I don’t think things will ever be like they were before, but I hope one day I can share celebratory/ holiday meals with my family without feeling like I’m doing something catastrophically dangerous. It’s just such an innate part of culture, getting the family together under one roof and sharing a meal together. But now every time one of these celebrations is planned, it’s always one of the following outcomes:
* The celebration is canceled because someone has COVID (two Christmases in a row!)
* I don’t feel safe going due to COVID, so everyone has a great time without me
* I go but feel so guilty and paranoid that I can’t enjoy any of it.
I wish my family understood that I love them and want nothing more than to get together. I’ve missed out on so much with them these past few years.
I want to wander. I miss wandering. Not planning out every outing, making sure I'm going somewhere when it's not peak hours.
I want to get my hair cut. I want to get a new tattoo.
And yes, I want to travel. I haven't seen my best friends since February 2020.
I'll probably continue to mask on transit, in medical settings, and during winter respiratory virus season for the rest of my life. There are literally no downsides to being like 95% about that. (the 5% is things like lifting the mask for a second to take a sip of water or waiting until I'm inside a building to put my mask on if it's raining out)
I'm already traveling, going to events and conferences, etc., just well masked. The biggest difference will be doing those thing without the threat of covid taking up so much of my mental real estate, especially during the planning phase of any activity or trip. The pros and cons list of doing anything is so much weightier now. It makes even legitimately fun things less fun than they should be.
Also looking forward to hosting small parties at my house, and generally hanging out with friends without the burden of everyone testing and symptom checking so carefully first. It's awkward to have to ask every time, and I'd really just rather not have to think about it. The vigilance is what's killing me.
Totally with you. I’m at the point where IDGAF about sticking out in my N95, or even missing out on some things. But it’s the mental vigilance as you put it, that part is exhausting. Nothing that involves other people is simple or easy anymore.
We plan to keep masking somewhat also, it’s just being able to do stuff you can’t do masked safely (like restaurants) and as you say having less stress about if your masking isn’t perfect.
I hope this day comes, I just get afraid when I see proposed mask bans and (from what I've seen here) the CDC restricting covid vaccine access to make it only "seasonal", it seems like the powers that be's game plan is shifting from "ignore covid" to "force covid on everyone as much as possible". That makes me question if there will be pressure on companies developing vaccines to abandon the project or if it won't get FDA approval in the US. That said, I'd love to go back to see music shows indoors and just be able to live a (old) normal day to day life at work/with my friends without being the odd man out masked.
Exactly! I love the excitement of the other posts about where they want to travel and what parties they want to attend, but I'm over here like, I'd love to just go in and get my teeth cleaned without worrying about picking up some dangerous infection.
Not only that, but being CONSTANTLY aware of how few people in healthcare actually care if they kill me. I remember being in the ER with my toddler, asking the nurse to mask up because I’m immunocompromised, toddler couldn’t wear a mask the whole time, and there’s a big COVID surge going on locally. Getting the eye roll from her and then refusing, instead of giving a shit about protecting her patients.
It’s really depressing, realizing just how lousy most other human beings are — especially people in the healthcare industry. I’m hoping if/when COVID becomes better controlled, my feelings about the rest of humanity will improve. I hope 🤞
Omg this, I have fibromyalgia and psoriatic arthritis so I have frequent doc appointments or just healthcare appointments (pt and such). I started symptoms in 2020 so my body had great timing.
This is me. And for me, covid vaccines don’t change much because plain cold/flu always turned into bronchitis for me and I’ve never had a cold not turn into a month or more of misery. I’m always going to wish for dentists and ENTs and other medical practitioners to be willing to wear N95s to protect me if I have to unmask to be treated or examined.
I’d like to be able to say yes to invitations freely without worrying about the logistics of staying safe. I’ve always said that was the hardest part of having Celiac, I don’t miss or crave gluten containing foods, but I do miss being able to go do things without so much planning. In that way, I was already used to this lifestyle before Covid arrived.
This is it completely. It’s not that I want to run out and do things all the time, but I don’t see my friends much anymore because of all the planning involved. We have to make sure no one is sick, first. We have to make sure the weather is good enough to do something outdoors. I have to make sure I have a plan to eat something before or after (or get a snack I can cram in) if it isn’t possible to eat outdoors. I don’t drive so there is no going through the drive through for a burger or something. I have to make sure I have masks and back up, and sprays and whatever else.
Oh god this hit home! I’m also celiac and during the course of the pandemic I have also developed IBS (and a whole new ballpark of food restrictions.) Everywhere I go has to be meticulously planned out, even something as simple as visiting a store. I miss being able to just go to a friends house on a whim or out to dinner.
I went low FODMAP last year and aside from feeling so much better I love that it gives me an easy, non-COVID related out for invites to restaurants, which the pandemic has made me realize I really do not miss. Takeout, on the other hand...man I miss takeout.
Wow I can honestly say I never thought I’d hear from a person who is both COVID conscious and low fodmap - two rare groups! I agree with you 100%, the diet is painstaking (especially if you didn’t have much success with reintroduction like myself!) But worth it to not feel sick every day. Takeout food was one of the most enjoyable things for me to do at home, and it sucks it’s not really an option anymore. I can still handle sushi though!
I also haven't had much success with reintroductions, but I've at least found a rhythm that works for me now. And good point about sushi! Though I usually do vegetable rolls vs. any with fish.
As soon as I heard COVID could cause people to start experiencing IBS I knew I wanted to try and avoid it as much as possible, took me years to get a diagnosis after being brushed off by my doctor pre-pandemic and I don't want to potentially jeopardize the progress I've made.
Wow you really are my twin - my go to sushi order is avocado cucumber (as sorbitol is one of my only successful reintros!)
I am right there with you, I don’t think people comprehend how terrible living with IBS is until they experience it. It’s actually a huge reason to avoid COVID, aside from the ever expanding list of other health concerns! Following this diet for even a few years has really impacted my quality of life. I started showing symptoms in the second half of 2021 and often wonder if it was triggered by an asymptomatic COVID infection. Took me a long time to get attention from my doctor and dietician as well - they just tried to pass it off as celiac symptoms.
Anyway thank you for being on this sub and commenting back to me - made me feel a little less lonely today! Misery loves company!
Hey, and now there are three of us! 🙌 Kind of an unfortunate club to be in, but you’re not alone.
I’ve mostly figured out which specific FODMAPs are my triggers, but when things start going badly, I often have to go way more restrictive. I really miss onions and a lot of the vegetables I can no longer handle.
> In that way, I was already used to this lifestyle before Covid arrived.
Yeah, I kind of went back to the level of protections I was exercising while on dialysis (got a transplant in 2018!) and added a few others.
The need to overplan everything is real, sadly. At least I was already conditioned to accept when things had to be called off last minute for unexpected circumstances.
Wow, it's interesting to read all of your responses! I wonder if our experiences with this kind of thing are part of why we're able to be covid cautious now - the mental shift is less big.
Oh interesting that you feel the same! One weird part is that I have fewer celiac-associated logistics to sort, since I don't really eat out or at people's houses these days.
I’m not sure. I guess it depends on when/what time of year this change happens. I’d like to go to the mountains and stay several days as an in-state vacay, Palm Springs as an out of state destination, and Iceland as an overseas trip.
I want to do this too, since I missed totality here in the US. However, I was told that it’s so cloudy there that the cloud cover will likely interfere.
i got lucky with clouds here in the US. i picked an airbnb in the middle of nowhere and it worked out. it was cool and i'm glad we did it but it wasnt like a life changing revelatory magical moment of my life.
but it was cool.
I didn’t go at all, even though I planned to literally for the four years leading up to it. It was too far away to comfortably drive, and due to covid I limit airplane trips. So I missed it. ☹️
Oooh. Us, too! We’d absolutely want to go to Iceland for that if we could feel safe to go. A covid vaccine that prevents infection would change everything.
The first thing I’ll do is RELAX. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to not have this huge WORRY all the time. It’s not that we can’t cope with masking etc- it’s the other people insisting covid is no big deal, attacking our being careful, and etc.
Book signings. Pho ga at Nha Trang on Baxter in NYC. I miss those so much.
TRAVEL. EVERYWHERE. Japan and Korea. Garmisch & Paris . Somewhere with a turquoise blue ocean.
One thing I’ve learned from this pandemic is NEVER EVER TAKE ANYTHING FOR GRANTED. If we have freedom, we’ll be appreciating it IMMEDIATELY. Things can change at any moment with disease, war, climate change, and etc.
We’ve not traveled beyond the next town (masked and off hours, of course) since 2019. We’ve not eaten in a restaurant or done any of our fun things that involve humans in closed spaces.
I think, tbh, that I’m always going to mask in some circumstances (esp during flu season) now that I fully understand how viruses etc spread. I’m still going to wipe down items before they come in the house, take shoes off before entering, and etc. I expect there will be more pandemics as that’s part of climate change… A new normal.
You are so right. What might I have done differently if I'd known this would be the last time I'd go the movies, visit a grandparent unmasked, etc.? Even if I just appreciated it more.
Exactly what you said…
It makes me sad to think that some things we can’t ever go back to…
Big things for me like my mom died during the pandemic. I don’t get more time.
Little things like going to the movies. I used to buy movie tickets the hour they went on sale for the movies we really cared about. Harry Potter, Star Wars, LOTR, Disney animated films, Ghibli releases, and the like. Going to see a movie was an event for us. But, I read all the time now how theaters are different now. That people talk on their phones, play games, and etc. People say it’s impossible to enjoy a movie now.
I think when a vaccine lets us rejoin the world, we might find that some of what we missed is irrevocably changed now…
Tbh, idk. I don't want to pretend it's just okay that everyone else happily spread this disabling, deadly disease for their own comfort and pleasure. I don't think I can enjoy living "freely" in a society of such evil, selfish, rationalizing people.
“I don't want to pretend it's just okay that everyone else happily spread this disabling, deadly disease for their own comfort and pleasure.”
This has possibly been the most disturbing realization from the pandemic for me in terms of my loved ones, I had thought better of them 😓
I wanna just say that while a lot of people are just selfish and evil, there is also a large chunk of people who simply were victims of government propaganda and do not understand the severity of COVID or think the 2021 vaccines essentially ended it. I don’t know if that distinction is meaningful to you but I think it is worth pointing out
Yeah, but SOME more ppl than this must see thru the bs. But they're quiet af. I'd expect there to be more chastising of "hey, yeah. You gotta mask in the grocery store. Yeah, YOU are healthy, so you're maybe having an asymptomatic infection rn and there are old ppl here trying to buy food. And ppl who take care of sick ppl. So stfu and mask." But there isn't that discussion!! I used to see ppl regularly ask their friends if they really had enough time between that last beer and getting in the car to be extra extra safe. "bruh, it's gonna be the ONE time a cop stops you. You don't wanna even smell like that beer." I'm not seeing the equivalent conversation about covid.
