Living Like It’s 2021
While I don’t love the title of the piece — fear isn’t the reason I do what I do — the rest of this Washington Post piece hit close to home. We still mask indoors, unapologetically. It keeps us safe while giving us the ability to do the things we want to do. We went to two Bar Mitzvahs last month, hung out with friends and family, and traveled to the UK and Belgium last summer. We still try not to spend a ton of extra time indoors with people who are not masked, even though we’re masked. One-way masking isn’t as effective as two-way masking. But we obviously spend time indoors with unmasked people when we can’t help it for school, work, or the weather.
The only thing impacted is meals with other people. And restaurant visits and reading in coffeehouses. But really, meals with other people because we don’t eat indoors (or outdoors in crowded spaces). And that is the most common way people socialize. It certainly was our socializing activity of choice pre-COVID. Again, it’s still possible if everyone is willing to be flexible and creative.
For the most part, I don’t feel isolated. Very few people give us pushback about masking or our boundaries. For the most part, it’s like vegetarianism. Other people eat meat. I don’t. It clearly impacts time together in some regard because I’m not going to join in a crab feast or go to a steakhouse. Some people give us a hard time about vegetarianism, and we smile pleasantly and say we’re not going to compromise to make them happy. But for the most part, our meat-eating friends will suggest a place we both can find something on the menu to enjoy. They meet us halfway, and we meet them halfway. I mean, not literally now because we’re not eating in restaurants. It’s just an analogy. But you understand.
So we mask. And we avoid what feels unsafe to us. And, yeah, it can be a little isolating at times, and I wish we’d all go back to trying to keep each other safe. But I also know that most people have gone back to 2019 living. And I’m cool with that as long as they’re cool that we’re still in 2021 living. And we’re mostly okay with that.
4 comments
Thanks for the article, and for this post. It’s nice to have company!
😉 We are still pretty cautious… we haven’t been masking in small family group settings, when we know the people around us are generally careful, but we haven’t been to a restaurant or movie theatre since March 2020, and we’ve only been back to the mall (masked) a handful of times since then. Those are all things we used to enjoy doing, and I miss it, but the numbers (the few of them that are still reported…!) are still way too high for my liking (and it’s not even winter yet…!). As I said in a recent blog post, people tell me, “We’re all going to get it, sooner or later!” and I say, “Yeah, I’d prefer later… MUCH later…!”… I’m not giving up my “no covid yet” title without a fight! 😉
I’m not cool with people acting like it’s 2019 at all – because of their abandonment of all public health measures we will continue to be in this never ending pandemic with thousands of deaths per week, millions disabled by long Covid, “mysterious” heart attacks, strokes, etc. in those who had “mild” cases, etc., likely economic crash, etc.
I never spend any time indoors (or outdoors, really) with people who don’t live in my household so no masking necessary. I don’t really understand why anyone chooses to expose themselves to others outside their household (most jobs have a work from home option and kids can do online school), but that’s their choice
I still wear masks indoors. We’re going on vacation in March, so that’s going to be weird for me. I’ve booked a cruise. Will I stand out and wear a mask places? I don’t know. I’m never going back to 2019, I don’t think. As long as Covid is circulating, I’ll be wearing a mask and avoiding restaurants for the most part.