20 people share the most important thing they've learned about themselves in quarantine

29-year-old Timothy Richards of London, England, wanted to try something different during quarantine.

"The main thing I've learned is to try and find one positive thing a day to keep me going during self-isolation," he told Insider.

So he started a YouTube channel with one-minute videos called Rich Tea. The idea is that people stop at 3 p.m. for a cup of tea, a biscuit, and one-minute video on a positive and encouraging topic, anything from "kindness" to "resilience" to "forgiveness."

"I was watching the news every day and feeling quite low in light of the situation in the world today," he said. "During these difficult times, I realized we need some daily positivity in order to give us hope and help us to persevere and keep going. These videos have given me a sense of purpose each day and I've had some very positive feedback from people saying that they have helped them to reflect and feel more joyful. Mission accomplished."

Alexa Cucchiara, a 22-year-old student, entrepreneur, and author of "Power to Persevere: Inspiring Stories to Help You Get Through Challenging Moments," is holed up in New York City.

"No matter what obstacle, I use my drive to create the life I want to live," she told Insider. "While in quarantine, I have realized that my drive to succeed is not affected by obstacles. I have been using this time as an opportunity to help me grow, network, and start projects I would not have done if it was not for the quarantine."

As an entrepreneur, she said she's lost a lot of opportunities from canceled events, but that she's gained much more insight from being patient and still.

"In fact, I have shown myself that I can achieve much more in a day than I thought was possible because I have made new, clear goals," she said. "Everyone has the ability to shine and persevere through this time. It is a matter of believing in yourself and keeping the end in mind."

"I have learned that it is OK to sit and be idle," Johnny Welsh, 39, a bartender and author based in Frisco, Colorado told Insider. "These are the times when I can dream and plan what I want to accomplish. Sitting and thinking is something I never had time to do before."

Now that he has the time, Welsh said he's embracing it and using the quiet times to reflect.

"I'm OK with this break from working my entire life away," he said. "I know it's hard for a lot of people, but what about treating it like a mandatory sabbatical?"

He said that's the approach he's using, which motivates him to fill his days with activities, whether he's reading, writing, or catching up on cleaning.

"I'd say use this time to finish any and all projects that you've always wanted to do, but never had the time," he said. "When it's all said and done, we can be prepared to go back to work with no to-do list. That sounds amazing, right?"

Diane Dye Hansen, the 43-year-old president of What Works Consultants, Inc. based in Carson City, Nevada, said she has learned she's a pleasure seeker.

"If I have to do something, I must find the fun in it," she told Insider. "This wasn't such a big deal when I could load my calendar up with things to do on weekends outside of the house."

But now, she really has to work on her motivation and find little bits of fun, whether that's listening to upbeat music while she's working, sitting on the back patio and snuggling her dogs while paying bills, or using the Marco Polo app to connect with friends as a reward for doing the not-so-fun stuff, she said.

"The good news is, I also stopped procrastinating on a three-year-long project and released my workbook, 'Creating Critical Opportunity: A workbook to help you innovate and create opportunity out of any problem, challenge, or crisis,' at a time when the world needs it most."

"Being in self-isolation has taught me I am done playing small," Christian Sismone, 34, of Minneapolis, Minnesota told Insider. "As someone who just celebrated my 10th year anniversary of surviving an attempt on my life, I want the chance to live out my wildest dreams."

Over the past few weeks, she said she's sat and reflected on her life and has realized she's masked her true self and desires in order to be accepted, palpable, and not rock the boat.

"Also, I am immunocompromised, and coming to grips that I could die due to this virus has been a very hard pill to digest," she said. "I don't find this quarantine time to be a coincidence — prior to the quarantine, I had a lot of thoughts going on in my mind and heart about life, as I wasn't very happy. However, I have taken this gift of time to really analyze myself and create a game plan on how I can enjoy a life that I design."

"I generally consider myself to be a 'go get 'em' kind of gal," 60-year-old Irene Keene, of Madison, Connecticut told Insider. "But while isolating, I've realized that I'm also a bit of a procrastinator."

She works as a background actor, model, publicist, and realtor, and said since she's not an essential worker, she's home on the Connecticut shoreline.

"All around me, I see projects, mainly creative-based ones, that I should have spent the last few months — years even — devoting more time to," she said. "But now that I have the time, I still keep pushing things off till tomorrow."

To help combat her procrastination, Keene said she's been reading Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird" — about doing things task by task, she said — though some days are better than others.

"Will I be as ambitious tomorrow?" she said. "Maybe, maybe not. But I'm not going to beat myself up over it."

"I realize I can live on less than I thought I could," 35-year-old Emily Derr of Stamford, Connecticut told Insider. "Instead of running to the store for paper products, I have recycled T-shirt sleeves — that I cut off from T-shirts I made into sleeveless tops — and use reusable cloths, like ShamWow!, to wipe down surfaces."

Since she is not going out, Derr said she's also not spending money on dinners — unless she orders the occasional Seamless or Grubhub delivery — or bars. Instead, she'll stay in and watch an indie film on the Kanopy app through her library or read ebooks on her library app, Hoopla, as well as take advantage of free and low-cost webinars for exercise and spiritual enrichment.

