In the words of Rihanna “Pon de Replay”

March 13, 2020, changed the world. COVID-19 had officially taken its lap around the world and made everyone go inside for its little reign of terror. When I got the email that I would not be returning to campus to finish out my sophomore year in-person, I was a little more than stressed. It was just around this time, I decided to download TikTok. Soon I became entranced with the world built by dancing, POV’s (point of view) and quick-paced cooking videos. It turns out I wasn’t the only one being drawn to the app.

“Among (the) U.S. over 18, TikTok brought in 22.2 million mobile unique visitors in January, 23.2 million in February and 28.8 million in March. In April, that number jumped to 39.2 million—three times the 12.6 million who used the app last April, according to the most recent Comscore data provided to ​Adweek ​(note – Comscore only tracks users over 18),” according to Wallaroo. With so many new users on the app in March, trends began to sprout like little videos of consistency in a completely inconsistent world.

With it now being 2021, I want to try these trends again. I want to experience those little moments of joy I had at home with my family with my friends. I have three trends I wanted to focus on: cooking/baking, walking and rewatching the shows that made season one of quarantine so iconic.

Some of the biggest cooking/baking trends during March were banana bread, sour dough, and whipped coffee. I think I am going to start with banana bread, but to be completely honest I still have to go to the store so I think I am going to save the baking trends for the middle of the month. Step two in relieving quarantine memories is going on long walks. “[walking] ​It improves self-perception and self-esteem, mood and sleep quality, and it reduces stress, anxiety and fatigue. Physically active people have up to a 30% reduced risk of becoming depressed, and staying active helps those who are depressed recover,” according to Walking for Health UK. Taking nightly longwalks was an integral trend on TikTok. My favorites were people walk dancing through their neighborhoods. Sadly, until daylight savings, this option is a bust. March 14th is only 11 days away, but until then walking at the Recreation and Wellness Center (RAWC) will have to do.

Goals one and two for replaying quarantine are coming along slowly, but rewatching quarantine favorites is already off to a great start. Two of the biggest shows to come across TikTok at the time were Outer Banks and Tiger King. I have just restarted watching Outer Banks, and I have to say it is better the second time around. This time I am watching it with a small group of my close friends and one of my friends watching it with us is Evan Hawkins. Hawkins is a North Carolina native and in his words, “[watching Outer Banks] it’s just like home”.

As I am watching the show now, I can only think of what was going on the last time I was watching the series. I was in my room thinking, “I wonder when things will get back to normal?” Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined what this year has brought. It has been challenging, but overcome-able. A year ago, I was only dreaming about returning to normal. Now, I am romanticizing a time when the world seemed a little less chaotic than what it is now. Season one of quarantine maybe gone, but I think if there is a season from all of this to try again it would be season one. The days were warm, time was slow and our biggest concern was where would we be able to find toilet paper.