Some of us who are relatively introverted have joked among ourselves about the one way that the pandemic wasn't so bad; It has given us permission to be ourselves, and not to spread ourselves too thin with social events that we aren't fully enthusiastic about anyway.
And I have pretty much done everything by the book. Last year, living with folks whose health isn't strong, I went out into the world (masked) only about once a week, for groceries, yarn, and books. Essentials. I was vaccinated in the spring, and last week had my booster shot. As things opened up this past summer, I still functioned very conservatively. Since June, I think I have eaten inside restaurants with very high ceilings only three or four times, and in outdoor settings the same number of times. I've attended no sports events or concerts (outside or in), have still done relatively little shopping (always with a mask). I've only been inside two friends' houses, once masked, once not. This fall, while the weather was nice, I enjoyed meeting friends for a walk by the lake. But now that it's cold and icy, I am again struggling to figure out how to be with people. The old "inviting someone over for a cup of tea in the kitchen" idea seems dicey to me, with Minnesota experiencing a renewed COVID surge. Vaccinations help protect me from getting seriously ill, but it's balanced out by the fact that I am exposed to a lot of people of uncertain vaccination status on the city buses. And, like all of us, I haven't figured out how to eat or drink with a mask on!
Now, the hardest thing of all for someone who is basically alone in the world -- I've been invited to a friend's house for a big family Thanksgiving gathering. They are not wearing masks, and are just trying to do the traditional event the traditional way. I'm so delighted to be included. I want to go so much! But I'm just not sure I can do it. I'd probably be ready if Minnesota's numbers were going down, but they aren't.
Even the most contemplative and introspective people in the world need other people, and when and if we see the end of this pandemic, I suspect that the social fallout will be studied every bit as much as the medical fallout. I relish my solitude when it is by choice, but these two years have clearly been too much of a good thing.
