Miss the Good Ole Days?

One of the things that Covid did for us is to create a master cleanse…of our friend lists. I’ve heard countless stories of people who lost their entire social circle, seemingly overnight, and were distraught. How could friends with whom we shared so much, gone on holiday with, even, suddenly disappear from us overnight?

The answer, my friend, is, blowin’ in the wind. A devastating event like a pandemic can bring about a massive shift in our behavior - besides the enforced bans that governments imposed on us for our safety.

While for many, it can mean a retreat into our headspace, and a time to pause, reflect on what is important to us, and choose to turn more introverted, for others, it could be a mental health crisis, a sense of languishing, or inertia. While there are several who couldn’t wait for restrictions to be relaxed to get out and mingle again, for still many others, the sense of listlessness and lack of desire to get out of the house or out of our sweatpants persisted.

This was also a time where new friendships and bonds were forged – perhaps family came back to the forefront after several years, or a helpful neighbour is the one that you are choosing to spend more time with even once the need to ring a doorbell to borrow sugar has passed.

So, if you’re feeling a little lost, a little lonely, and long for the good ole days where your ‘gang’ did things together, pause to reflect on the reasons that things may have changed. You’ll never know the whole truth, but a still mind can see patterns emerge with better clarity.

Keep in mind, also, that the brain loves for things to remain the same - there’s certainty and ‘safety’ in that. But we are changing all the time – daily, in fact. About 330 billion of our cells are replaced daily, new thoughts spring forth, and memories are altered every time we access them. I’ll ask you, ‘are you languishing in winter when it is already spring’?

Maybe it’s time we went out and made some good new days!