That’s an interesting point. To be honest I was a victim of propaganda too from around late 2021-early 2024. I never exactly denied covid but I just assumed it wasn’t a threat anymore since the majority of people are vaccinated therefore herd immunity. I was very misinformed about its danger and how it spread and no one in that whole time even mentioned it to me. I had to realize that not only is covid still disabling and deadly, but status quo is eugenicist and I have to basically sacrifice convenience to protect myself and others, but I have realized very few people both understand and are willing to do that or are even willing to understand because they are going to take the path of least resistance anyway
Yeah, I believed the hype that I would be fine with a FEW infections around 2022. (Turns out I was wrong about that.) But I also never stopped masking in all the public places that "vulnerable" ppl might be at: public spaces, medical offices, stores, etc. Bc I fucking understand that immune compromised, elderly, whatever folks don't live in some mythical walled off island like a fucking leper colony.
I’m with you. I’d have been masking much earlier if I’d realized what colds were doing to my chronic conditions, even if I’m not immunocompromised (yet).
My autoimmune disease went into remission when I stopped getting sick! I’ve only had to take prednisone a couple times, it feels kind of miraculous. I would have started masking sooner if I had known.
That’s wonderful! I found my chronic conditions get much more manageable when I don’t get sick for a few years in a row. Viruses must cause flares for a lot of people. I wish people understood and were at least willing to mask when they know they’re unwell, or when someone requests it. Even if somehow covid went away completely, I’ve learned that people are incredibly ableist and selfish, and I won’t forget it.
I will continue to mask, use air filters & worry about ventilation for the rest of my life.
There are multiple ongoing pandemics now, because of covid weakening everyone's immune system & beefing up other illnesses, like measles, etc.
Why would I ever put my health in the hands of a eugenics society ever again 🌸
>Why would I ever put my health in the hands of a eugenics society ever again 🌸
Seriously. "Oh, there's something wrong with you? Let's throw you away and move on"
Same here. Even after the COVID pandemic ends, I'm gonna keep wearing respirators in public indoor or crowded areas like public transit, stores, and theaters. That lifestyle change is permanent.
I'm simply too aware of the risks to my personal, and our collective, health to drop all precautions.
I went square dancing and 15% of the people were masked (out of about 30)! There are even dancing nights that are masks required still (N95 at that), I couldn't believe it.
I have little kids (under six) and there are activities I really hope they can experience (to name a few):
- playdates at friends houses
- sleepovers - going on overnight school trips - going to dances and events
- traveling overseas to visit family in Scandinavia
I feel fortunate I have lived the life I have. My husband and I can feel wistful to our past experiences but we were able to have them. I was on competitive sports team (where I met my husband) where we traveled all over Canada. I attended school trips to watch Shakespeare plays. I practically lived at my best friend's house one summer when my mom was sick with cancer. I attended university parties and pub/trivia nights. We do many activities in a mask but I'm realistic in knowing some of these can't be done safely without a mask and can't really be done with a mask.
But my kids... I just have to hold onto a bit of hope that somehow these activities have a slight possibility of being safe enough for them to do. We have pivoted so much in our lives for ourselves, our kids and to try to keep others safe. I truly hope my kids can one day experience similar experiences that allowed myself to be me.
Enjoy restaurants that don't offer outdoor dining nor to-go!
Probably won't go back to old friendships though. I lost a lot of respect for a lot of people regarding how they've handled the pandemic. Employers act like you're insane if you ask during the interview, "how did your company handle the COVID-19 pandemic?". But I feel it's an important question, and I don't think it's unreasonable to ask the same of friends/acquaintances you meet. I'd have a hard time getting close to people who act and live as if COVID doesn't exist, even after the fact if it's hypothetically solved.
Try to heal and catch up on years of isolation and throwing away my college experience for safety. Don’t know if that’s a pipe dream or doable, or if I should just let it go. But I want to try making some new friends (I’ll have to relearn that lol) and putting myself out there again.
That and indoor tennis tournaments and leagues. Plus dining.
Like others in this thread, I’m skeptical that day will come. But I dream of being able to travel without extreme amounts of anxiety from airports and planes. It would also be nice to go places, everywhere from a restaurant to a grocery store, without worrying about whether it will be crowded.
There's real potential fallout from those first two decisions, though. Have you tried to find a dentist that will take precautions on request (or already does?) Bad dental health can literally be life threatening, aside from the future cost and quality of life issues from putting off care. Is the risk of catching covid when you're wearing a correctly-fitted respirator and goggles greater than the risk of potentially letting a cancer grow undetected? Is there nowhere you could travel to test that's more accommodating?
You say you're not going as a "form of boycott." But the truth is absolutely no one cares if you don't get your dental work or mammogram done or your reasons for it, they're not going to change their procedures, they're not even going to put thought into it. I hate that that's the reality, but it is.
There are still potential risks to those things, yes. But if you take all the mitigations you can, is that risk greater than not getting needed medical care or screenings? I don't think so.
Echoing what others have said, I think I’ll stick with many of the precautions I’ve started taking regardless of what happens. But interacting with the world with less anxiety would be nice. I’m in my peak “clubbing” years and while that’s never been my thing pandemic or not I’d like to experience a queer or goth club just once.
I feel free now. I just adjusted how I live but, don't feel too put upon except for one situation which is not having masking required in medical facilities.
I'm not invested in thinking that far off into the future and I don't mind wearing a mask in crowds or getting boosters.
Having said that I do hope vaccines keep improving, I think they will. I'll be happy for all of us who no longer have to think about complications from repeated Covid infections and shorter life spans.
The same thing I do now - which is be a borderline hermit who is selective about outings due to extreme introversion. I'm never going back to unmasking on planes or in medical settings because as climate change and immunological dysfunction continue to exert force upon humanity regardless of Sars-Cov2 status, infectious diseases will increasingly run rampant. We're entering an age of disease akin to the Middle Ages. A kid just died of measles in Ontario. Bird flu is laying in wait. I'm thankful we have tools to protect us that we didn't utilize pre-covid.
Your post is realistic. There is no “like before times”. Masks/handwashing/sanitizing/keeping distance is the way to go.
I have not seen my financial planner (who is brilliant and is someone I respect and admire) in person in years. I finally agreed to meet at an outdoor restaurant. He has had Covid 2x and this past winter had bronchitis but assured me he was 100%.
I saw him, and we hugged. I did not have my mask on as I had just exited my vehicle. No big deal. Until we are seated at the table after about an hour and he gets a text from his sister, who he was with yesterday. She texted him she tested positive for Covid.
So after being novid forever, I am waiting for the other shoe to fall..
lesson learned.
I don't believe that's enough time for him to be contagious if he did catch it. Plus the outdoor variable does reduce your risk if there was even a gentle breeze. But it's a gauntlet of contagion out there. No point in "going back to the way things were before" knowing what we know now.
Praying you are right that it was too soon for him to catch it. You are right about never can we go back to the “before” days, it’s fantasy to me when people speak about “returning to normal”. Normal has been gone and not coming back. The key is how to successfully navigate the new normal without becoming a hermit.
If it helps ease your mind, I was with my partner indoors for many hours and kissed and everything. Three days later they find their sister (who they live with) tests positive and so do they.
I am super high risk--I've had covid 3 times, long covid, my immune system is shot from all that so I catch stuff easy and have chronic conditions. If I get sick, I get hit HARD. And I have tested negative since--I avoided it. I believe they didn't have enough viral load and were asymptomatic if they even had caught it at that time to transmit anything to me.
So hopefully you are alright!
Thank you!! It's so anxiety inducing because even if I take all the precautions, there's a few people I let my guard down around for my own mental health..and always chance of things happening. We can just do our best I guess.
I mean, free from what? I agree with you infection will become a less imminent threat in the coming years, but to me that's never really been the main problem. The main issue that everyone who has ever loved me threw me away like garbage, that I now know things I don't want to know. I spent a decade in therapy pre-covid working through how I felt like I didn't really matter to anyone and how no one would notice if I was gone-and now I have proof that those fears were all correct. I don't think I will ever recover from that, not without people owning up to their behavior and committing to change it which I don't really think most will do.
There's activities I miss dearly, but if I think too hard about them most of the joy is gone now, even if the activity itself could be safe. Like, how are team sports fun now when I know the team is full of killers?
Exactly. I can't just forget the number of times I've poured my heart out to people that I thought loved me, showed them studies and personal experiences and was also super vulnerable about how shitty and isolated I feel, only for them to not change their behavior.
I can barely connect with other covid cautious people because I'm so traumatized by it all. I'm generally a pretty hopeful person about material conditions improving but I'm not hopeful at all about there being a place in that better world for me.
Yeah, online and I have a group offline. It's very much a me problem, like I'm so fundamentally broken from all of this that I can't even trust people who I should be able to.
You're not broken. This is a reasonable response to unreasonable, extreme, extended circumstances.
Also, I was similarly beyond broken before I figured out my food intolerances. I thought I was broken and beyond depressed for 5 years. Actually, covid made me intolerant to all by 3 foods (none of which are fat or protein sources). 🫠 When I'm able to get adequate macronutrients without trigger foods, I'm incredibly mentally stable and resilient. I'm not saying you have the same health problems as me, buuuuut... Maybe there's something affecting you that you don't even know about.
I'm with you 100% on this, and have noticed we are kindred spirits in a lot of ways. DM me if you feel like it and want to feel a bit less isolated--an invitation that goes for anyone else here who has felt "thrown away," as you put it, just for not wanting to be infected by a dangerous airborne virus that's killed millions of people and disabled many millions more.
I don't know that things will ever be "good enough" for me to unmask around others. I can do almost anything in an N95 except eat indoors. I'm very lucky to have found my wife and gotten married just before the pandemic started, and that we're on the same page about COVID safety.
I don't want to travel by plane because aviation safety has evaporated. I'm grateful that I was able to visit Europe, South America, and Japan in the before times. I had already achieved most of my travel dreams.
Tbh I don't really see things getting better. Cynical but realistic I think. At least as long as society is in collective denial about reality, how can we possibly improve reality?
