Several activities sports staffer Gretchen Hinger has engaged in during social distancing are displayed. Hinger feels that this time has been a way for her to pursue goals that she may not have been able to have time for during her previous hectic lifestyle. Photos by Gretchen Hinger and courtesy of Shawn Hinger
Sports staffer Gretchen Hinger reflects on her time during social distancing and her new attitude toward being away from her normal schedule.
Over spring break I was relaxing and enjoying the fact that I didn’t have any schoolwork to do, but I would have never imagined I wouldn’t go back to school for the rest of the year. After school was canceled due to COVID-19, I soon found out that both my swim and softball seasons had been canceled as well. My fast-paced world was coming to an almost complete halt.
Before social distancing, I had a full schedule, usually something before or after school every day. This made it hard for me to reflect or really do any other activities than the ones already planned, but I liked this consistent schedule. Now I can’t do these activities that occupied my daily life.
For a little bit, I dwelled on these cancellations and thought about when life would get back to normal. I quickly realized that life may never go back to normal. While this sounds like an extremely pessimistic statement, it might be true, so I started to think about using this time as an opportunity to improve myself.
While I might not ever play softball at Athens Little League ever again, there is always high school softball. Even though I might not be able to coach summer swimming this year, there is always next year. Instead of thinking about all of the things I could be doing, I started pushing myself to do everything that I wanted to do instead of my regular activities.
During this time, I’ve been able to read more books outside of the ones that were assigned for school. My mom had always wanted me to practice pitching daily, and now I have time for that too. I’ve started baking lots of fun recipes that I have always wanted to try but never had the opportunity to. For example, I’ve made a chocolate torte and angel biscuits. I’ve always loved photography and videography, and now I have plenty of time to be creative and make fun, random videos and have mini photoshoots with my sister.
I never had time before to do anything other than what was planned, but now I can branch out and try activities that I may have never even thought about doing. While I may have thought before this was going to be wasted time, I have instead used it to become more productive and proactive to work towards personal goals that will make me better in the long run.
