five to six hours I spent in bed. It was time when I was disengaged from the world, daydreaming but with my eyes closed. You see, I control my daydreams, and I break them up into little segments. The dreams are what motivated me to get through the next class. I would do my work for forty-one minutes in anticipation for the next time I could soar through the sky like a bird or swim in the depths of the sea as a shark. People may think that dreaming is only meant for younger kids, but it’s also a coping mechanism and a way to explore the world without ever leaving your seat.

I find that I think best when I’m only partially awake because it lets my imagination come alive. For that very reason, my dreams have inspired what I write and how I write about it. Quarantine has given me more time to dream, and thus more to write about. When I’m typing away on my laptop, as I am now, I can picture myself talking to Athena in the Colosseum or shaking hands with a king in Atlantis. They may be fantastical experiences, but they bring an energy that makes it much easier to go about my day, especially when I know that I can’t go outside. It’s a way to distract myself from the sad thought of not being able to see my friends, the same people I used to see five times a week for a total of 180 days a year. Sure, we may have technology to make communication easier, but nothing beats talking to a person face to face, and if I have the chance to keep myself from thinking about that, then I’ll take it every time.