Better with Friends

During Covid, I found myself relieved that I didn’t have to socialize. Now that we are finally getting to see people again, I am realizing that I actually missed socializing with our friends. I am a fairly introverted person, so this was a fairly surprising revelation for me; however I have found it to be energizing to see our friends again. 

I really had the revelation when we were able to hang out with some friends we hadn’t seen in awhile. We were only able to go because the weather changed our plans, but the universe works in mysterious ways. It was one of only a handful of times that we were able to see people since the restrictions started getting lifted. 

It felt like it had only been a day since we last saw them. There was the obvious catching up, since it hadn’t actually been a day, but there wasn’t the awkward moment I thought there was going to be. It was just a chance to hang out with a bunch of great friends and a bunch of great people. Regrettably, I passed up an opportunity to hang out with them again today because my sad Covid brain said I wouldn’t want to do it and I felt weird changing my mind last minute and didn’t want to inconvenience anyone. 

I think that might be the moment I truly realized how much Covid had affected my mental health. I was so convinced that Covid wasn’t bothering me that I actually made myself believe it. In order to cope with the fact that crazy shit was going on, and I hadn’t seen many people outside of our small circle, my brain convinced itself that was actually what it wanted. Now, I am beginning to realize that and I am trying to combat those feelings. As I stated in a previous post, I want to work on reconnecting with the people that are important to me, instead of retreating into myself and letting those connections die. 

During our conversations we came to the realization that it had been nearly two years since we had seen most of them. I couldn’t believe it; obviously Covid lasted a long time and is still going on but surely it hadn’t been two years, right? For me, it had felt like it was just yesterday that the lockdowns went into effect. It wasn’t dragging on for me like it seemed to be for some people. I think the biggest reason for that is that nothing was changing. 

I would wake up, go to work, come home, watch TV or play games, and then go to bed. I think subconsciously that was a major impetus for starting this blog. I wanted to make myself try new things and have real experiences. I had fallen into a rut without realizing it and needed to get myself out. Yesterday was a bigger step towards that than I realized it would be. 

We had made some plans to hang out with some other friends and go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I had never been there before and I am not someone who is really into art but I didn’t want to let those feelings stop me from doing something new. I am glad we got to go because it ended up being a fun trip. 

There is a lot to see there and even if art isn’t your thing, there is probably something you can find that will interest you. It is a place that just has so much history in it. Even the building itself is impressive. Standing at the base and looking up is an incredible experience. There is something about that style of building that makes it different from a skyscraper in terms of impressiveness. Looking up at the massive columns you really realize the sheer size of the structure. It really convinced me that seeing things in person really is different than just seeing them in photographs. 

I have always been the most impressed by humankind's ability to craft incredibly intricate things with very little machinery or tools. I think that is why the museum's arms and armor exhibit was my favorite in the museum, followed by the exhibits on old furniture and silverwork. I couldn’t even imagine creating some of the suits of armor with modern equipment, let alone the technology they had available in that period. 

Again, there is something about seeing these things in person that I hadn’t realized before. I noticed a lot more of the finer details, the rivets, the interlinking chains, and other fine details. It is much harder to appreciate those things in photographs, and it makes me want to go to more of those places to see all of the interesting objects people have made over the course of history. 

Hopefully, you are able to start connecting with those you haven’t been able to see in awhile. When you feel safe going out, I would absolutely recommend checking out the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I would just recommend wearing comfortable shoes because it is quite a lot of walking on fairly unforgiving floors. 

I hope to be able to bring more stuff like this and hopefully start the YouTube channel. I think I have finally settled on a format. I think I am going to do vlog style videos when I go to new places or try new things and use it as a video document. The first one will most likely be on the next hike my wife and I go on so I will make a post about that when it is up!