Real talk. Life hasn’t been the worst during quarantine, but things could definitely be better, and that might go for a lot of us.

If you’ve met me, you’d know that I’m very outgoing and I live for spending time out with my friends. If you haven’t met me yet, my name is Triniti, I’m 19 years old, and a moderately-extroverted extrovert.

The reason why I added “moderately” is because, with the pile of everyday stress ahead of me, it’s become a bit easier to stay at home. I miss my friends, but we are always talking on FaceTime and calling each other to stay sane.

I’ve been able to bake and cook more often than usual, and for that I am grateful. Some ingredients like flour and eggs were hard to find at stores in the beginning, but it wasn’t impossible.

So far I have made a yummy tomato gnocchi soup, chocolate chip banana bread, lemon blueberry bread, vegetarian buddha bowls, and sugar cookies from scratch.

Cooking has been a great distraction from the worrying I do when I’m spending my time at home. I used to cope by keeping busy with my friends and getting out to soak in a bit of nature, but things will be different for a while and I’m trying to get comfortable with that.

Family road trips and transferring to university in the fall have been up in the air lately. Wondering about work, life, and even current schoolwork has become overwhelming but there are still things I am grateful for. And you know what? I am going to take the gratitude I have and run with it no matter what.

We are physically distancing, but we shouldn’t be socially distant. Nobody should feel alone in this unprecedented experience. Talking to my friends on the phone, keeping positive with strangers in the stores, and having good communication with my family has been a priority to me.

There is nothing better than sharing good energy with the people I care about, and I know that one way or another we will get through this.