The counter just keeps increasing. For the first time I feel like telling the 'Refresh button' to not do its’ job.

Anxiety has turned into fear. Relationships are being strained to the fullest. Families are being separated. People are struggling to stay at home when many wished they had one to return to.

It's what a pandemic does to you, doesn't it? Tests your resilience to a point where you feel there is nothing more that could go wrong and just then, something somehow will happen to fall out of place.

A pandemic doesn't look at caste, gender, age, color, whether you're a Prince or pauper. And all of these realizations came to me while sitting within the boundaries of my quarantine ward.

Day 4 of Quarantine:

Quarantine has been defined as the act, period or state of isolating or being isolated in order to prevent a contagious disease.

And if you search for isolation, the related words that show up are 'loneliness'.

What I did realize living in quarantine is that being alone and feeling alone are two very different things.

Being alone would mean obviously mean solitude and no one else to come in between you and your thoughts. But you aren't necessarily feeling lonely when you're alone. And that again, is a choice. You can be alone and lonely. Or alone and still content.

Loneliness can be defined as lot of things. I see it as a state when I overthink, pile all my problems onto one plate and aimlessly try to tackle them, knowing that this is a futile effort. Then I find myself stuck in the middle of nowhere. A huge pile of nothingness that just keeps adding.

The news of mom and me being tested positive made me feel lonely. Helpless because the only option was isolation. Frustrated because all my study time tables were messed up. Upset because Dad was alone at home.

But then as soon as news got out that I was here, I realized I wasn't alone at all. So many of our friends selflessly came to us. Some for help with medicines, some with food, some for moral support, some for a little laugh in such troubling times.

And it is today that I truly realized the importance of building good relations, good friends, respecting others around you. And my happiness soars into the skies, when I know I belong to someone.

There are people out there waiting for me to get back. I'm not alone. It's true, sometimes you need to be alone to gather your thoughts. You need your space. You need your time. That's normal. Having some me-time always gives the best answers to problems.

But being a human, born a social animal, we never need to be worried about feeling lonely, because there will always be that one (or many) rays of hope that will shine even in the darkest of hours.

Catching up with an old friend, making a few wrongs right, thanking someone who has been there for you when they least expect it, are some ways that I think can get us there.

After all, we're in this together, aren't we?