Self-Quarantine … An Extrovert’s Nightmare

Gov. David Ige signed a proclamation that orders the state of Hawaii to stay at home and work from March 25 through Apr. 30. As great as this seems like being able to sleep in, eat, and watch YouTube and Netflix all day, although as an extrovert, my life has been reeled by this.

When the order was first introduced, I didn’t think much of it other than all schools will go to online classes and most workers would work in the comforts of their own home. I was fine with this. However, over these past few weeks of staying at home, my mental health and my sanity have started to take a turn of the worst.

For the past three years during my spring break, I head over to my local intermediate school, which has a football field, where I run, and a basketball court to cool down after the workout. One day after finishing my run on the field, I made my way to the courts to play some basketball. The officer had informed me that no one is allowed to be here. I complied and left right before sneaking in an extra layup shot before leaving.

Since then, I haven’t stepped foot in the school and because of that my brain has started to lose cells. I identify myself as an extrovert, which means I’m very outgoing person and enjoy talking to people, and with my parents being gone for majority of the day, I have no one to talk to.

Since this new stay-at-home order began, I have started to pace around my house while conversing with myself there have been some days where my friends would FaceTime to check up on me but they don’t fulfill the extrovert need.

Prior to this, an average day for me, there was only about two hours of alone time, the rest is filled with me being with someone physically. Whether if it’s going to school or even doing homework, there was someone by me at all times that I could reach out to in order to fulfill my extrovert need.

One way that I would thought cope with my loneliness is watching movies. However, I find myself digging the lonesome hole even more. As I watched “Ferris Buller’s Day Off,” seeing the dynamic trio having the time of their lives by going out on crazy adventures brought back those sad thoughts. Just thinking about how all of my friends are home and not being able to see each other hits me hard.

As of recently, I have started to notice that my speaking skills have taken a hit. Since I have no one to interact with, when I am given the opportunity to speak to someone, I find myself slurring my words because there are so many topics I want to talk about.

I never imagined tearing up seeing people hangout with each other on a television screen, but in times like these, all the extroverts are experiencing this pain.

Since the running field is considered “trespassing,” my other journey was to find out where to get my exercise in as well as seeing people during the run. So after a few days of running through random neighborhoods and finding out the prime time other runners go out, I finally found a new route that gets in my exercise as well as seeing at least three people.

Although this stay-at-home order is only for a month (as of now) this has felt like an eternity. As the days continue, I have found some new ways to entertain myself and fill the lonely void in my soul. However, with all that has been going on, it seem like hanging out with my friends will be therapeutic for my mental stability.