The quarantine and social distancing taught me how much I actually value human connection.

The pandemic has changed us all. For me, it sincerely showed me that I am a social being. All humans are social beings.

That was what my sociology professor said to us on the first day of class: human beings are social beings. However, in my head, I argued against that. I didn’t think of myself that way — I saw myself as a loner.

I’m an introvert

I am very introverted and I will remain that way for the rest of my life. Some people, upon first meeting me, have assumed that I’m an extrovert. I think that’s because people easily misunderstand what the meaning of ‘introvert’ is.

I can be quiet but I can also be extremely loud. Either way, I’m always very deep inside of my head. My inner world is much more vivid than what’s around me. I’m easily overstimulated by what’s going on in my environment, and that can really drain me. I gain my energy back by disengaging from the world to go within.

Growing up, I always spent a lot of my time in my bedroom with the door closed. I wasn’t like my sister, who was always downstairs talking to my mom. I came home from school and I headed upstairs right away to recharge.

Growing up, I always spent a lot of my time in my bedroom with the door closed.

As a child, I only liked having one or two friends at a time — I couldn’t handle any more. They were very deep and intense friendships though. But into my teenage years, I began to open up more and expand my circle. My greatest goal going into college had nothing to do with my career plans — I wanted to make a lot of new friends.

Although I made plenty of great friendships, I still saw myself as somewhat antisocial. ‘Me-time’ was an absolute necessity. I couldn’t hang out with my friends for too long before craving a break to recharge.

After college, I found myself falling back into an antisocial bubble. I was so worn out from four years of living with friends, hang-outs on a daily basis, and rarely having time to spend alone. I still kept in touch with friends, but I didn’t make any effort to see people too frequently.

Single and alone

In 2020, only about a minute before quarantine, I went through a breakup and moved into my own place. We separated after seven years together. I was looking forward to living all by myself for the first time in my life — no family, no friends, and no partner — just me!

Despite the horrible trauma of the pandemic, introverts all felt a slight wave of relief when quarantine was put into place. Now we had excuses for cancelling plans, staying inside, and being alone.

Introverts all felt a slight wave of relief when quarantine was put into place.

I had broken up with my boyfriend and he was out of my life. My parents were three hours away, my siblings two hours away, and my closest-distance relative at least an hour away. My college friends left town one by one, until my closest-distance friends were at least thirty minutes away.

I thought that living alone would be the dream. It ended up coming with a lot of minor issues that I struggled with. There were problems with bugs, alarms, and mechanics. I had some car problems. It was all of these little things that I had taken for granted when I wasn’t alone.

I spent Christmas by myself

In December 2021, covid completely spiked. I remember seeing the bar graph at its highest. It was the worst month of the year. What a way to welcome the coming new year…

I planned to drive to my parents’ house for Christmas, who lived three hours away. I started feeling very ill a few days prior, but I tried to brush off the symptoms and blame it on the dry air. However, my sister took a test the day that I was set to leave and tested positive. In that moment, I knew that I was probably positive too.

I was all alone in my apartment for Christmas.

I was all alone in my apartment for Christmas. I was sick. And there was no one there to take care of me.

Here’s the cherry on top — my apartment had a blackout on Christmas Eve. The entire complex lost electricity and heating for the night. I put my dying phone on energy-saving mode, wrapped myself in as many blankets as I could find, and just slept.

Two years later…

By 2022, the pandemic was still going strong. It seemed like there was finally a light at the end of the tunnel, but the future was still so uncertain. Two years of face masks. Two years of standing six feet apart from people. Two years without concerts, restaurants, shows, festivals, and other social events.

And by two and a half years, the summer of 2022, it seemed like it was all finally coming to an end. And it wasn’t until more than three years later that the CDC announced that the pandemic was officially over.

Re-entering the world was wild.

Re-entering the world was wild. You could tell that we were all a little bit uneasy with it. People acted slightly more reserved than usual. It took time for us to adjust back to normal.

The pandemic has changed us all

The pandemic changed me. It forced me to admit that I do need people. I am, in fact, a social being.

It’s difficult to confess to needing others. It can make you feel weak. Relying on others is scary because they might let you down. But the thing is — we all need each other. I’m not the only one.

Now that the CDC has declared the pandemic to be over, it doesn’t mean that everything is the same again. We’ve all changed because of the pandemic.

How has it changed you?