Reconnecting with Old Ties

Since the Covid-19 outbreak, most of us are spending our days almost exclusively at home, limited to the company of our partners, or our immediate family, or roommates, or pets. Without our normal routine of going to work or school, with all dining, shopping, entertainment, and travel shuttered indefinitely, and all social engagements discouraged, our day-to-day life has changed drastically.

This collective “time out” from normal life has opened up a space in our lives to spend the hours of the day in a different way. Perhaps the time has allowed us to shift our thoughts from the daily grind to, among other meaningful things, thoughts of the people we love and have appreciated in our lives.

If you tend to hesitate in contacting someone you haven’t heard from in a long while, (like I do!), the pandemic is the perfect pretext for reaching out to friends, colleagues, and old ties — to see how they’re fairing in these unprecedented circumstances.

The shared experiences of this pandemic, such as social distancing, sheltering at home, and wearing a face mask to the grocery store are an opportunity to compare notes, share ideas, and maybe laugh in the face of fear. We are all keeping our distance physically, but this extraordinary period of separateness may paradoxically cause us to reconnect with those with whom we’ve lost touch in the normal shuffle of life.

-Beth Gilbert-Crowell