“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

~ Charles Dickens (A Tale of Two Cities)

It was September of 2018; Fresh out of high school, practically sprinting from the newly broken shackles of institutional learning, I was beginning the first official week of my “gap year.” I had accepted an eight-month English TA position in a rural community in the Northern Andes of Ecuador.

The nearest town to my village was about 45 minutes by bus down winding dirt roads. There were no shops and restaurants where I lived (unless you count guinea pig farms that doubled as tiendas). I had no knowledge of how to take the bus, nor did I have Wi-Fi or phone service. Unable to speak or understand the local indigenous language, Kichwa, I could not communicate. I had no friends. I could not see, talk to, or even text my family in the U.S. Suddenly, I realized I was stranded. I was mute, bored, isolated. Most of all, I was lonely.

The days of my first few weeks blended together. At first, I could not leave my bed. My isolation felt infinite, unable to communicate or even enjoy the mild fruits of capitalism. I yearned for the mindless luxuries I had left behind (i.e. binge watching Netflix, social media, etc.) Yet, filled with boredom and intangible cravings, the craziest thing happened: For the first time in years, I began to read for pleasure. My agenda was empty. I wrote songs on my guitar – filled my journal with poems and ideas and grievances and all the things I would say to my friends if only I could talk to them. I went on walks through the fields and sketched my surroundings. I manifested plans for the future. Things were flowing into my mind faster than I could keep up with. It was a silence of my world that I had never known before.

For once in my life, I could see myself clearly.

Quarantine, for many of us, is a waking nightmare. However, the potential that lies within such a stillness is priceless. Some of the greatest creations of all time have come from isolation. Shakespeare wrote “King Lear” while quarantined from the Bubonic Plague. During the Great Plague of London, Isaac Newton’s studies became the base work for the development of calculus as well as the universal Laws of Motion. Yes, there are a few freedoms that we have been stripped of, and it’s uncomfortable, but that is OK. It is OK to be uncomfortable in isolation. 

While panic ensues and the days become more and more difficult to fill, challenge yourself to manifest a you that exists separate from the outside world. Don’t lose patience with yourself. Let your mind roam! Go on a solo adventure! Sit in silence! Grab that guitar that grandpa got you for Christmas three years ago that you never learned to play! Learn how to make paella! Let yourself feel everything. But heck, if none of that works, I suppose there is always Tiger King on Netflix.