How is Your Return to Normal Going?

Just thought I’d pop in here for a few quick thoughts. It feels like life post pandemic lockdown is racing forward much more quickly than I ever anticipated. I paid a lot of attention to all the CDC reports during the pandemic and from what I remember, we are at the level of reopening that had been forecasted for this upcoming fall. And hey! It’s summer and we are running around without masks feeling safe as long as we’ve been vaccinated.

It’s been kind of confusing out there in the wild (meaning outside my house). I’ve been to some places, like my doctor’s office, that still require masks. I’ve been to other places, like the physical therapist for my dog, which no longer requires curbside pickup, but still requires masks. Been out to dinner with friends, however, and there hasn’t been a mask in sight, except for the wait staff. Then there’s the issue of going to the supermarket or other retailers like Target, and I find myself pausing to decide on the correct social etiquette. I feel confident in my vaccine that I don’t need a mask to keep myself or my family safe. But in some stores it feels like everyone is still wearing a mask, in others I feel like the only one walking in with one. In either situation I feel like I’m being judged if I don’t conform to what the crowd is doing.

How about hugs? Are they okay? Are people still uncomfortable? Remember how awkward it was pre pandemic to decide whether to hug casual acquaintances. Yeah, those were the good old days compared with the current awkward greetings, as one person reaches in and the other puts up an energy wall signaling, nope, not there yet.

There are other issues cropping up in this “post” pandemic life, and at an accelerated pace. At first, it was the tentative outdoor coffee outing with one friend. Overnight, it seems that turned into people reaching out to make group plans inside. I thought this change would happen over months, not weeks! I guess that once the green lights were given by the CDC and local governments, most people were ready to throw caution to the wind. No need to deny ourselves any social anything. At least for the extroverts among us. As my doctor said to me, all the excuses introverts could count on to avoid social situations during the pandemic have vanished.

It’s all happening too quickly for my introverted self. I’m the kind of person that takes time to adjust to transitions. I need a slower pace to shake off the rust from my social skills. In a perfect world, I would go to one outside coffee outing this month. One inside coffee outing next month. One walk in the public park the next month. Maybe one outside dinner with one friend the following month. Etc. In approximately a year the rust would be sufficiently worn off for me to resume full social activities per pre pandemic levels.

I hate to say it, but I still miss lockdown. Now that we can go places without fear of catching the virus with dire consequences, there seem to be so many places I have to go. And that leaves me with so much less time for my creative juices to flow. I’m feeling very uninspired and haven’t been able to create any art for weeks. I found a moment to pick up my pens last week, created something awful that I won’t share, but in that moment of putting pen to paper I found my brain release and give a big “Ahhhh”. I need more of that, but now I feel like I don’t have time.

Perhaps I’m still experiencing the languishing state from pandemic. Unable to focus on the best way to get out of this unmotivated, uninspired brain fog. How are you doing? Are things all back to normal feeling for you? If so, what’s your secret?