This column offers a glimpse into how people in C-U are working and spending their time during this stay-at-home order. You can read previous installments here. Have questions, or want to suggest a person for this series? Email us at info@smilepolitely.com.
How are you spending your days in isolation?
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Since the stay-at-home order, I’ve struggled because I usually spend around 18 hours at the I-Power School of Gymnastics a week, and now, I don’t get to go out and workout. This stay-at-home order has affected my life a lot because I am not usually at home. I move around a lot between school and the gym, so this is much more difficult.
8 a.m.
Photo by Elena Reifsteck.
I usually wake up between 7:30 and 8 a.m. I make my way downstairs and make my cup of coffee. Then I sit on the couch with my dog, Moose, until my coffee is finished. I then go up to my room, and play a video game until around 10 a.m., take a shower, and do stretches.
10 a.m.
Photo by Elena Reifsteck.
After I get dressed for the day, I do hip stretches to help me get stronger so I don’t injure myself as easily. Afterwards, I usually go back downstairs to grab something to eat before spending about an hour to an hour and a half on my schoolwork.
Noon
Photo by Elena Reifsteck.
After I do some schoolwork for a while, I go onto Minecraft to play with some of my friends (The Dream Team) who I really miss during quarantine. I get hungry. I go downstairs and make myself some lunch, most of the time it has potatoes in it. After, I go back upstairs, and play more Minecraft until about 1:30 p.m. Although today I had to run some errands with my mom and had to go to the dentist.
1:30 p.m.
Photo by Elena Reifsteck.
I finish up on Minecraft, and I get ready for my daily workout over Zoom with my teammates and coach at I-Power. I have to do my hair, and move around everything in my room so that I have enough room to do things like jump and workout. This lasts for an hour, and many times I just sit in my room after. Then, I go back downstairs and grab a snack before my mom makes dinner.
6 p.m.
Photo by Elena Reifsteck.
Around 6 p.m., my mom makes dinner, and since quarantine, me, my mom, and my brother all have dinner together which never happens with everyone’s complicated schedules. Tonight, I made dinner because my mom had a lot of work to do. Then after dinner, me and my mom watch some TV (The Mandalorian and Lost) and I usually grab a snack, whether it’s ice cream or something smaller that I had baked in the past week.
9 p.m.
Photo by Elena Reifsteck.
By now my mom is too tired to watch more TV so we go up to our rooms. I usually stay up pretty late, and the cycle continues.
Elena Reifsteck is a 15 year-old freshman at Centennial High School and a gymnast at I-Power School of Gymnastics.