I am! I’m acutely aware that if I got long covid and couldn’t be athletic anymore, my mental health health would collapse to the point where my life would be destroyed and – whether by my own hand or some knock-on effect of being disabled and unable to enjoy life – I’d be dead within a year. Part of why I take precautions is to protect my mental health. Back in the brief period of time when I didn’t wear masks due to social pressure and thinking that the vaccines 100% prevented infection, I had multiple scares where I was an anxious wreck because someone I had hung out with tested positive a few days later, or came down with symptoms, or their roommate had it or something. But now that I only hang out with people outside with some distance or inside with us all masked up, I never have that terror! I’m so much happier and more comfortable socializing taking reasonable, effective, realistic precautions.

Sure there are some downsides. I skip the big indoor parties and I do miss them. But I know they aren’t worth the risk, especially since friends have spread covid to each other at some of the very events I avoided. I still make sure to see my core group of people regularly, for 1 on 1 hangs or in groups when we can coordinate it. It’s different for safety, but not that different.

No more indoor clubbing or concerts for me, sadly. Those I do miss and there’s no substitute that comes close. But I can live without those. I can’t live with lungs so shot that strenuous workouts become impossible, as happened to a friend of mine.

I hope someday this pandemic is actually beaten and we can go back to how things were, but that requires us to still be alive and healthy – so I’m doing what I can to stay OK until then.