Everything changed with Covid

In case you hadn't noticed...

I can't claim any special status, as I was fortunate to have no one close to me die or have their physical status significantly impacted by the virus.

A while back I read posts by a person who said Covid was no problem at all, and hadn't changed his life at all. He previously acted as a hermit and so it was nothing, and it really shouldn't be something serious to anyone else, as everyone should act as a hermit all the time.

I left a rather acerbic response describing how Covid had changed everything in my life, and ended with "I'm glad you had a good time."

Pre-Covid and post-divorce I had come out of my life-long shell. I was cooking for others and hosting major social events. I joined the board of TheatreWorks and made major contributions to other orgs and traveled the world with my girlfriend

. I was expanding my social influence and making big plans for the future.

I was literally walking out my door to discuss funding another immigrant woman's restaurant when I got the notice that California was shutting down.

And then it all came to a screeching end.

No one was going to the theatre during Covid. No one was going to the restaurant I'd funded. No one wanted someone to host a dinner. I ended up throwing out all the hosting stuff I'd bought.

All these years later I am a kind of hermit like that original guy. I live alone in Cleveland, I do work for non-profit orgs and I do creative stop-motion projects for myself, not to mention a podcast about old movies and TV shows that I love. But all the rest came to an end.

My previous life will never come back, and that's something I just need to accept.

There are different things in my life now that give my joy, and I need to focus on those.

A few years ago a major figure wrote a book saying "If only we'd been willing to make a sacrifice, Covid would have ended immediately."

I'm not a violent guy, but to this day if I met that guy, I'd punch him.