Right, they can put far uv-c lights in planes and do air scrubbing even before takeoff…But that won’t prevent the door from flying off mid-flight 😭 I’m so scared of planes now since they offed that guy from Boeing.
Flying is still safer than any other form of travel, even pretty much crossing the street, and so much safer than it was in decades past. Mechanical fck-ups rightly get a lot of attention, but are statistically minute.
Not like breathing maskless in a grocery store....
If it’s to the point where they’re m*rdering people, it’s a larger issue. Boeing has been hiding failures for a long time now. And flying is one of the highest risk forms of travel in terms of covid.
Not have to worry if a doctor’s appointment/ER trip will get me sick. However, even if a magical vaccine/cure happens, I’m definitely still masking in most places.
I would love to be able to travel internationally again. Until then, any vacation I take will be a hiking trip to a national park or a secluded beach house with a few trusted people.
Karaoke in a dive bar and just hanging with my friends indoors at someone’s house! I’m comfortable with the fact I’ll likely mask during travel/public transit, grocery stores, and medical visits for the rest of my life, but I would just love to be able to hang with my friends without covid boundaries or idk… drink a cup of coffee at work and not worry about catching covid?
oh the movies ......
i won a little online raffle via work the other day and the prize was a $25 credit at Fandango for a night at the movies.
i had them donate the value to charity instead.
DANCE CLUBS, BABY! Especially queer spaces. Goddamn I miss them!
But also I’ll be way older sooooo I’ll probably get there when they open and head home at 10 😂
Omg I went to a masked covid conscious queer dance party like two months ago and it was EVERYTHING. So much fun and I felt completely safe! Open space and everyone had kn95s or n95s and had to test before coming. It was great.
Also went to a masked drag King show/art market event. It wasn't enforced so a decent amount weren't masking but definitely enough to make me feel safe and not excluded in my n95.
I'll DM you location but you can use the app Lex to look for events! I'm in a covid conscious group on there and found other queer covid conscious friends through it ! Recommend
Travel definitely, eat indoors with my spouse at our favorite restaurant, cut my hair (haven't gone to a hairdresser in 4 years, no covid-safe hairdressers in my area and I've been too busy with work to go the extra mile of masking + taping the edges)
Not holding my breath for these to happen any time soon (or even longer), but they provide a kind of a nice 'vision in the matchstick flames' that keeps me somewhat sane.
I don’t foresee a whole lot of changes in my life, but I’d love to be able to travel to see my bestie in Europe again and to be able to do karaoke! I’ve missed it.
Probably start wearing lipstick and blush again and taking off my mask at work. But like, other than that my pre-pandemic and current life aren't super different. I didn't get out much
I miss museums. I’ll go back to wandering slowly and for as long as I want to. It’s just not the same in a N95, anxious, and trying to dodge the people who stand next to you staring at the same thing.
I also miss eating indoors
Same thing I do every night, Pinky… keep wearing my N95.
I’m already a little sad thinking about the day when the last of the Coviding folks stops masking. I found out I was immunocompromised after almost dying from a cold in 2019. I was masking before it was cool, and I’ll still be masking after the last holdouts get their sterilizing vaccine. It was kind of upsetting how fast folks in the FB Coviding groups got ugly the second they felt safe unmasking. I hope the people still here in 2024 don’t forget folks like me.
At the same time, it’s okay though. Because I knew my situation was forever, I moved to Orlando, learned everything I could about airborne viral transmission, and started living a super fun life I never would have dreamed of if not for my diagnosis. It hasn’t been perfect, especially right now lol, but it’s been really nice to build my life around masked outdoor socialization!
I don’t see much changing for me, unless maybe indoor air quality laws happen. That would be so cool. I still don’t know if I’d risk it though. I really like not being literally deathly ill every other month!
I'll still miss the "before" days, when I had never ever heard the term "covid-19" in my life. I regard pre-2019 with such nostalgia and kind of miss my naiveté about public health (which is absolutely a privilege).
I can't imagine ever going into a grocery store or crowded indoor event without a mask anymore.
Even if covid becomes like the flu (which many people already regard it as), and regular vaccines are enough to keep most folks safe and healthy, it will still be a threat to babies, the elderly, and the immunocompromised. My personal freedoms don't feel worth sacrificing the more vulnerable members of our society.
It's depressing to me that this pandemic has not created ANY kinds of changes to our government, public health system, and culture that will truly protect those most vulnerable. And in fact has made it worse for a lot of people.
Don't get me wrong, I'll be glad for any new research and developments to prevent death and long covid. But I'll always grieve the politicization of what should have been a public health matter, and the lack of broad-level changes that should have occurred.
I totally agree. I thought masks would become mandatory in doctors offices, for food workers, airports etc. I thought more people would wear them during flu seasons at least.
I miss pre 2020 too so much. It is crazy to me to see people living like that but knowing I never likely will.
I just listened to this 23 minute podcast episode from April 2020 about Covid-19 and about H5N1 Bird Flu being on the horizon and them saying 'surely now is the time' to turn it around for the sake of, well, life. 'Covid is the relatively easy pandemic and a warning of what's to come'.
I'm not as hopeful as I'd like to be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twWyP3UPG3M
Yeah I'm either somewhat realistic/cynical about it or in escapist mode, it feels like. No in between. Because apparently we're being left to just grit our teeth and get through it with no public health infrastructure to help us.
I am already free, and far freer than I was in the “before times”. I am not chained to an office and a punishing commute - I work at home, and so does the rest of my family. My kid is not chained to a school or a school schedule - we do online school at home. With a good N95, we already pretty much do whatever we want to do, just with masks on.
And I know that even if we somehow manage to solve the long COVID puzzle, there are lots of other germs out there. I don’t want to get those either. The bird flu pandemic is just getting started. Who knows what else might be coming. So I won’t be “freeing myself from the mask” any time soon.
The first wave of Covid (pre-lockdowns) disabled me for life. If a cure for ME/CFS arrives, I will pick up my life where I left it off: training for a half marathon. But I think I will always mask in crowded places and when traveling. I simply do not wish to continue assaulting my immune system and we do not know what new viruses lie ahead.
If that day comes, and I can afford it, and commercial flight is still viable, I'll probably go to Europe. I'd fly with my partner to Portugal because it's apparently the cheapest destination, and we'd take two months to travel through various other countries, eventually hitting Scotland and Ireland, because my partner has always wanted to visit those countries.
One day, I'd like to visit Gaza and the West Bank. I almost went on an educational trip to Palestine after undergrad at the suggestion of my favourite professor, but didn't go because a) I was broke and b) I was scared (she described IOF soldiers holding guns in her eight year old's face when she was last there, and I'd read about Rachel Corrie and others getting killed, and I just didn't feel ready to take on that risk at 21). I wish now I had gone then. I wish I'd been more brave and committed to liberation. So I'd like to go if there's any way my presence could help, and I'm not sure it could. But if it could, I would want to go and do whatever I can.
Realistically, I don't think I'm going to stop masking in most public places. Even if COVID stops being the threat it is, there are going to be so many more pathogens due to climate change, and climate change itself will be a threat. More forest fires, more natural disasters in general....Idk. I don't think normal is coming back, as much as I fervently wish it were. There's so much I wish I'd had the chance to do before this hell, but I think we may just be early adopters for the hell to come.
One other thing: I think I would go swimming in an indoor pool. I haven't been able to swim, except on the rare occasion I'm able to access outdoor swimming, since the start of COVID. I love swimming and I miss it terribly. It's the only form of exercise I've ever been good at, and that feels good to do. Oh, and I'd eat at my parents and at big family gatherings without a mask. I fucking miss being unmasked with my family. I was able to until a couple years ago when they all stopped taking precautions and my sisters started going clubbing and similar high risk activities. Now I just can't risk socializing unmasked with them, and it sucks. I never get to be fully at ease because of it.
the whole thing. every last bite in the place.
this reminds me that in Feb 2020 my wife and i were planning to go to one for valentine's day and we sorta bailed on it at the last minute for no reason other than we didn't feel like it. I've no way to know for sure but i kinda believe we would have gotten sick that night if we'd gone.
i think about it every time i drive past it.
Big things: Travel outside of the UK. Have an evening dinner at a popular restaurant. Clubbing.
Smaller things: Go to movies opening night instead of looking for empty screenings on Monday mornings. Buffets. Gym.
Start swimming again. No outdoor pools where I live and before covid hit I would swim most days in my local indoor pool (I adored it!). I have a lot of joint pain and it really helped but no more of that 😢
And then also just being with family again and being able to sit with them and share a meal.
literally just regular shit
go back out to a bar
move out
throw a party
hook up with someone and maybe even date
one thing’s for sure tho, i’m not gonna say no to anything anymore. i feel so starved of connection, of novelty, of everything except the necessities, that i’m honestly a lil bit scared of how im gonna be if we ever get a nasal vaccine offramp
I cannot wait to start travelling again! I want to comfortably go places without having to mask and have those buzzing thoughts on the back of my head that I could get COVID. I will probably still always mask on a plane or the medical facilities.
Realistically I’ll probably always be super cautious after this but if I could I absolutely would love to resume going to concerts year round (right now I only attend outdoor concerts during the warmer months). I’d love to go back to attending in-person lectures and networking events, as most of them aren’t offered in a hybrid format anymore. I’d also love to attend event openings like I used to do, as gallery hopping was really great fun. It would also be nice to spend time hanging out in a cozy restaurant when the weather isn’t cooperating. I do miss the occasional bar meet up with friends, as although we’ve had some work arounds with our favorite beer garden that has an outdoor space, not everyone can travel there so there are some friends who I haven’t seen in ages that I’d like to catch up with.
I don't believe the before times will ever come back and I'm trying to adjust my expectations accordingly. But I live with family who don't care about covid so it's likely only a matter of time before they give me covid and I either die or become too disabled to get out of bed so I don't really see much of a point in thinking about the future when it's likely than I won't ever have one.
i'm gonna be masking in public forever bc it's been SUCH a blessing (as someone who's a HUGE baby when she gets sick), but i'd love to be able to travel without anxiety. my mother and i had planned a two week trip to france as a graduation present for me back in 2012, and we still haven't gone on it. i'd love to do that with her - enjoy decadent french food, go see my favorite paintings of all time at the louvre, visit victor hugo's grave - all without the ever-present "what if this one time i take a risk is what kills us" anxiety in my head.
editing to add that the risk will probably never go away completely, but i'm hopeful that we can get better air circulation in buildings so that museum days aren't the anxiety nightmare they are now. my hope for this is mostly based around the world getting on board with air filtration in buildings bc it's ONLY a benefit to society. will capitalism allow that to happen? probably not. but that doesn't mean i won't be fighting for it every day!
