Source: vgajic / Getty
Have you felt your friendships shifting at a rapid rate during this pandemic? Maybe a friend you used to see several times a week, you haven’t seen at all during the past six months. Or perhaps you’ve started making more time for a friend that was pushed to the furthest corners of your life before.
Some say that this pandemic has accelerated trends that were already happening. It’s made industries that were bound to blow up boom just a bit faster, and those that were on the downslope deteriorate almost instantly. It’s been doing that for human relationships, too. In some cases, maybe it hasn’t accelerated trends in your friendships, so much as illuminated ones you didn’t know were there.
When we don’t have social engagements to go to and the only way to carry out friendships is through video chats and simple outdoor park hangs, we see friendships for what they really are. Sometimes we see things we don’t like so much; other times we see deeper things we have in common. Here are ways this pandemic may change your friendships forever.
One more political divide
As if the world didn’t feel divided enough before the pandemic – with rivaling political parties villainizing each other every chance they got – this pandemic has given us one more thing to disagree on. Friends you once felt shared the same values as you aren’t treating this pandemic wisely. You may decide that you don’t have the same beliefs as one friend, because of the lack of responsibility you see them taking during this time. It may be difficult to forget that this or that friend hosted a 100-person party during a pandemic, disregarding the wellbeing of others. It can be hard to forget that one friend was an anti-masker. Of course, there’s more to it than that. Each party has different feelings surrounding stimulus packages, reopening of businesses, and other economical factors. The divide between parties has perhaps never been greater.
