Has Covid-19 changed our culture?

For most of my college years, I stayed busy as a means to distract myself from the thoughts constantly running through my mind. And while I enjoyed much of my time, I was also burnt out constantly. Any downtime at all was spent in a state of nervous energy, and I had no idea how to turn it off.

Running from meetings to classes to parties and everything in between meant that nearly every second of my day was occupied with something. But as I ran around campus from one activity to the next, I also ran away from my own mind. I didn’t like sitting with myself for very long.

But of course covid hit and that changed everything. No longer could I run away all day long. There was nowhere to go. Nothing to do. Nobody to see. And so I spent the first couple of months last year sitting with myself. It was excruciating.

No matter how many other things I tried to do to distract, I would inevitably end up alone with my racing thoughts for the vast majority of the day. And while I couldn’t stand it at first, it got a little bit easier as time went on.

The culture of the north east, where I grew up, is extremely fast paced. Compared to other areas I’ve lived, it seems as though time moves faster. Or maybe my perception of time is different when everyone is constantly doing something. Moving from one thing to the next. And so naturally, my culture influenced my own internal clock in profound ways.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?), pandemics don’t care about culture. Or perhaps they’re much bigger than culture. No matter how people may have lived in the past, continuing to do so in a covid world is inherently unsustainable and dangerous.

The transition from business to … doing nothing was especially difficult because it changed our culture. And it’s only natural to have some averse reactions to widespread culture shock.

But I think I’ve gradually adjusted to the change, no matter how much Id prefer the alternative. This is one example of many changes that have occured due to covid. And this is how revolutions occur. Not with a bang, but with a long drawn out whisper.