"Plus, although events have been cancelled and socializing is reduced to virtual, I may be just as busy as I was with activities than when I was working — between fitness apps, virtual meditations, moon circles, cacao ceremonies, and networking via Zoom," she said. "As a result, I am a lot calmer and accepting of what's going on now than I thought I would be."

25-year-old Kenny Screven of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a social media influencer, as well as a healthcare provider for youth. Now, he's juggling both jobs from home and trying to find the right balance.

"I learned that discipline is really important," he told Insider. "Especially when you're working from home, there are so many different ways to get distracted, but creating home work spaces can help differentiate what you're supposed to be doing at any given time."

He said figuring out what doesn't work — like working on his way-too-comfortable couch — is just as important as figuring out what does.

"I also give each work space its own vibe — it really helps distinguish which job I should be doing," he said.

"My self-realization during this self-quarantine was that I discovered my ability to fight for a global cause and inspired myself to create a health and wellness blog, OurPositiveStory.com," Sampark Ray, 30, of Lucknow, India told Insider. "Through it, I want to spread awareness about chronic Hepatitis B, the disease I am suffering from."

He said a relative was recently diagnosed with it, too, and knew little about how to manage it.

Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of living with Hepatitis B, which he did pre-pandemic, he decided it would be best to nurture himself — and others — with positivity regarding fighting a chronic, and global, illness.

"The mind is like a vacuum pump without a 'power off' button and requires constant feeding, no matter what it gets," he said.

Elda Lopez, 63, of Brentwood, California, usually works as a dialogue coach for a prime-time television show. However, since TV production has been halted due to COVID-19, she's been at home, unemployed.

"I've learned that being quarantined is not so different from what my lifestyle is normally like during this time of year," she told Insider. "I work in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles and a long hiatus, for my particular job, is common. Collecting unemployment is common. Budgeting is common."

Even though Lopez is used to running around a lot doing errands, she doesn't miss that, yet, she said. She's also working on some book-writing goals, which keeps her behind a computer doing research, reaching out, and watching webinars.

Overall, she values private time, she said — it allows her the opportunity to reevaluate, reconfigure, and reinvigorate, which is what she planned to do prior to the pandemic anyway.

"Due to this, I find myself self-isolating too much," she said. "The upside: It preemptively prepared me for this unique time in our history."

Aliza Sherman, 55, is self-isolating at her sister-in-law's house in Seattle, Washington with one of her three children — she is homeschooling the 16-year-old while her 13-year-old daughter is at a nearby residential treatment center which is locked down due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, her husband is back at their home in Anchorage, Alaska with their toddler.

"I'm not a time waster — I'm a self-confessed workaholic," she told Insider. "Usually, I'm driven to be as productive as possible and typically do impossible amounts of work each day. I even work through weekends."

But these days, although she expected to have copious amounts of time to get a lot of work done, she finds it difficult.

"I didn't think I'd be unproductive, which is causing me a great deal of anxiety," she said. "I didn't think that the smallest task would seem so monumental and difficult. I didn't think that completing one work assignment instead of dozens would have to be considered a win."

On a positive note, however, Sherman said she's amazed at how many small things she either didn't notice or didn't do because she filled her days up with so much work. That's another win, she said.

Amanda Webster, 35, lives in Phoenix, Arizona and runs Amanda Webster Health. Currently, she's working at home, coaching clients through video calls and creating a new program that will launch later this month.

"The main thing I've learned about myself is that I had been seriously neglecting my inner child — and doing so had been contributing to a lot of anxiety over the years," she told Insider. "Now, while at home, I feel like I've been given permission to build forts, doodle, and dance in my undies, and it has been amazing."

Once upon a time, she enjoyed these things and didn't question it, she said. But she feels that society or peers make people think certain behaviors are no longer acceptable after you reach a certain age — so then people give up the behaviors.

"Before quarantine, I'd been living the adult life of focusing solely on my responsibilities by day and having a glass of wine and a yoga session in the evenings," she said. "But letting my inner child out now feels more authentic."

Edie Weinstein, 61, of Dublin, Pennsylvania, is a career therapist and journalist.

"The biggest lesson that surrounds what I call 'self-solituding' is that I can slow down and still accomplish what needs to be done," she told Insider. "I am a recovering Type A+ workaholic overachiever. Instead, I am learning to 'be.'"

Weinstein said that while she has specific appointments with her clients, beyond that, she can go about her day in a far more leisurely manner.

"Somehow, time seems to have slowed down and the days don't zip by as they had before," she said. "I am now able to savor quiet moments."

As the founders of "Hug Mobsters Armed With Love," she used to organize Free Hugs events.

Weinstein looks forward to the day when it's safe to do so again.

Chicagoan Crystal Diaz, 28, has been working from home for the last month.

"At first, everything was great, but slowly I noticed how lonely I was," she told Insider. "My husband currently works at home as well, but we don't talk during working hours, and knowing that is a little weird and uncomfortable. I didn't realize how social we are as human beings."