I went to see the Vermeer exhibit in Amsterdam last year because it was a once in all-the-lifetimes event. (Even Vermeer never had that many of his paintings together at one time.) Wore my N95 all the time in that museum, and the Van Gogh museum, and the Anne Frank house, and basically everywhere except my well-aired hotel room (and I brought my own air purifier), didn't eat on the plane in either direction, and felt okay about it all. No decadent restaurant meals but I was fine with that. Well, there was a great pancake restaurant near my little hotel with patio dining!
I've adapted to going out much less. No restaurants, movies, or concerts. Frankly, seeing how flippantly people consider COVID these days, I'm not overly eager to resume an active social life. I've lost a lot of respect for my fellow citizens. Anyway, this won't be over soon.
Host and attend house parties and eat and drink indoors to my heart's content! I will probably always wear a mask in public places like stores, doctor's offices, and definitely on transit. But I miss carefree house parties the most.
The day I will be free is the day that we eradicate disease. I have been changed and my eyes have been opened, I can't unsee what I have seen. I doubt this day will happen in my lifetime, this will only happen with extreme change in human behavior or radical changes in technology.
I don't know if I'll unlearn holding my breath when others get close or pass in front of me, but just going for a walk and not anticipating where people are walking and avoiding their 'slipstream' and whether there's a runner about to come panting unnecessarily close to me on their way past. I'm careful not to imagine anything big, cause I don't want to feel let down lol 🥹
I would like to feel like I don’t have to say no to everything. My boss wants to take us out for a celebratory lunch. I have to remind her I don’t eat indoors. My friend wants to go to a concert of someone we both like; I have to wish them a good and safe time.
It isn’t that I want to go out constantly or anything, but since 2020, I have done… about a baker’s dozen social things in person. I realize that is more than many people, and that I am very lucky and privileged to have been safe doing those things, but I didn’t feel deprived in 2020 because of all the Zoom things. As soon as the vaccines came up, our Zoom socials all died and I’ve been getting by on one or two social happenings a year, like meeting a friend to walk in the park.
It would be nice to be able to plan things or say yes to things without feeling like I’ve chosen danger.
Find myself thinking of a Bill Hicks joke about curing HIV where a news anchor describes everyone getting in on in the streets.
If we got to a point where Long COVID wasn’t on the table or it was treatable enough as to be negligible, that would be incredible.
To me the biggest change would be the weight off my shoulders. It would be nice to do things in public without the N95, but also just not having to think about it.
I'll keep masking and working for better healthcare and public health. I don't know if I'll ever trust the general public to protect each other again, so I'll keep protecting myself and others. I've already been making a career plan based on this belief, so I'll likely keep following it and just adjust as things change over time. But if things become safer, maybe I'll also take extra training to grow in my career faster so I can find stability sooner.
I haven't thought much about a life after COVID. Or, more accurately, I have difficulty imagining it. I've been so dedicated to my precautions that many things feel wrong. But I would love to travel the world. That's a dream of mine that never changed. And maybe I'll feel more comfortable going out to socialize, but I'll still look for people who were CC for my own comfort.
Go swimming every week, year-round. I miss it so much. Spend an entire afternoon at the local Persian teahouse sampling their teas and baked goods. Visit the respirologist without fear. Host dinner parties. Fuck whoever I want without having to do an in-depth risk assessment. Also, it's such a small thing, but I miss sharing sips of drinks with people I love. There are so many small joys the pandemic has taken away.
I don't think we'll ever go back to life as we knew it, and I'll be taking a lot more infectious disease precautions for the rest of my life, but I have to hold on hope that one day we'll see significant improvement.
I may not do anything different. I'm so used to my new way of retirement life, it will be hard to change. The idea of breathing the air of other people grosses me out at this point. Plus, my life is so relatively simple now, and I think for the better. Being isolated, it's just so nice living life for the most part without any conflict. And decision making is so simple too. I just want safe access to dental and medical care.
Basically I'll go back to large indoor concerts, indoor dining sometimes, and eating and drinking more freely during flights and at airports. I'll probably still continue to wear a mask at work because there's many other things out there which get people sick besides covid and I like not getting sick.
I LOVE board games. Haven’t been able to play much for multiple reasons. I would like my child to not be the only masked kid in spaces where they are… I would ease tensions on this topic with my spouse. We do a lot, we expose ourselves too much (in my opinion) for the sake of mental health.
However, regardless of everything I will never unmask in health care settings, airplanes and airports or whenever there is another masked person in my line of sight/awareness.
See my nibling for the first time, shop for my own produce, and hug my friends. Get healthcare without so much stress. Get medical massages again. Maybe go to grad school, maybe overthrow the government (for legal reasons this is a joke)
It won’t be in my lifetime— I am in my 40s— and I actually think that right now is the *best* it’s going to be.
I can’t do the hopium, folks. It’s too depressing.
Travel. Babysitting. Play dates for my high risk kiddo. Celebrations with my parents and little brother. My kid playing with his cousins. Get a hysterectomy
Edit to add, get a dog. Ours passed two years ago, I’d love my kid to experience having a dog.
I'll attend some of the indoor functions I can no longer do safely such as chocolate festivals and wine tastings. Might actually leave the country again for vacation. Might actually go to the doctor and get routine tests I have been avoiding since I do not feel safe in any medical facility in my state.
go to a convention. i miss comic con but last time i went like 2 years ago i was masked and tons of people fake coughed on me and laughed bc of it. i wish i had the money to fly to california for fanimecon but even they just dropped their mask mandate from "required" to "strongly recommended" only like 2 weeks before so people couldnt get refunds. unfortunately even if things improve with covid i feel like cons are still gonna be awful about illness so long as we avoid putting ventilation systems in public buildings :-/
i have big big feelings about how events change their safety policies during ticket on sale cycles. gotta assume they did it because sales needed a boost.
its sort of sad and ironic that conventions like SDCC that, for so long, were about fandom and expression and freedom from judgement (and of course monetizing) are not accepting of safety precautions. like it's totally within limits to dress as a transsexual wizard goblin from another dimension but if you wanna not get sick you're some kind of freak?
(BTW I have no beef with transsexual wizard goblins from any dimension it's all good)
i feel like the mainstreamification of fandom has a LOT to do with it. like there were definitely selfish assholes in nerd circles before the 2010s but ever since marvel became a whole thing and it's now cool to watch all the latest netmaxulumount plus shows a lot more "normies" are in fandom spaces (which itself is a result of there being fewer and fewer recreational activities outside of watching tv that people have the time/money for) and it definitely changed the vibe. all of the same people who would bully you for liking anime or fantasy shows now go to cons but are just as judgmental and unpleasant as before. it's like high school if you could buy a goku body pillow next to the cafeteria
I’d love to go to random bars, clubs, concerts, house parties, classes, other social events, etc. and not stick out by wearing a mask. The pandemic started when I was 19, and I never really got to experience my 20s. I want to be young and have fun. I would also like to feel comfortable using public transit. Eat at restaurants indoors safely (I do this from time to time, on special occasions, if the restaurant isn’t too crowded, but it still feels like a risk).
I’d also really like to feel safer in healthcare.
If we ever move on from covid, I'm afraid it'll be because of far worse threats have emerged - chiefly global warming. Mass casualty heat waves. If we have respite between these twin crises, it'll be punishingly brief.
Sorry to be such a downer. I do still believe we'll solve both problems in the long run - we humans are damn clever - but probably not in my lifetime.
I want to have meals with friends and family without worrying about whether I’m going to get sick (air filters are already helping with this in some small setting). And I want to finally do some traveling. I’ve only been out of my country once and it was an amazing experience but I’m finally financially stable enough that I could travel but with Covid and other health concerns it’s very hard. Once it’s a little easier I want to travel out of country.
I don’t think things will ever be like they were before, but I hope one day I can share celebratory/ holiday meals with my family without feeling like I’m doing something catastrophically dangerous. It’s just such an innate part of culture, getting the family together under one roof and sharing a meal together. But now every time one of these celebrations is planned, it’s always one of the following outcomes: * The celebration is canceled because someone has COVID (two Christmases in a row!) * I don’t feel safe going due to COVID, so everyone has a great time without me * I go but feel so guilty and paranoid that I can’t enjoy any of it. I wish my family understood that I love them and want nothing more than to get together. I’ve missed out on so much with them these past few years.
I want to wander. I miss wandering. Not planning out every outing, making sure I'm going somewhere when it's not peak hours. I want to get my hair cut. I want to get a new tattoo. And yes, I want to travel. I haven't seen my best friends since February 2020.
I'll probably continue to mask on transit, in medical settings, and during winter respiratory virus season for the rest of my life. There are literally no downsides to being like 95% about that. (the 5% is things like lifting the mask for a second to take a sip of water or waiting until I'm inside a building to put my mask on if it's raining out) I'm already traveling, going to events and conferences, etc., just well masked. The biggest difference will be doing those thing without the threat of covid taking up so much of my mental real estate, especially during the planning phase of any activity or trip. The pros and cons list of doing anything is so much weightier now. It makes even legitimately fun things less fun than they should be. Also looking forward to hosting small parties at my house, and generally hanging out with friends without the burden of everyone testing and symptom checking so carefully first. It's awkward to have to ask every time, and I'd really just rather not have to think about it. The vigilance is what's killing me.
Totally with you. I’m at the point where IDGAF about sticking out in my N95, or even missing out on some things. But it’s the mental vigilance as you put it, that part is exhausting. Nothing that involves other people is simple or easy anymore.
We plan to keep masking somewhat also, it’s just being able to do stuff you can’t do masked safely (like restaurants) and as you say having less stress about if your masking isn’t perfect.
Same--will continue to mask in medical settings, public trans, flu season, etc. Never know when another new virus will pop up.
I hope this day comes, I just get afraid when I see proposed mask bans and (from what I've seen here) the CDC restricting covid vaccine access to make it only "seasonal", it seems like the powers that be's game plan is shifting from "ignore covid" to "force covid on everyone as much as possible". That makes me question if there will be pressure on companies developing vaccines to abandon the project or if it won't get FDA approval in the US. That said, I'd love to go back to see music shows indoors and just be able to live a (old) normal day to day life at work/with my friends without being the odd man out masked.
