5th April

Dear Diary,

It's a beautiful Sunny Sunday and I decided to wake up earlier to surprise my boyfriend to fresh orange juice and Azorean coffee. It's some of the small perks we can enjoy during Isolation period. It's difficult to look forward to when we can be free again. The freedom date continues to be pushed forward as we learn more about Covid 19 and realize it is nothing like a flu. 

I think this period has meant different things to people. For some, a chance to stop, to have a pause in their busy lives and enjoy the home they have created. We are so caught up in the frantic speed of life that we don't stop to appreciate what we have. So many things are taken for granted, the freedom to travel, to visit the world, to embrace our family, to invite friends over, to hug and touch people we know.

I've been using this time to get to know myself to look again at some of my favorite hobbies and start again. As Stephen King once said "great ideas stick with you" and they do. It's time to focus on those dreams and how can we add more of what makes us happy into our lives.

One step at a time, we shall overcome this. For now, I'll enjoy my Sunny Sunday from the comfort of my home, finish my crochet project and start my online photography course. Later, I will head for a walk near the river, where there aren't people and enjoy the birds, the sun on my face and prepare for another week.

Until another day,

Bárbara

(Bárbara Guimarães is a Biologist and PhD student in the Netherlands)