When the pandemic started, I barely flinched. Extended spring break and cancelled due dates? A dream come true — until the repercussions started becoming personal.

I was asked to stay home from the office of my internship, the national competition my dance team had been preparing for all year was canceled, and I was advised to keep away from my parents because I had recently traveled.

As someone who usually maintains a very busy lifestyle, this societal pause gave me something I didn’t know I was in dire need of — the gift of time. As students, we know how quickly time flies. I feel like I blinked and all of a sudden, I’m looking at starting my senior year in the fall. I feel like I couldn’t even tell you how I got here, it just happened. One blink and college flew by.

Time is the one thing that never stops, and we can never get back. This pandemic has taken a lot away from our society, but it’s also given us the thing we’re usually reaching for: time.

So, what have we done with it?

I have been interning in the Marketing and Communications office at Wayne State for almost nine months now, and one of the customs of the office is to watch TED Talks on Friday mornings. It’s a creative way to start the day, end the work week and spark thought-provoking discussion between co-workers.

The most recent TED Talk was about habits — more specifically, building habits. The speaker emphasized that it takes roughly 30 days to develop a behavior. This got me thinking.

Many of us are in the phase of our lives where we want to grow as individuals, to create sustainable lifestyles that set us up for successful futures. As students, we are working on degrees so we can be prepared for an upcoming career. As young adults, we are working to find that balance between our academic, social and professional lives. The habits we take the time to create now are the behaviors that can become a part of us for the rest of our lives.

If you think about it, 30 days will come and go whether we like it or not, so we might as well do something that counts during that time. You can do anything for 30 days, so what are the ways to make these habits maintainable with your lifestyle? People often want change to happen immediately and that’s not always feasible. We may be creatures of habit, but habits take practice.

An unusual aspect of this pandemic is that there is no right or wrong way to endure these tough times. Everyone has a different approach, and everyone needs different motivations to keep them going.

Personally, I proclaimed May as “Make Moves May.” I’m almost halfway through the month, and I’m on track to complete my goal of running 100 miles within its 31 days. This goal is centered around doing a little bit each day and working towards the ultimate goal of exceeding 100 miles.

I wouldn’t consider myself a runner. My interest in the activity has been building for almost two years, but you wouldn’t catch me running more than a few miles at the RFC each week. With the freedom I’ve gained in controlling my daily schedule, I have been able to commit to running almost every day during the stay-at-home order, and I decided I wanted to accomplish something outside my usual aptitude.

For me to achieve this task, I have to average about three miles a day — but that’s not always the case. Some days I’ll run seven miles, some days I don’t run any; the point is, I set an attainable goal for my ambitions and my skillset. I’m also competitive and motivated by potential failure. This isn’t the same for everyone, so you have to pick what drives you.

Goals are always easier to accomplish when there is an endgame in sight. We’ll work out when we know we have a tropical vacation coming up. We’ll cut back on sweets or stay away from bread, but as soon as the vacation is over, we go back to our old ways. With the indefinite end of the pandemic, I believe setting your own timeline is even more important now, because our sanity is at stake.

Sure, you can do something for 30 days, but what can you do for those 30 days that will propel you into the 31st day, and every day after?

I think we often get mixed up in the desire of wanting something badly, but not wanting to put the work in to make it happen. Nothing worthwhile comes easy, we know that. One of my favorite movies, “A League of Their Own,” quotes, “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”

I can’t say I’m going to become a regular, monthly 100-miler, but it has given me something to push for, and I realized my capabilities extend past what I thought was conceivable for myself. It’s also given way for further personal growth, like running faster and being diligent in the ways I take care of my body. Moving forward, I may not worry about running 100 miles a month, but I’ll always know I did what I thought was impossible.

You have to walk before you run, and baby steps are the foundation of effective habit building. Every time I go for a run, my goal is always to run just two miles. If I run those two miles, I feel accomplished, and — more times than not — I continue on running farther than those two miles. Either way, I can feel proud of myself.

The same mentality can translate to other aspects of our lives, so be kind to yourself. Don’t make goals for yourself that set you up for failure. Make goals that are achievable for your situation. A goal can be as simple as making your bed each morning so that you start the day right. A goal can be as complicated as quitting a bad habit (yes, bad habits take 30 days, too). Either way, I encourage you to push yourself to do something every day for the next 30 days. Starting might be the hardest part, but once you get going, you’ll be on your way to your own version of 100 miles.