The much anticipated boom in post vaccine revenge fun and games might not appear to be quite here yet. Climbing vaccine rates, sunshine and over a year of pent up sexual energy were predicted to combine for a season of sixties style mingling and jingling. Not, it seems, the case. Varying levels of vaccination, questionable immunity, a changing amber / red international landscape, heavy fines, quarantine and policing for transgressors, all points to Corona being far from over.
So, getting started again can be intimidating. Kissing may well make you nervous. Chance encounters, even through vetted friends, are slow to return but there’s nothing wrong with continuing to date via zoom - but now with a view to physical meet-ups, which changes the virtual dynamic.
It has become easy to work from home now, easy to avoid friends and groups but while we have had time to reassess our behaviour, we are still social animals and enjoy physical interaction so if you weren’t a hermit pre-Covid, chances are you aren’t now.
So acquaint yourself with the new rules navigating intimacy and get out there. You can still get Covid even if you’re jabbed and vaccinations have a short half-life. The now famous NYC ‘Safer Sex and Covid 19’ rules lay it on a bit thick but wanting to protect a prospective partner from the outset can’t be a bad thing.
Start with a virtual date, ask your date about pandemic precautions, whether he/she or his/her bubble is immunocompromised, check local transmission rates, all before meeting in person, then get a PCR test for when you meet up.
And, even if you don’t know it, the pandemic has helped you develop better mental health practices, set boundaries, know what you want. You are now better prepared than ever to have a relationship and keep it going.
Ease yourself back in, keep your hand in, do a mental health check by enlisting some expert dating help or relationship therapy, and tick the boxes to get it right.
Ready. Steady. Romance!
