For many of us students, the motivation to complete homework, online Zoom calls and papers has dropped dramatically. Some days, we just sleep, stay up until 1 a.m. and wonder why we did that. At the same time, though, some of us have found tethered energy, built up due to confined spaces and too much time with our families.
And for some students, that tethered energy has gone towards creative projects that have ended up supplementing the income they would normally have received through on-campus jobs. These projects are more than just projects to externalize energy, however; they’re projects that are building a foundation for their future careers, putting education into something tangible and physical. Maybe while this quarantine has been a source of disappointment, feeling long and strangely exhausting, it has also served as a source of time to ask the question, “What am I becoming?” Maybe for some, quarantine is fostering a sense of hope for the future and providing space for newfound motivation to pursue that future.
Avery Lopez, sophomore graphic design major, has been able to keep working in her position for the office of undergraduate admissions as a student enrollment counselor by conducting virtual tours and posting on their social media every other week. However, her work for the office is only half of the work she would normally be doing on campus. Now, she is making flower bouquets and selling them for special occasions like birthdays and fast-approaching Mother’s Day.
She says her end goal is to own her own wedding industry, creating flower arrangements for bouquets.
“I’ve always loved creating; I’m a maker at heart,” said Lopez. “I’m a maker and have an entrepreneur mindset.”
Lopez has been following an account on Instagram called Farm Girl Flowers, a company out of California that delivers flowers nationwide. Her mom has ordered flowers from the company to send to Lopez during finals week or birthdays. This is what inspired her to arrange her own bouquet for her mom’s birthday.
Now, trips to Whole Foods to get flowers are her reward for finishing schoolwork. But flowers are expensive.
“I was there the other day to get a smoothie, and I sent my mom pictures of the flowers that they had, and I was like, ‘I really want to make an arrangement, but it’s going to be expensive,’” said Lopez. “She said, ‘OK, well I need you to make one for my friend’s birthday.’ She needed an arrangement for her assistant too.”
These became the first of her orders. Lopez now has 11 bouquets ordered for Mother’s Day.
For most of us, quarantine did not begin as a motivator to make flower bouquets or anything pretty for that matter. For Lopez, that feeling was similar.
“At first I was just sad. ‘I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m not around anyone. I’m not around my friends,’” said Lopez. “So I got really frustrated, and then I started thinking.”
Lopez listens to a podcast called “Becoming Something.” The question, “What am I becoming?” is one that Lopez has been meditating on for the past year. When she remembered this question, she began to look at social distancing as an opportunity, not a burden.
“This is the only time in probably our lives that we’re going to be able to completely separate from the world, whether it’s not getting on your phone for a day, you literally won’t be surrounded by the world. It’s just you in your home,” said Lopez.
“This is about to be over, and we won’t ever have this opportunity to get away from the world and figure out what it is that the Lord wants you to do with your life without judgment from the world, just you and the Lord.”
She allowed this new perspective to be the prod pushing her to not only be who God wants her to be but also to develop what she wants to do with her life.
Others have used this perspective to push them as well. Leanna Salem, sophomore exercise science major, has found herself with more time during quarantine and online classes since losing her on-campus job in institutional advancement. The prod pushing her is a passion for working out and teaching other people about health and nutrition. She has used the extra energy she’s found during quarantine as a time to develop her future as well.
“When quarantine started, I obviously had to stop going to the gym where I was trained to become a fitness instructor,” said Salem.
“I was going to start teaching workout classes there, but that stopped too, so then all of a sudden, I had all of this free time and this energy and this motivation to put all of these ideas,” she said. “But instead of creating workouts and playlists for a class, I just had it for myself, and I was like ‘OK, what can I do with this?’”
Salem started posting home workouts and tips on her Instagram when a couple of her friends told her she should make a new Instagram just for her workouts and programs.
Friends who saw the page began asking Salem what kinds of workouts they could do, which inspired her to do more than post on Instagram.
“My thing, I can create something for you, but when I think about working out, I think of consistency and a long-term thing; that’s going to help you,” said Salem.
She then created a four-week workout guide with five workouts a week, organized into different muscle groups with added tips and tricks.
“This way, when people actually get access to the guide, they have this very organized, elaborate plan that’s still simple,” said Salem. “They can follow easily if they’re stuck at home or they don’t know how to work out at all, or if they do know how to work out, they can make it more complex.”
At first, Salem wasn’t going to sell her guide, but when her friends saw how much time she had spent on it and how complex it was, they encouraged her to sell it. She’s now sold to many of her friends, hoping to sell more so that she can continue to share her desire to teach and her passion for fitness.
Lopez and Salem didn’t let the discouragement of quarantine and losing their hours at work keep them from pursuing their futures. Through the encouragement of friendships and inspiration from outside sources, they found a way to redirect their perspective and their energy into fun projects that are encouraging and inspiring other people.
“I guess because I want to have some kind of company that involves flowers, it’s helping me do that, or at least get a start,” said Lopez. “I can look back and be like, ‘OK, look, when I was a sophomore in college I made maybe $100 doing these things, but it was so fun!’”
To inquire about Lopez’s flower bouquets, find her on Instagram: @av3rylopez
To inquire about Salem’s workout guide, follow her on Instagram: @leebefit
