The time in the corner of your laptop reads 11:48 p.m., and the only things that can be heard in your room are the clicking of your keyboard and the tap of your foot on your bedroom floor. You’re behind on three assignments, and you have a midterm due in two days. It’s been hard to gather the motivation to start them, let alone complete them. You hear your phone buzz, and for the next 10 minutes, you get distracted by TikTok and Instagram only to be faced with a new feeling of panic when the time in the corner of your screen reads 11:58 p.m. You get back to typing, wishing you had started this earlier like you promised yourself, your room filling with the clicks of your keyboard once again. However, in the midst of your typing and stressing, it hits you: Why am I doing this?

UC Berkeley students are always doing something. Whether it’s taking part in an internship or consulting club, UC Berkeley culture is keeping busy, even when you are already busy. This isn’t a bad thing; in fact, it’s how many of us relate to each other. But problems arise when UC Berkeley’s go-getter culture is faced with quarantine’s stay-at-home mandate. This conflict of interest leads to a quarantine life crisis, where students feel unmotivated because they can’t do anything, yet stressed because they aren’t doing everything. 

The truth is, it’s normal to feel this way, especially now. Life feels about as upside-down as it can get, and it’s hard to worry about your GPA while literally in the midst of a pandemic. However, something else I’ve noticed is that constantly being worried about your GPA or the next internship or running around on campus takes away from time doing things you’re passionate about. Or things you just enjoy doing for the fun of it. This definitely doesn’t outweigh the bad, but quarantine does give us an opportunity to pursue what we want to do without feeling like we have to feasibly achieve something while doing it. UC Berkeley culture is worrying about your GPA or cramming as many clubs as possible into a semester, but with quarantine, we’re finally given the opportunity to pursue what makes us happy, not just our college resumes.

So, when you are faced with your quarantine life crisis, make the most of it. Start making a new recipe, reading a new book or even applying for that dream internship you’ve always wanted. Start pursuing things you’re passionate about, because if we’re stuck at home filling our schedules with things we feel like we should be doing, we might as well fill them with a few things we want to do too. This will not only keep us sane for a little bit longer, but also help fight off the quarantine life crisis we find ourselves in every night at 11:48 p.m.