Reading Corner

Last week we wrote about the increasing importance of relationships one year into the pandemic, and this week, four people share intimately how the year was for them. Here are some articles that also share insights into this past year.

One year after the COVID-19 pandemic turned us upside down, how has life changed? “We were thrust into a whole new unfamiliar and terrifying world. What we learned one day (wipe down your groceries! You don’t need to wear masks!) would no longer be best practice the next. It’s been one long, bumpy ride. And while we are not yet out of the woods, there is light at the end of the tunnel with three vaccines and distribution that is about to be significantly ramped up for the general public. So, how has this pandemic changed us individually and as a whole?”

Has a year of living with Covid-19 rewired our brains? “Whether you have experienced illness, relocated, lost a loved one or a job, got a kitten or got divorced, eaten more or exercised more, spent longer showering each morning or reached every day for the same clothes, it is an inescapable truth that the pandemic alters us all. But how? And when will we have answers to these questions – because surely there will be a time when we can scan our personal balance sheets and see in the credit column something more than grey hairs, a thicker waist and a kitten? (Actually, the kitten is pretty rewarding.) What might be the psychological impact of living through a pandemic? Will it change us for ever?”

Even if You Feel Like This Was a Lost Year, That Might Not Be True “Yet this year may not have been as lost as we fear. While researching a book on reinvention, I’ve interviewed dozens of experts on transformation in all its forms. I’ve spoken to neuroscientists who study creativity, psychologists who work with trauma survivors, cognitive scientists who study “aha” moments and business-school professors focused on innovation and career reinvention. The types of transformations they study vary. Yet I’ve been struck by the one step that every type of reinvention has in common: it’s preceded by an in-between time, a seemingly fallow period much like the one we find ourselves in now.”

This week, we wrote about the increasing importance of relationships a year into the pandemic. Here are some stats and stories about how people are dealing with the situation.

The secrets of couples thriving right now in the pandemic “Before the pandemic, S. Nicole Lane said that much of her time with her boyfriend was spent going out, dancing and drinking. ‘We both work pretty demanding jobs, so our days off were spent in a whirlwind,’ she said. ‘I think many of our fights and arguments were fueled by alcohol.’ During pandemic lockdown earlier this year, the Chicago couple started hiking together, often covering as many as 20 miles in a single day on the trails. ‘I don’t think we went into hiking saying, ‘This will help our relationship,’ but it’s really brought us a lot closer and more comfortable with one another,’ she said.”

Pandemic can bring out the worst, and the best, in relationships “Throughout 2020, headlines and studies make dual claims — some indicate divorce rates are up as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and other show divorce rates have declined…. The most recent evidence suggests there may have been an early spike in divorces in 2020 — and an anticipation of a spike — but divorce rates may have actually declined over the course of the past year.”

Coronavirus: Tips for a happy relationship — even during lockdown “Having a good relationship is no piece of cake even in normal times. Lockdown doesn’t make it any easier, with its psychological stress and restrictions on social contacts. So how can relationships still thrive?”