Pandemic Depression — Part 2

I acknowledge and respect that everybody is entitled to act however they see fit as it relates to the pandemic nowadays, despite what consequences that may have for our collective wellbeing. But my mental wellbeing is struggling lately because most of my close friends and family are no longer choosing to mask when they are indoors in public spaces, which increases the risk of covid transmission to themselves and others. They’re allowed to behave this way if they want to. They are responsible for their own decisions as it relates to their health and wellbeing. But that also means that if I want to see my friends and family, their personal health decisions have a direct impact on my own wellbeing.

I don’t want to catch covid again because it made me feel miserable, and because I’m genuinely worried about the long term consequences (such as brain damage) that recent evidence shows is the result of infection, and increases in severity with repeat infections. Right now, I have anxiety every time I make plans to see my friends and/or family because I’m fairly certain that most of them haven’t been wearing a mask in public places since we last saw each other. This then puts me at a risk of contracting covid anytime I want to socialize with the people I care about. I know that I can’t force people to behave differently, but I have voiced my opinion on the issue many times, and the way my friends and family are acting makes me feel like my loved ones don’t respect my wishes and concerns. It doesn’t feel like I’m asking too much for people to just continue masking in public, or avoid high risk situations.

I don’t really know what to do anymore, because it seems like my only realistic option to avoid (or minimize) the risk of catching covid would be to avoid seeing my friends and family, and it sucks to be put in that position. We masked for more than two years to avoid spreading covid, and it seems like once people became fully vaccinated they just stopped caring about whether or not covid still has an impact on others. Maybe that’s not the case, maybe they do still care, but it doesn’t seem that way based on their actions. The way others are behaving makes me feel like I’m crazy for still doing my part to minimize spread, but I know I’m not being crazy. I want to behave in a way that minimizes the harm of a life-threatening, brain-damaging virus, both to myself and others, and it’s just hard to see that the people closest to me don’t feel the same way anymore.