The catch-22 of dating after a whole year without covid

As quarantine rules went down and higher standards came in, dating after a covid Sree year requires effort and energy at a time when it feels like we've never had less

- Suchin Mehrotra

So, I'm supposed to have something valuable to say about what dating is like in a post-pandemic world, am I? Bruh, I just about know which day of the week it is, and any day that isn't entirely, exclusively, and absolutely exhausting feels like a bloody achievement. Which, ironically, seems like a pretty fitting metaphor for what post-pandemic dating life is like. I think I've made my point. #Mic Drop It's admittedly a tricky one to quantify. How did the pandemic really change us? Now that things are 'normal' again, is what we're looking for and how we play the dating game particularly different? Unsexy as it may sound, the honest answer is I don't know. None of us do, really. It's too recent in our collective memory to fully understand the extent to which the shit-storm-dumpster-fire-cluster- fuck-roller-coaster of the last two years has left its mark (there's a ride you probably won't see at Disneyland anytime soon). But oh well, I say that's best left for another year's worth of therapy to unpack. (Good Lord what a lucrative time to be a therapist, eh? All of us resuming life in a new year after prolonged isolation with a fresh truckload of trauma and a side of crushing uncertainty. Can you say cha chinggg?)