Hello, how are you guys doing? Have the mask mandates been lifted in your neck of the woods as well? For us here, the mask mandates in indoor spaces are gone and it has increased my anxiety somewhat. In my personal opinion it feels a tad early for that yet (I mean our infection rate is still above all other past peaks. It would have been nice to have stabilized at a lower rate first). Luckily, I would say 80% of people here are still masking (coincidentally that’s about our vaccination rate as well—hmm any correlation I wonder). But I’ve had a couple brushes with unmasked people and have come away with the experience realizing that I don’t need to be polite and stick around (especially if they’re talking to me). I have every right to excuse myself and walk away from them (just like they have the right to choose not to mask). I know rationally, that brief encounters indoors with an unmasked person will unlikely lead to infection (especially since I’m still wearing my KN95 masks). But I end up with anxiety and continue to dwell on the encounter, so if anything it’s better for my mental health to just walk in the other direction. Ah well it’s a new era in the pandemic. And as an aside, I keep thinking back to Station Eleven and the phrase “there is no before” lol. Maybe the ones eager to go back to unmasking can’t wait to get back to how it was before, but for me there is no before. Things have changed, I have changed, and I am ok with that (even if it means learning to live with more anxiety than before).

I’ve also been dealing with some strange health issues since my (not) covid scare (luckily it was not covid according to 3 rapid tests and a PCR test) in late January. TBH I haven’t been feeling 100% since before whatever cold I had, which is discouraging to say the least (and again not helping the anxiety). My latest ailment is a jaw, temple, and tooth pain on my right side that kept me from sleeping well for about 2 days and required round-the-clock tylenol. I finally got to see the dentist a week after the pain started and she couldn’t find the source of the pain. So now I’m on antibiotics on the off chance it’s a tooth infection, and am currently looking for an endodontist in my neighborhood (for a possible root canal consultation 😩).

Ok sorry for all the venting, but man when I don’t feel well that’s all I can think about sometimes. On the bright side I’ve been distracting myself with Instagram outfit challenges, enjoying the spring blossoms, and watching The Girl Before on HBO.

How are things going with you?