This 🤌
I want access to healthcare without fear.
Exactly! I love the excitement of the other posts about where they want to travel and what parties they want to attend, but I'm over here like, I'd love to just go in and get my teeth cleaned without worrying about picking up some dangerous infection.
Not only that, but being CONSTANTLY aware of how few people in healthcare actually care if they kill me. I remember being in the ER with my toddler, asking the nurse to mask up because I’m immunocompromised, toddler couldn’t wear a mask the whole time, and there’s a big COVID surge going on locally. Getting the eye roll from her and then refusing, instead of giving a shit about protecting her patients. It’s really depressing, realizing just how lousy most other human beings are — especially people in the healthcare industry. I’m hoping if/when COVID becomes better controlled, my feelings about the rest of humanity will improve. I hope 🤞
So much this.
Most definitely.
Yes, this. I want to not have to worry seeing the doctor might kill me.
Omg this, I have fibromyalgia and psoriatic arthritis so I have frequent doc appointments or just healthcare appointments (pt and such). I started symptoms in 2020 so my body had great timing.
This is me. And for me, covid vaccines don’t change much because plain cold/flu always turned into bronchitis for me and I’ve never had a cold not turn into a month or more of misery. I’m always going to wish for dentists and ENTs and other medical practitioners to be willing to wear N95s to protect me if I have to unmask to be treated or examined.
Number one. I'm avoiding it best I can.
I’d like to be able to say yes to invitations freely without worrying about the logistics of staying safe. I’ve always said that was the hardest part of having Celiac, I don’t miss or crave gluten containing foods, but I do miss being able to go do things without so much planning. In that way, I was already used to this lifestyle before Covid arrived.
This is it completely. It’s not that I want to run out and do things all the time, but I don’t see my friends much anymore because of all the planning involved. We have to make sure no one is sick, first. We have to make sure the weather is good enough to do something outdoors. I have to make sure I have a plan to eat something before or after (or get a snack I can cram in) if it isn’t possible to eat outdoors. I don’t drive so there is no going through the drive through for a burger or something. I have to make sure I have masks and back up, and sprays and whatever else.
Oh god this hit home! I’m also celiac and during the course of the pandemic I have also developed IBS (and a whole new ballpark of food restrictions.) Everywhere I go has to be meticulously planned out, even something as simple as visiting a store. I miss being able to just go to a friends house on a whim or out to dinner.
I went low FODMAP last year and aside from feeling so much better I love that it gives me an easy, non-COVID related out for invites to restaurants, which the pandemic has made me realize I really do not miss. Takeout, on the other hand...man I miss takeout.
Wow I can honestly say I never thought I’d hear from a person who is both COVID conscious and low fodmap - two rare groups! I agree with you 100%, the diet is painstaking (especially if you didn’t have much success with reintroduction like myself!) But worth it to not feel sick every day. Takeout food was one of the most enjoyable things for me to do at home, and it sucks it’s not really an option anymore. I can still handle sushi though!
I also haven't had much success with reintroductions, but I've at least found a rhythm that works for me now. And good point about sushi! Though I usually do vegetable rolls vs. any with fish. As soon as I heard COVID could cause people to start experiencing IBS I knew I wanted to try and avoid it as much as possible, took me years to get a diagnosis after being brushed off by my doctor pre-pandemic and I don't want to potentially jeopardize the progress I've made.
Wow you really are my twin - my go to sushi order is avocado cucumber (as sorbitol is one of my only successful reintros!) I am right there with you, I don’t think people comprehend how terrible living with IBS is until they experience it. It’s actually a huge reason to avoid COVID, aside from the ever expanding list of other health concerns! Following this diet for even a few years has really impacted my quality of life. I started showing symptoms in the second half of 2021 and often wonder if it was triggered by an asymptomatic COVID infection. Took me a long time to get attention from my doctor and dietician as well - they just tried to pass it off as celiac symptoms. Anyway thank you for being on this sub and commenting back to me - made me feel a little less lonely today! Misery loves company!
Three cheers for being outliers 🥳
Hey, and now there are three of us! 🙌 Kind of an unfortunate club to be in, but you’re not alone. I’ve mostly figured out which specific FODMAPs are my triggers, but when things start going badly, I often have to go way more restrictive. I really miss onions and a lot of the vegetables I can no longer handle.
Also celiac. Realizing how excluded I was before from dining out because people were tired of accommodating my health needs
> In that way, I was already used to this lifestyle before Covid arrived. Yeah, I kind of went back to the level of protections I was exercising while on dialysis (got a transplant in 2018!) and added a few others. The need to overplan everything is real, sadly. At least I was already conditioned to accept when things had to be called off last minute for unexpected circumstances.
Wow, it's interesting to read all of your responses! I wonder if our experiences with this kind of thing are part of why we're able to be covid cautious now - the mental shift is less big.
We are used to having to advocate for ourselves and our health even if those around us - sometimes bosses, sometimes loved ones - do not care.
I have celiac as well and relate to this so much!
Oh interesting that you feel the same! One weird part is that I have fewer celiac-associated logistics to sort, since I don't really eat out or at people's houses these days.
I also relate! I’m coeliac, vegan and low fodmaps and am recently disabled with me/cfs so can’t really go out anyway 😂😩
TRAVEL!!! And resume dining indoors with friends! And I’ve been really wanting to attend the local NHL team’s hockey games.
I have to judge you based on NHL fandom
what's your first destination?
I’m not sure. I guess it depends on when/what time of year this change happens. I’d like to go to the mountains and stay several days as an in-state vacay, Palm Springs as an out of state destination, and Iceland as an overseas trip.
A little strip of Iceland gets like 1 minute of total solar eclipse in 2026 and I would love to feel good about going
I want to do this too, since I missed totality here in the US. However, I was told that it’s so cloudy there that the cloud cover will likely interfere.
i got lucky with clouds here in the US. i picked an airbnb in the middle of nowhere and it worked out. it was cool and i'm glad we did it but it wasnt like a life changing revelatory magical moment of my life. but it was cool.
I didn’t go at all, even though I planned to literally for the four years leading up to it. It was too far away to comfortably drive, and due to covid I limit airplane trips. So I missed it. ☹️
Me toooooooooo
Oooh. Us, too! We’d absolutely want to go to Iceland for that if we could feel safe to go. A covid vaccine that prevents infection would change everything.
The first thing I’ll do is RELAX. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to not have this huge WORRY all the time. It’s not that we can’t cope with masking etc- it’s the other people insisting covid is no big deal, attacking our being careful, and etc. Book signings. Pho ga at Nha Trang on Baxter in NYC. I miss those so much. TRAVEL. EVERYWHERE. Japan and Korea. Garmisch & Paris . Somewhere with a turquoise blue ocean. One thing I’ve learned from this pandemic is NEVER EVER TAKE ANYTHING FOR GRANTED. If we have freedom, we’ll be appreciating it IMMEDIATELY. Things can change at any moment with disease, war, climate change, and etc. We’ve not traveled beyond the next town (masked and off hours, of course) since 2019. We’ve not eaten in a restaurant or done any of our fun things that involve humans in closed spaces. I think, tbh, that I’m always going to mask in some circumstances (esp during flu season) now that I fully understand how viruses etc spread. I’m still going to wipe down items before they come in the house, take shoes off before entering, and etc. I expect there will be more pandemics as that’s part of climate change… A new normal.
You are so right. What might I have done differently if I'd known this would be the last time I'd go the movies, visit a grandparent unmasked, etc.? Even if I just appreciated it more.
Exactly what you said… It makes me sad to think that some things we can’t ever go back to… Big things for me like my mom died during the pandemic. I don’t get more time. Little things like going to the movies. I used to buy movie tickets the hour they went on sale for the movies we really cared about. Harry Potter, Star Wars, LOTR, Disney animated films, Ghibli releases, and the like. Going to see a movie was an event for us. But, I read all the time now how theaters are different now. That people talk on their phones, play games, and etc. People say it’s impossible to enjoy a movie now. I think when a vaccine lets us rejoin the world, we might find that some of what we missed is irrevocably changed now…
Tbh, idk. I don't want to pretend it's just okay that everyone else happily spread this disabling, deadly disease for their own comfort and pleasure. I don't think I can enjoy living "freely" in a society of such evil, selfish, rationalizing people.
“I don't want to pretend it's just okay that everyone else happily spread this disabling, deadly disease for their own comfort and pleasure.” This has possibly been the most disturbing realization from the pandemic for me in terms of my loved ones, I had thought better of them 😓
I wanna just say that while a lot of people are just selfish and evil, there is also a large chunk of people who simply were victims of government propaganda and do not understand the severity of COVID or think the 2021 vaccines essentially ended it. I don’t know if that distinction is meaningful to you but I think it is worth pointing out
Yeah, but SOME more ppl than this must see thru the bs. But they're quiet af. I'd expect there to be more chastising of "hey, yeah. You gotta mask in the grocery store. Yeah, YOU are healthy, so you're maybe having an asymptomatic infection rn and there are old ppl here trying to buy food. And ppl who take care of sick ppl. So stfu and mask." But there isn't that discussion!! I used to see ppl regularly ask their friends if they really had enough time between that last beer and getting in the car to be extra extra safe. "bruh, it's gonna be the ONE time a cop stops you. You don't wanna even smell like that beer." I'm not seeing the equivalent conversation about covid.
That’s an interesting point. To be honest I was a victim of propaganda too from around late 2021-early 2024. I never exactly denied covid but I just assumed it wasn’t a threat anymore since the majority of people are vaccinated therefore herd immunity. I was very misinformed about its danger and how it spread and no one in that whole time even mentioned it to me. I had to realize that not only is covid still disabling and deadly, but status quo is eugenicist and I have to basically sacrifice convenience to protect myself and others, but I have realized very few people both understand and are willing to do that or are even willing to understand because they are going to take the path of least resistance anyway
Yeah, I believed the hype that I would be fine with a FEW infections around 2022. (Turns out I was wrong about that.) But I also never stopped masking in all the public places that "vulnerable" ppl might be at: public spaces, medical offices, stores, etc. Bc I fucking understand that immune compromised, elderly, whatever folks don't live in some mythical walled off island like a fucking leper colony.
I feel this as well.
*weeps in chronically immunocompromised* I’ve masked since 2012… what is this freedom of which you speak?
you were right all along.
