And not the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory kind of wonky. Sooooo, how’s your post-pandemic social reentry coming? I wouldn’t say mine has shit the bed, but it ain’t pretty either. And because I am a classically trained overthinker, I was dwelling on it. A lot. And it wasn’t really helping. But then I found this little WBUR gem that helped me make sense of at least some of it. Why You Can’t Shake Pandemic Anxiety, by Molly Colvin.
This quote spoke to me: “Our brains will stubbornly stick to the routines we’ve adopted over the last year because they have been so critical for our survival.”
To summarize: The good news is that our brains are still working, which if you are like me, I’ve had serious doubts about this over the last year. The bad news is that our brains are gonna be little bitches about letting us try to change anything in our social routines.
But that’s OK. I got Blanche, who I think is on my side of this and not the little bitch side. Right, Blanche? She’s sitting on her barstool, squinting at me through the smoke rising from the cigarette perched in the corner of her mouth and turning the full whisky shot glass in a slow rotation on the bar. She raises it and silently toasts me, before tipping her head back and shooting it down. The cigarette stays intact. She places the glass carefully back on the bar and gives me a small, enigmatic smile, but it’s enough for me to know: It ain’t gonna be pretty, but, yeah, she’s got my back.
sandradeden.com 
Social reentry??? You mean you actually WANT to interact with other people?
Ha ha! Not really, but I have that darn job and whatnot. But maybe I need to focus on how do interact as little as possible 😉
With very few exceptions, JUST what the Lovely and Talented said above. I hope Blanche can cover for me for a while. I’ll buy her drinks.
Last year, my dentist asked: “How are you dealing with all the restrictions of Covid-19?”
Having lost my social skills years ago, I almost went full-on Blanche with: “The streetcar is empty……and I’m LOVIN’ it!” (Instead, I just said: “Oh, you know. It’s been a challenge.”)
Exactly!
She’s got you!