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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
I saw this sign yesterday. To me, this faded sign represents the perfect image for how most people feel about the pandemic: fading from everyone’s collective minds, part of the past and something that’s been forgotten to take down. However, the sad truth is that’s it’s still very much with us and will be for a long time. We’ve just collectively decided that we don’t care. Just yesterday I learned that my sister’s law firm partner has long COVID and she is barely able to work. People dismiss COVID as mild but the reality is that we will see a lot of unnecessary suffering, be it long COVID or deaths, because of our collective choices and our refusal to implement long term measures (like ventilation, etc). Some days I’m just so discouraged at the state of the world. It feels like we can’t do anything right. The feeling is obviously exacerbated by all the other events happening around the world (Ukraine, school shootings, climate change, etc.). It’s depressing to see that we are incapable to do anything long term if it’s too inconvenient. Even medium term is unbearable to us as a society. We are so privileged and allergic to change, we’d rather be in a bad status quo than do anything about it.
December 7, 2022
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Talk about how the pandemic has affected your closest relationships.
Pre-pandemic my husband and I had a group of friends that we saw regularly (every month or two). We've kept in touch with most of them via text, Zoom, and a handful of small in-person outdoor gatherings. But it's not the same. I find myself feeling resentful of friends who are thriving in the pandemic--taking up crafting, cooking, and roller skating, enjoying remote relationships they established pre-pandemic, etc. I am not thriving. I am keeping my head down and trudging through each day, regularly questioning the point of any of this. I have struggled with bouts of depression and feel like I have no one to talk to about it. Everyone is depressed, and the people who aren't depressed make me feel like I just need to get over myself. It's lonely. I hope when all the adults are vaccinated, things can get back to something that resembles normal, but I do feel like there's a kind of river between me and the people I call friends right now. Getting across the bridge is going to be harder than just going to a few barbecues or whatever this summer.
March 11, 2021