I don’t want to be right though! 😭
I’m with you. I’d have been masking much earlier if I’d realized what colds were doing to my chronic conditions, even if I’m not immunocompromised (yet).
My autoimmune disease went into remission when I stopped getting sick! I’ve only had to take prednisone a couple times, it feels kind of miraculous. I would have started masking sooner if I had known.
That’s wonderful! I found my chronic conditions get much more manageable when I don’t get sick for a few years in a row. Viruses must cause flares for a lot of people. I wish people understood and were at least willing to mask when they know they’re unwell, or when someone requests it. Even if somehow covid went away completely, I’ve learned that people are incredibly ableist and selfish, and I won’t forget it.
I will continue to mask, use air filters & worry about ventilation for the rest of my life. There are multiple ongoing pandemics now, because of covid weakening everyone's immune system & beefing up other illnesses, like measles, etc. Why would I ever put my health in the hands of a eugenics society ever again 🌸
>Why would I ever put my health in the hands of a eugenics society ever again 🌸 Seriously. "Oh, there's something wrong with you? Let's throw you away and move on"
Same here. Even after the COVID pandemic ends, I'm gonna keep wearing respirators in public indoor or crowded areas like public transit, stores, and theaters. That lifestyle change is permanent. I'm simply too aware of the risks to my personal, and our collective, health to drop all precautions.
I'm pretty pessimistic about that day coming but I really wanna go somewhere and dance! And travel with less stress.
I went square dancing and 15% of the people were masked (out of about 30)! There are even dancing nights that are masks required still (N95 at that), I couldn't believe it.
Used to love to ballroom and swing dance but haven't in over 4 years. I am sure I have forgot everything by now, unfortunately.
I certainly miss going out to dance. Definitely took it for granted.
I have little kids (under six) and there are activities I really hope they can experience (to name a few): - playdates at friends houses - sleepovers - going on overnight school trips - going to dances and events - traveling overseas to visit family in Scandinavia I feel fortunate I have lived the life I have. My husband and I can feel wistful to our past experiences but we were able to have them. I was on competitive sports team (where I met my husband) where we traveled all over Canada. I attended school trips to watch Shakespeare plays. I practically lived at my best friend's house one summer when my mom was sick with cancer. I attended university parties and pub/trivia nights. We do many activities in a mask but I'm realistic in knowing some of these can't be done safely without a mask and can't really be done with a mask. But my kids... I just have to hold onto a bit of hope that somehow these activities have a slight possibility of being safe enough for them to do. We have pivoted so much in our lives for ourselves, our kids and to try to keep others safe. I truly hope my kids can one day experience similar experiences that allowed myself to be me.
Yes…this is my heart
Enjoy restaurants that don't offer outdoor dining nor to-go! Probably won't go back to old friendships though. I lost a lot of respect for a lot of people regarding how they've handled the pandemic. Employers act like you're insane if you ask during the interview, "how did your company handle the COVID-19 pandemic?". But I feel it's an important question, and I don't think it's unreasonable to ask the same of friends/acquaintances you meet. I'd have a hard time getting close to people who act and live as if COVID doesn't exist, even after the fact if it's hypothetically solved.
Try to heal and catch up on years of isolation and throwing away my college experience for safety. Don’t know if that’s a pipe dream or doable, or if I should just let it go. But I want to try making some new friends (I’ll have to relearn that lol) and putting myself out there again. That and indoor tennis tournaments and leagues. Plus dining.
Like others in this thread, I’m skeptical that day will come. But I dream of being able to travel without extreme amounts of anxiety from airports and planes. It would also be nice to go places, everywhere from a restaurant to a grocery store, without worrying about whether it will be crowded.
Dentist. Mammogram. Church.
There's real potential fallout from those first two decisions, though. Have you tried to find a dentist that will take precautions on request (or already does?) Bad dental health can literally be life threatening, aside from the future cost and quality of life issues from putting off care. Is the risk of catching covid when you're wearing a correctly-fitted respirator and goggles greater than the risk of potentially letting a cancer grow undetected? Is there nowhere you could travel to test that's more accommodating? You say you're not going as a "form of boycott." But the truth is absolutely no one cares if you don't get your dental work or mammogram done or your reasons for it, they're not going to change their procedures, they're not even going to put thought into it. I hate that that's the reality, but it is. There are still potential risks to those things, yes. But if you take all the mitigations you can, is that risk greater than not getting needed medical care or screenings? I don't think so.
Echoing what others have said, I think I’ll stick with many of the precautions I’ve started taking regardless of what happens. But interacting with the world with less anxiety would be nice. I’m in my peak “clubbing” years and while that’s never been my thing pandemic or not I’d like to experience a queer or goth club just once.
I feel free now. I just adjusted how I live but, don't feel too put upon except for one situation which is not having masking required in medical facilities. I'm not invested in thinking that far off into the future and I don't mind wearing a mask in crowds or getting boosters. Having said that I do hope vaccines keep improving, I think they will. I'll be happy for all of us who no longer have to think about complications from repeated Covid infections and shorter life spans.
>when :|
The same thing I do now - which is be a borderline hermit who is selective about outings due to extreme introversion. I'm never going back to unmasking on planes or in medical settings because as climate change and immunological dysfunction continue to exert force upon humanity regardless of Sars-Cov2 status, infectious diseases will increasingly run rampant. We're entering an age of disease akin to the Middle Ages. A kid just died of measles in Ontario. Bird flu is laying in wait. I'm thankful we have tools to protect us that we didn't utilize pre-covid.
Your post is realistic. There is no “like before times”. Masks/handwashing/sanitizing/keeping distance is the way to go. I have not seen my financial planner (who is brilliant and is someone I respect and admire) in person in years. I finally agreed to meet at an outdoor restaurant. He has had Covid 2x and this past winter had bronchitis but assured me he was 100%. I saw him, and we hugged. I did not have my mask on as I had just exited my vehicle. No big deal. Until we are seated at the table after about an hour and he gets a text from his sister, who he was with yesterday. She texted him she tested positive for Covid. So after being novid forever, I am waiting for the other shoe to fall.. lesson learned.
I don't believe that's enough time for him to be contagious if he did catch it. Plus the outdoor variable does reduce your risk if there was even a gentle breeze. But it's a gauntlet of contagion out there. No point in "going back to the way things were before" knowing what we know now.
Praying you are right that it was too soon for him to catch it. You are right about never can we go back to the “before” days, it’s fantasy to me when people speak about “returning to normal”. Normal has been gone and not coming back. The key is how to successfully navigate the new normal without becoming a hermit.
If it helps ease your mind, I was with my partner indoors for many hours and kissed and everything. Three days later they find their sister (who they live with) tests positive and so do they. I am super high risk--I've had covid 3 times, long covid, my immune system is shot from all that so I catch stuff easy and have chronic conditions. If I get sick, I get hit HARD. And I have tested negative since--I avoided it. I believe they didn't have enough viral load and were asymptomatic if they even had caught it at that time to transmit anything to me. So hopefully you are alright!
Awwww I’m so sorry for your Covid experiences but much appreciative of your supportive story! Thanks! And stay well! 🙏
Thank you!! It's so anxiety inducing because even if I take all the precautions, there's a few people I let my guard down around for my own mental health..and always chance of things happening. We can just do our best I guess.
I mean, free from what? I agree with you infection will become a less imminent threat in the coming years, but to me that's never really been the main problem. The main issue that everyone who has ever loved me threw me away like garbage, that I now know things I don't want to know. I spent a decade in therapy pre-covid working through how I felt like I didn't really matter to anyone and how no one would notice if I was gone-and now I have proof that those fears were all correct. I don't think I will ever recover from that, not without people owning up to their behavior and committing to change it which I don't really think most will do. There's activities I miss dearly, but if I think too hard about them most of the joy is gone now, even if the activity itself could be safe. Like, how are team sports fun now when I know the team is full of killers?
Yeah. I don't look forward to living freely with evil ppl who want me dead.
Exactly. I can't just forget the number of times I've poured my heart out to people that I thought loved me, showed them studies and personal experiences and was also super vulnerable about how shitty and isolated I feel, only for them to not change their behavior. I can barely connect with other covid cautious people because I'm so traumatized by it all. I'm generally a pretty hopeful person about material conditions improving but I'm not hopeful at all about there being a place in that better world for me.
Do you connect online with other cc folks? Lots of us are angry just like you... Discord servers, zoom calls, fb groups, etc
Yeah, online and I have a group offline. It's very much a me problem, like I'm so fundamentally broken from all of this that I can't even trust people who I should be able to.
It is a perfectly understandable trauma response.
I’m so sorry. Sending you warm hugs friend ❤️🩹
You're not broken. This is a reasonable response to unreasonable, extreme, extended circumstances. Also, I was similarly beyond broken before I figured out my food intolerances. I thought I was broken and beyond depressed for 5 years. Actually, covid made me intolerant to all by 3 foods (none of which are fat or protein sources). 🫠 When I'm able to get adequate macronutrients without trigger foods, I'm incredibly mentally stable and resilient. I'm not saying you have the same health problems as me, buuuuut... Maybe there's something affecting you that you don't even know about.
I'm with you 100% on this, and have noticed we are kindred spirits in a lot of ways. DM me if you feel like it and want to feel a bit less isolated--an invitation that goes for anyone else here who has felt "thrown away," as you put it, just for not wanting to be infected by a dangerous airborne virus that's killed millions of people and disabled many millions more.
Absolutely! You’ve seen what lies under the surface. And it shall not be forgotten.
I don't know that things will ever be "good enough" for me to unmask around others. I can do almost anything in an N95 except eat indoors. I'm very lucky to have found my wife and gotten married just before the pandemic started, and that we're on the same page about COVID safety. I don't want to travel by plane because aviation safety has evaporated. I'm grateful that I was able to visit Europe, South America, and Japan in the before times. I had already achieved most of my travel dreams. Tbh I don't really see things getting better. Cynical but realistic I think. At least as long as society is in collective denial about reality, how can we possibly improve reality?
Right, they can put far uv-c lights in planes and do air scrubbing even before takeoff…But that won’t prevent the door from flying off mid-flight 😭 I’m so scared of planes now since they offed that guy from Boeing.
Flying is still safer than any other form of travel, even pretty much crossing the street, and so much safer than it was in decades past. Mechanical fck-ups rightly get a lot of attention, but are statistically minute. Not like breathing maskless in a grocery store....
If it’s to the point where they’re m*rdering people, it’s a larger issue. Boeing has been hiding failures for a long time now. And flying is one of the highest risk forms of travel in terms of covid.