To help curb her loneliness, Diaz has been reaching out to friends digitally, having video calls and playing online games with them. They also have a group chat going, which helps when Diaz is craving connection.

"When that doesn't work though, I go outside in my backyard and meditate and listen to the birds, my breath, and the air around me," she said. "It makes me feel so much better."

"I've always thought I was an extrovert as I excel in social situations, don't have trouble talking to or in front of people, and enjoy going out," Kimmie Conner, a 27-year-old blogger at Adventures & Sunsets who is currently holed up in Bali, Indonesia, told Insider. "However, during this quarantine time, I have discovered that, at heart, I'm truly an introvert — just an 'extroverted introvert,' if you will."

She said while a lot of extroverts are talking about how much they're struggling during quarantine, she is doing completely fine.

"I have discovered that I enjoy the confinement — staying home to work on my projects and blog, cook, watch TV, read, do yoga, and spend time alone and with my partner," Conner said.

After a month together non-stop, she and her partner also realized the importance of having space and alone time, too, like going on a walk solo. And he's discovered something about himself, too: that he's not as introverted as he believed.

"In reality, he relies a lot more on social interaction than he thought," she said. "He craves going out in social situations a ton more, while I do not, which has taken a lot of navigating for us, but we are doing our best to compromise."

Rafael Parra, 25, lives in Antigua, Guatemala and is able to do his job for Spanish Academy from home.

"The main thing I've learned while self-isolating is that I'm more of an extrovert than I initially thought," he told Insider. "I usually have a relatively small circle of friends, prefer to be alone, and used to think of myself as a full-fledged introvert. But after almost a month of not seeing my friends or getting together to hang out and play board games, I see how there's a side of me that really needs and likes to be around people."

To quell his need for connection, Parra is doing group chats with his friends, as well as video chatting and playing video games with them.

"'Together,' we also get to see our favorite local musicians doing social distancing concerts, he said. "It's great in the sense that I now have company for a lot of activities that I used to do by myself. After the COVID-19 pandemic is over, I hope many of us will keep some of the new habits we're learning and incorporate them into our everyday lives."

Self-isolation has made Miami Beach, Florida resident Angela Betancourt, 37, realize that she always defaults to a routine.

"Even though I engage in more random and spontaneous activities each day, they still happen almost at the exact time daily," she told Insider. "I have predictable days with unpredictable activities."

During the week, she follows a structured work day, but takes breaks to indulge in creative pursuits.

"These breaks always happen between 2 and 4 p.m.," she said. "I've gotten into candle making, sewing, baking, painting, and arts and crafts."

She then wraps up work around 6 p.m. and falls into her evening routine: exercising, making dinner, and watching TV.

"But if D-Nice is doing Club Quarantine on Instagram, I stop whatever I'm doing to dance around the house," she said. "And then I'm in bed by 11, even if I'm in the middle of a movie."

Writer Mary Ellen Ciganovich, 68, of Chattanooga, Tennessee has found that she's been doing more DIY than usual.

"I have found new ways to do many things I use to pay for — and they are turning out better," she told Insider.

From coloring her hair to watching a YouTube video on how to put on false eyelashes — and succeeding — she not only discovered she likes doing these things, but she also likes the money she's saving as a result.

She also used to go to the gym daily and is finding that working out at home, as well as walking around her hilly neighborhood, are even better.

After self-isolation ends, she won't go back to the gym since she has plenty of equipment at home, including yoga mats, hand weights, Bowflex machines, and a boxing bag. She'll also keep doing her other new skills herself versus paying someone else to, she said.

"I am getting the hang of them more and more and saving a lot of money," Ciganovich said.

Lucie B. Lindner, 53, is a native New Yorker who lives in Stockholm, Sweden.

"The main thing I've learned about myself while self-isolating is that I really do love the quiet time alone," she told Insider. "Not socializing gives me an opportunity to sit and reflect on my life, my mistakes, my strengths, my weaknesses, and frankly, all the things that I have done right over the years."

When she's not working from home as an elementary school teacher and jump rope coach, she also tends to her garden and the trees, or goes to her little country house deep in the forest.

Not only does she want to help her students educationally, as well as mentally and physically, but she also said less noise, fewer people, and more time in silence has helped her to focus on her mental and physical health, too — for her mind, she's spending more time in prayer, and for her body, she's taking regular walks in the forest.

"I am loving reconnecting with myself," she said.

"The most important thing I've learned as a result of quarantine is how to appreciate the little things in life and look at the bright side of things," Terry Fields, who runs the Keto Beach YouTube channel, told Insider. "It's also good to be able to anticipate the new normal that we are all facing."

The Boca Raton, Florida resident, 56, said that he thinks being under quarantine has forced society to return to a simpler life, similar to how people in the early 1900s must have lived.

"Yes, we still have access to our cellphones and social media, but with places of social gathering shut down, the bulk of our day is spent in our homes with our families," he said. "The slowed pace of life has given us all a chance to catch our breath and have the time to pay closer attention to what our kids are saying. And something as simple, and previously unappreciated, as an evening stroll, with or without the family, can now actually be the highlight of one's day."