To be able to wake up at 12 p.m., stay in pajamas and blow off all school work was what most of us were asking for at our halfway point in the semester. However, now, after our fifth week of consecutive quarantine, online instruction, shelter-in-place orders, etc., we are all surely wishing we had chosen our words more carefully.

The isolation and dramatic change in lifestyle can often weigh us down in all kinds of ways.

In the midst of such things– such difficulties we would have never braced for– keeping a steady sleep, work schedule and forming productive habits can combat our quarantine melancholy in ways that Netflix and Honey Nut Cheerios just can’t reach.

Rarely will you ever hear a college student advocate against sleeping until the late morning and afternoon, but a national quarantine isn’t any more likely, so expect surprises.

So, you’re not a morning person, few of us are, but what good is it to signal your body and mind to work if you begin at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, promptly after your… breakfast and lunch?

In days like these when our bodies are just cycling through the same three or four rooms in the house, what good is it to distinguish your bed from your workspace, your dinner table from your living room? The places we spend our time and what we do with that time has become hyper crucial.

There is validity in the great advantage we now have to be able to form our schedules around what works best for our wellbeing. It has never been this easy to knock out a meal while taking notes on a lecture.

However, our goal of earning a degree, preparing ourselves for the workforce, the real world and the all-important necessity to better our spiritual relationships with Christ remain the same. If all goals remain the same, why would our means to obtain them change? Not simply change either, but deteriorate.

Therefore, with this in mind, let’s remind ourselves of the vehicles that we know help our success. This goes back to the voice of our mothers that, for many of us, is right back in our ear, saying, “Drink water,” and “Get outside for a little bit, it’s gorgeous out there.” But it goes further also. Dust off and reunite with your planner and set up necessary goals for the day.

Get a necessary amount of sleep without becoming nocturnal, and, this may be frightening, but set an alarm in the morning to start the day’s classes at the relative times and in the manner that they would proceed on campus.

We further recommend working from a place separate from the areas in which you sleep, eat, watch Netflix or where you relax. If you separate yourself from your work mentally, doing the same physically will help your productivity and generally orient your mental health.

We acknowledge that some of these practices may work for one person and not for another. Unfortunately, we cannot give the answers to all problems in our now-isolated lives, but the above suggestions may prove some success and improvement. We invite you to not treat this as a prescription but a spark to find the solutions that keep you in the best of health.