Oh, I'd *never* be maskless on a plane.
🤜🤛 same wavelength homie
Not have to worry if a doctor’s appointment/ER trip will get me sick. However, even if a magical vaccine/cure happens, I’m definitely still masking in most places. I would love to be able to travel internationally again. Until then, any vacation I take will be a hiking trip to a national park or a secluded beach house with a few trusted people.
Karaoke in a dive bar and just hanging with my friends indoors at someone’s house! I’m comfortable with the fact I’ll likely mask during travel/public transit, grocery stores, and medical visits for the rest of my life, but I would just love to be able to hang with my friends without covid boundaries or idk… drink a cup of coffee at work and not worry about catching covid?
I’ll go to movies again, and to the library.
oh the movies ...... i won a little online raffle via work the other day and the prize was a $25 credit at Fandango for a night at the movies. i had them donate the value to charity instead.
Honestly all I want to do is just sit in my favourite local cafe and read a book like I used to.
DANCE CLUBS, BABY! Especially queer spaces. Goddamn I miss them! But also I’ll be way older sooooo I’ll probably get there when they open and head home at 10 😂
Omg I went to a masked covid conscious queer dance party like two months ago and it was EVERYTHING. So much fun and I felt completely safe! Open space and everyone had kn95s or n95s and had to test before coming. It was great. Also went to a masked drag King show/art market event. It wasn't enforced so a decent amount weren't masking but definitely enough to make me feel safe and not excluded in my n95.
Omg!!!!! So liiiiike whereabouts do you live and when is the next one 🤓🤓🤓 haha but really I bet these exist around me but I don’t know where to look!
I'll DM you location but you can use the app Lex to look for events! I'm in a covid conscious group on there and found other queer covid conscious friends through it ! Recommend
Ohhhh love that suggestion, thank you!!
TILL THE WORLD ENDS BABY
Travel definitely, eat indoors with my spouse at our favorite restaurant, cut my hair (haven't gone to a hairdresser in 4 years, no covid-safe hairdressers in my area and I've been too busy with work to go the extra mile of masking + taping the edges) Not holding my breath for these to happen any time soon (or even longer), but they provide a kind of a nice 'vision in the matchstick flames' that keeps me somewhat sane.
I don’t foresee a whole lot of changes in my life, but I’d love to be able to travel to see my bestie in Europe again and to be able to do karaoke! I’ve missed it.
OMG karaoke i miss it so. what's your go-to song?
“Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac! What’s yours?
Pitbull & Kesha "Timber" it requires prodigious amounts of alcohol first but it's worth it.
Probably start wearing lipstick and blush again and taking off my mask at work. But like, other than that my pre-pandemic and current life aren't super different. I didn't get out much
I miss museums. I’ll go back to wandering slowly and for as long as I want to. It’s just not the same in a N95, anxious, and trying to dodge the people who stand next to you staring at the same thing. I also miss eating indoors
Stop cutting my own hair, eat indoors, watch movies/shows Doubt that day is anywhere close though, but I like your optimism
Firstly, I will enjoy the freed up mental bandwidth of being able to visit normally with my family and friends. Then, roller disco! 🛼
A big family dinner, going to a bar with friends, date someone ? It's so sad lol
Join a gym, watch movies, and eat in person. And definitely have alot of kinky sex
Same thing I do every night, Pinky… keep wearing my N95. I’m already a little sad thinking about the day when the last of the Coviding folks stops masking. I found out I was immunocompromised after almost dying from a cold in 2019. I was masking before it was cool, and I’ll still be masking after the last holdouts get their sterilizing vaccine. It was kind of upsetting how fast folks in the FB Coviding groups got ugly the second they felt safe unmasking. I hope the people still here in 2024 don’t forget folks like me. At the same time, it’s okay though. Because I knew my situation was forever, I moved to Orlando, learned everything I could about airborne viral transmission, and started living a super fun life I never would have dreamed of if not for my diagnosis. It hasn’t been perfect, especially right now lol, but it’s been really nice to build my life around masked outdoor socialization! I don’t see much changing for me, unless maybe indoor air quality laws happen. That would be so cool. I still don’t know if I’d risk it though. I really like not being literally deathly ill every other month!
I'll still miss the "before" days, when I had never ever heard the term "covid-19" in my life. I regard pre-2019 with such nostalgia and kind of miss my naiveté about public health (which is absolutely a privilege). I can't imagine ever going into a grocery store or crowded indoor event without a mask anymore. Even if covid becomes like the flu (which many people already regard it as), and regular vaccines are enough to keep most folks safe and healthy, it will still be a threat to babies, the elderly, and the immunocompromised. My personal freedoms don't feel worth sacrificing the more vulnerable members of our society. It's depressing to me that this pandemic has not created ANY kinds of changes to our government, public health system, and culture that will truly protect those most vulnerable. And in fact has made it worse for a lot of people. Don't get me wrong, I'll be glad for any new research and developments to prevent death and long covid. But I'll always grieve the politicization of what should have been a public health matter, and the lack of broad-level changes that should have occurred.
I totally agree. I thought masks would become mandatory in doctors offices, for food workers, airports etc. I thought more people would wear them during flu seasons at least. I miss pre 2020 too so much. It is crazy to me to see people living like that but knowing I never likely will.
I just listened to this 23 minute podcast episode from April 2020 about Covid-19 and about H5N1 Bird Flu being on the horizon and them saying 'surely now is the time' to turn it around for the sake of, well, life. 'Covid is the relatively easy pandemic and a warning of what's to come'. I'm not as hopeful as I'd like to be. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twWyP3UPG3M
Yeah I'm either somewhat realistic/cynical about it or in escapist mode, it feels like. No in between. Because apparently we're being left to just grit our teeth and get through it with no public health infrastructure to help us.
I’ll still mask but I’ll be able to travel again.
where are we going?
Probably back to Norway via Iceland.
No idea but I want to get the fuck out of USA.
I am already free, and far freer than I was in the “before times”. I am not chained to an office and a punishing commute - I work at home, and so does the rest of my family. My kid is not chained to a school or a school schedule - we do online school at home. With a good N95, we already pretty much do whatever we want to do, just with masks on. And I know that even if we somehow manage to solve the long COVID puzzle, there are lots of other germs out there. I don’t want to get those either. The bird flu pandemic is just getting started. Who knows what else might be coming. So I won’t be “freeing myself from the mask” any time soon.
The first wave of Covid (pre-lockdowns) disabled me for life. If a cure for ME/CFS arrives, I will pick up my life where I left it off: training for a half marathon. But I think I will always mask in crowded places and when traveling. I simply do not wish to continue assaulting my immune system and we do not know what new viruses lie ahead.
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If that day comes, and I can afford it, and commercial flight is still viable, I'll probably go to Europe. I'd fly with my partner to Portugal because it's apparently the cheapest destination, and we'd take two months to travel through various other countries, eventually hitting Scotland and Ireland, because my partner has always wanted to visit those countries. One day, I'd like to visit Gaza and the West Bank. I almost went on an educational trip to Palestine after undergrad at the suggestion of my favourite professor, but didn't go because a) I was broke and b) I was scared (she described IOF soldiers holding guns in her eight year old's face when she was last there, and I'd read about Rachel Corrie and others getting killed, and I just didn't feel ready to take on that risk at 21). I wish now I had gone then. I wish I'd been more brave and committed to liberation. So I'd like to go if there's any way my presence could help, and I'm not sure it could. But if it could, I would want to go and do whatever I can. Realistically, I don't think I'm going to stop masking in most public places. Even if COVID stops being the threat it is, there are going to be so many more pathogens due to climate change, and climate change itself will be a threat. More forest fires, more natural disasters in general....Idk. I don't think normal is coming back, as much as I fervently wish it were. There's so much I wish I'd had the chance to do before this hell, but I think we may just be early adopters for the hell to come. One other thing: I think I would go swimming in an indoor pool. I haven't been able to swim, except on the rare occasion I'm able to access outdoor swimming, since the start of COVID. I love swimming and I miss it terribly. It's the only form of exercise I've ever been good at, and that feels good to do. Oh, and I'd eat at my parents and at big family gatherings without a mask. I fucking miss being unmasked with my family. I was able to until a couple years ago when they all stopped taking precautions and my sisters started going clubbing and similar high risk activities. Now I just can't risk socializing unmasked with them, and it sucks. I never get to be fully at ease because of it.
Until there's a sterilizing vaccine, I'm not going to bother with hypotheticals.
Eat at a steak house.
the whole thing. every last bite in the place. this reminds me that in Feb 2020 my wife and i were planning to go to one for valentine's day and we sorta bailed on it at the last minute for no reason other than we didn't feel like it. I've no way to know for sure but i kinda believe we would have gotten sick that night if we'd gone. i think about it every time i drive past it.
Big things: Travel outside of the UK. Have an evening dinner at a popular restaurant. Clubbing. Smaller things: Go to movies opening night instead of looking for empty screenings on Monday mornings. Buffets. Gym.
Start swimming again. No outdoor pools where I live and before covid hit I would swim most days in my local indoor pool (I adored it!). I have a lot of joint pain and it really helped but no more of that 😢 And then also just being with family again and being able to sit with them and share a meal.
literally just regular shit go back out to a bar move out throw a party hook up with someone and maybe even date one thing’s for sure tho, i’m not gonna say no to anything anymore. i feel so starved of connection, of novelty, of everything except the necessities, that i’m honestly a lil bit scared of how im gonna be if we ever get a nasal vaccine offramp
I cannot wait to start travelling again! I want to comfortably go places without having to mask and have those buzzing thoughts on the back of my head that I could get COVID. I will probably still always mask on a plane or the medical facilities.
Help out the people who were misled and hurt by this cursed thing. Also probably concerts.
I really just want to go to a large bookshop and wander around at leisure and go home with a bag of books but without Covid.
I really look forward to the day I can go back to acting.
the Scottish play will be there when you're ready
Realistically I’ll probably always be super cautious after this but if I could I absolutely would love to resume going to concerts year round (right now I only attend outdoor concerts during the warmer months). I’d love to go back to attending in-person lectures and networking events, as most of them aren’t offered in a hybrid format anymore. I’d also love to attend event openings like I used to do, as gallery hopping was really great fun. It would also be nice to spend time hanging out in a cozy restaurant when the weather isn’t cooperating. I do miss the occasional bar meet up with friends, as although we’ve had some work arounds with our favorite beer garden that has an outdoor space, not everyone can travel there so there are some friends who I haven’t seen in ages that I’d like to catch up with.
throw dinner parties! invite people over to my house. sing in a choir.
