Humans have always been programmed to build and maintain relationships with others with the sole purpose of finding this innate connection and preserving it for a long time.
But now that we’ve grown familiar with this recurring distance with our friends, acquaintances, or loved ones due to the pandemic, we’ve come to realize some significant things about these relationships that we’ve been valuing through dire situations such as this.
Sometimes we tend to feel lonely… and that’s okay.
Confining ourselves within the four walls of our room alone for a long time really makes ‘loneliness’ hit us in the face at moments we don’t even expect it to. At times when that loneliness reaches us at our core, the need to be with or talk with someone in person is the one thing we could think of to ease this unwarranted emotion.
But feeling terribly lonely in this circumstance that we’re in is normal and valid. And we don’t need to trouble ourselves by forcing it out of our system because in the end we’re all still human – and humans find solace in the company of people that they could comfortably be with.
This impression of loneliness is normal and should be acknowledged by us entirely.
The need to respect one another’s time and space.
Being apart from each other also made us realize that we’re all individuals that have lives of our own.
On days where being at work or school is just too exasperating that we no longer have the time and energy to simply hold a conversation with anyone, we realize that others could also be experiencing the same thing.
From that, we should understand that sometimes people won’t be able to match with our own time and pace – and that it’s okay to be out of each other’s loop on certain days.
All we need is to respect each other’s space and time; as well as exerting even the most trivial efforts to make them feel that you’re there for them when they’re struggling.
Valuing even the smallest efforts to talk or catch-up.
This pandemic has propagated low-maintenance friendships that sometimes it takes weeks or even months to have a chat with some of them.
So, even simply replying on Instagram stories or posting subtle replies on each other’s Twitter is vastly welcomed and considered a huge effort in catching up – asking how things have been after a long while.
We’ve come to know how to appreciate even such simple gestures from our friends while we’re learning how to cope with being isolated under a pandemic.
Cheers to all of us who are slowly learning to exert and accept these small efforts to maintain relationships most significant to us.
Long distance relationships could work for some but not for others.
While we’ve learned the essence of granting each other the time and space we need, sometimes even with utmost understanding, relationships just can’t seem to work when apart from each other for a long period of time.
This just entails that everyone handles distance differently. Long distance relationships might work for some, but it’s also impossible for others.
And once we encounter either of these situations, it’s vital that we understand that even if we end up sustaining or severing some relationships, the time spent with these people was something that we’ve valued deeply at some point in our lives – and that we must accept that all these relationships that we have are imminent to change.
Being isolated while under a pandemic really makes us realize some things that we’ve never dwelled on when we’re living freely outside our homes.
And one of those is the need to make or break relationships with others. But one thing is always for sure – although you’re apart from your treasured relationships, there will always be friends or even acquaintances who still care and think about you occasionally – even in the absence of their words or presence.
Pandemic relationships are hard to manage. But in the middle of it all, we’ll never cease to learn how to cherish each other more. Even between all this distance.
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