Pandemic Resentment Is Real
As we ease back into socializing again, we have to deal with our feelings about the very different years we’ve all had
I have pandemic resentment.
As we ease back into socializing and I reconnect with folks I haven’t seen in many months, I keep finding myself in conversations about how hard the past year has been. Inevitably someone mentions a close friend or relative who had it much easier, and we all bond over our shared sense of frustration with how unequally Covid has affected us.
I don’t particularly feel like I deserve to feel resentful. I got laid off from a job I loved and built a freelance business from scratch while also parenting a five-year-old and a three-year-old, but no one in my life died or even got very sick, and for that, I have nothing but gratitude. People whose jobs demand their presence in a hospital, or in a classroom, or at a cash register have had to make much more difficult decisions about personal safety and child care than I have.
In Europe, where furloughs were unevenly distributed, there’s resentment between people who were paid a portion of their wages to stay home, and those who retained their wages, but worked through lockdowns and school closures. In the United States, the resentment is not just about time…