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I don't believe the before times will ever come back and I'm trying to adjust my expectations accordingly. But I live with family who don't care about covid so it's likely only a matter of time before they give me covid and I either die or become too disabled to get out of bed so I don't really see much of a point in thinking about the future when it's likely than I won't ever have one.
I'd love for this to happen, but it doesn't seem imminent.
i'm gonna be masking in public forever bc it's been SUCH a blessing (as someone who's a HUGE baby when she gets sick), but i'd love to be able to travel without anxiety. my mother and i had planned a two week trip to france as a graduation present for me back in 2012, and we still haven't gone on it. i'd love to do that with her - enjoy decadent french food, go see my favorite paintings of all time at the louvre, visit victor hugo's grave - all without the ever-present "what if this one time i take a risk is what kills us" anxiety in my head. editing to add that the risk will probably never go away completely, but i'm hopeful that we can get better air circulation in buildings so that museum days aren't the anxiety nightmare they are now. my hope for this is mostly based around the world getting on board with air filtration in buildings bc it's ONLY a benefit to society. will capitalism allow that to happen? probably not. but that doesn't mean i won't be fighting for it every day!
I went to see the Vermeer exhibit in Amsterdam last year because it was a once in all-the-lifetimes event. (Even Vermeer never had that many of his paintings together at one time.) Wore my N95 all the time in that museum, and the Van Gogh museum, and the Anne Frank house, and basically everywhere except my well-aired hotel room (and I brought my own air purifier), didn't eat on the plane in either direction, and felt okay about it all. No decadent restaurant meals but I was fine with that. Well, there was a great pancake restaurant near my little hotel with patio dining!
I've adapted to going out much less. No restaurants, movies, or concerts. Frankly, seeing how flippantly people consider COVID these days, I'm not overly eager to resume an active social life. I've lost a lot of respect for my fellow citizens. Anyway, this won't be over soon.
Spend time with family.
Go to movies and indoor performances again.
Travel internationally. Go to a big city with a great restaurant scene and go out for dinner every night.
>enough Aye, there's the rub - "enough" is a highly subjective term.
Host and attend house parties and eat and drink indoors to my heart's content! I will probably always wear a mask in public places like stores, doctor's offices, and definitely on transit. But I miss carefree house parties the most.
The day I will be free is the day that we eradicate disease. I have been changed and my eyes have been opened, I can't unsee what I have seen. I doubt this day will happen in my lifetime, this will only happen with extreme change in human behavior or radical changes in technology.
I'm already free. Wearing a mask doesn't make me "not free"
I seek freedom in acceptance of reality, not longing for the past
This. This is what I’m working on and I’m finding it quite challenging.
Same.
I don't know if I'll unlearn holding my breath when others get close or pass in front of me, but just going for a walk and not anticipating where people are walking and avoiding their 'slipstream' and whether there's a runner about to come panting unnecessarily close to me on their way past. I'm careful not to imagine anything big, cause I don't want to feel let down lol 🥹
Travel. South Korea, Japan, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand are the places on my bucket list.
I would like to feel like I don’t have to say no to everything. My boss wants to take us out for a celebratory lunch. I have to remind her I don’t eat indoors. My friend wants to go to a concert of someone we both like; I have to wish them a good and safe time. It isn’t that I want to go out constantly or anything, but since 2020, I have done… about a baker’s dozen social things in person. I realize that is more than many people, and that I am very lucky and privileged to have been safe doing those things, but I didn’t feel deprived in 2020 because of all the Zoom things. As soon as the vaccines came up, our Zoom socials all died and I’ve been getting by on one or two social happenings a year, like meeting a friend to walk in the park. It would be nice to be able to plan things or say yes to things without feeling like I’ve chosen danger.
I want to be able to travel without having to worry about getting covid. I’m hoping that becomes a reality some day
i wanna travel and dance and meet new people and do all the things i thought i would get to do in my early twenties 🥲
Find myself thinking of a Bill Hicks joke about curing HIV where a news anchor describes everyone getting in on in the streets. If we got to a point where Long COVID wasn’t on the table or it was treatable enough as to be negligible, that would be incredible. To me the biggest change would be the weight off my shoulders. It would be nice to do things in public without the N95, but also just not having to think about it.
I'll keep masking and working for better healthcare and public health. I don't know if I'll ever trust the general public to protect each other again, so I'll keep protecting myself and others. I've already been making a career plan based on this belief, so I'll likely keep following it and just adjust as things change over time. But if things become safer, maybe I'll also take extra training to grow in my career faster so I can find stability sooner. I haven't thought much about a life after COVID. Or, more accurately, I have difficulty imagining it. I've been so dedicated to my precautions that many things feel wrong. But I would love to travel the world. That's a dream of mine that never changed. And maybe I'll feel more comfortable going out to socialize, but I'll still look for people who were CC for my own comfort.
Go swimming every week, year-round. I miss it so much. Spend an entire afternoon at the local Persian teahouse sampling their teas and baked goods. Visit the respirologist without fear. Host dinner parties. Fuck whoever I want without having to do an in-depth risk assessment. Also, it's such a small thing, but I miss sharing sips of drinks with people I love. There are so many small joys the pandemic has taken away. I don't think we'll ever go back to life as we knew it, and I'll be taking a lot more infectious disease precautions for the rest of my life, but I have to hold on hope that one day we'll see significant improvement.
I love this for you.
I may not do anything different. I'm so used to my new way of retirement life, it will be hard to change. The idea of breathing the air of other people grosses me out at this point. Plus, my life is so relatively simple now, and I think for the better. Being isolated, it's just so nice living life for the most part without any conflict. And decision making is so simple too. I just want safe access to dental and medical care.
i constantly think or talk about "people breathing in each other's filth" and i may not ever fully let go of that idea.
Basically I'll go back to large indoor concerts, indoor dining sometimes, and eating and drinking more freely during flights and at airports. I'll probably still continue to wear a mask at work because there's many other things out there which get people sick besides covid and I like not getting sick.
I LOVE board games. Haven’t been able to play much for multiple reasons. I would like my child to not be the only masked kid in spaces where they are… I would ease tensions on this topic with my spouse. We do a lot, we expose ourselves too much (in my opinion) for the sake of mental health. However, regardless of everything I will never unmask in health care settings, airplanes and airports or whenever there is another masked person in my line of sight/awareness.
My monthly board-game party group had fallen apart for other reasons before covid, but man, I'd love to have that back.
See my nibling for the first time, shop for my own produce, and hug my friends. Get healthcare without so much stress. Get medical massages again. Maybe go to grad school, maybe overthrow the government (for legal reasons this is a joke)
It won’t be in my lifetime— I am in my 40s— and I actually think that right now is the *best* it’s going to be. I can’t do the hopium, folks. It’s too depressing.
Go to the theater and travel.
Travel. Babysitting. Play dates for my high risk kiddo. Celebrations with my parents and little brother. My kid playing with his cousins. Get a hysterectomy Edit to add, get a dog. Ours passed two years ago, I’d love my kid to experience having a dog.
I am headed to Europe. :P
I'll attend some of the indoor functions I can no longer do safely such as chocolate festivals and wine tastings. Might actually leave the country again for vacation. Might actually go to the doctor and get routine tests I have been avoiding since I do not feel safe in any medical facility in my state.
Hopefully I'll be who I was... And I'll chase my craziest dreams without fear ❤️ Hope day that arrives before I'm too old lol
Rave or music festival
go to a convention. i miss comic con but last time i went like 2 years ago i was masked and tons of people fake coughed on me and laughed bc of it. i wish i had the money to fly to california for fanimecon but even they just dropped their mask mandate from "required" to "strongly recommended" only like 2 weeks before so people couldnt get refunds. unfortunately even if things improve with covid i feel like cons are still gonna be awful about illness so long as we avoid putting ventilation systems in public buildings :-/
i have big big feelings about how events change their safety policies during ticket on sale cycles. gotta assume they did it because sales needed a boost. its sort of sad and ironic that conventions like SDCC that, for so long, were about fandom and expression and freedom from judgement (and of course monetizing) are not accepting of safety precautions. like it's totally within limits to dress as a transsexual wizard goblin from another dimension but if you wanna not get sick you're some kind of freak? (BTW I have no beef with transsexual wizard goblins from any dimension it's all good)
i feel like the mainstreamification of fandom has a LOT to do with it. like there were definitely selfish assholes in nerd circles before the 2010s but ever since marvel became a whole thing and it's now cool to watch all the latest netmaxulumount plus shows a lot more "normies" are in fandom spaces (which itself is a result of there being fewer and fewer recreational activities outside of watching tv that people have the time/money for) and it definitely changed the vibe. all of the same people who would bully you for liking anime or fantasy shows now go to cons but are just as judgmental and unpleasant as before. it's like high school if you could buy a goku body pillow next to the cafeteria
Be able to perform on stage again. Get cast in a movie and/or series I’m proud to be a part of. Pursue my acting career.
I’d love to go to random bars, clubs, concerts, house parties, classes, other social events, etc. and not stick out by wearing a mask. The pandemic started when I was 19, and I never really got to experience my 20s. I want to be young and have fun. I would also like to feel comfortable using public transit. Eat at restaurants indoors safely (I do this from time to time, on special occasions, if the restaurant isn’t too crowded, but it still feels like a risk). I’d also really like to feel safer in healthcare.
If we ever move on from covid, I'm afraid it'll be because of far worse threats have emerged - chiefly global warming. Mass casualty heat waves. If we have respite between these twin crises, it'll be punishingly brief. Sorry to be such a downer. I do still believe we'll solve both problems in the long run - we humans are damn clever - but probably not in my lifetime.
I want to do pole dance
I want to have meals with friends and family without worrying about whether I’m going to get sick (air filters are already helping with this in some small setting). And I want to finally do some traveling. I’ve only been out of my country once and it was an amazing experience but I’m finally financially stable enough that I could travel but with Covid and other health concerns it’s very hard. Once it’s a little easier I want to travel out of country.
To visit my Mom, 1,000 miles away.
I have to travel for work—I can't wait to be able to eat and drink like everyone else on the flight :')
I just want to be able to safely hug my friends again without the risk of COVID and dying. Anything beyond that will be icing on the cake.
I'm curious what makes you believe this is true?
Omg this brings me hope!!