How the Pandemic Has Left a Negative Affect on Friendships
Because of COVID, some friendships will never be the same again.
COVID affected many of us in different ways; people have lost loved ones, homes, and jobs, moved cities, and changed their lifestyles. Together we have felt the losses and pain of others alongside our own. We were initially encouraged to check in on our friends and loved ones, get together on ZOOM calls, and feel connected even though we were physically apart. The underlying message we were subliminally hearing was ‘we are in this together’.
COVID pushed many people to act and behave in ways that were utterly different from their daily lives, and in turn, this affected their relationships with friends. The wreckage of broken and damaged friendships because of COVID is a subject not much covered. Almost as if the bonds between friends are trivial compared to the bonds between partners or family members.
People in the face of trauma or stress react differently. We tend to want to connect with people that react in similar ways to ourselves. We respond accordingly to how dangerous we perceive the threat with some people being genetically predisposed through our dopamine receptors to take more significant risks than others (side note — I have the ‘risk-taking gene).
