As told to Shoshana Gross
Fear. Confusion. Suffocating behind stuffy blue barriers. Covid stormed onto the stage of 2020, bringing a deluge of rules, regulations… and respite.
Because for the first time in years, I felt like everyone else.
I was able to hold a face-to-face conversation without calculating how far away I could stand without looking rude. Sitting at a work-related meeting was completely worry-free — no need to “casually” place my hands on my chin. A thick scarf was no longer my woolen lifeline in the quest to hide my shame. Behind the shelter of my mask, mirrors weren’t painful. I was safe.
When Covid regulations were finally behind us, everyone breathed a deep (unencumbered) sigh of relief. But for me, the illusion of normalcy evaporated. No one talks about it, and no one says anything, but it’s the humiliating silence of we’re-pretending-not-to-notice that makes my condition so hard.
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