It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost two years since our lives were forever changed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Overnight, the pandemic forced us to make changes to our day-to-day life. Many of us stayed home from work or worked remotely, and students had to finish the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year online. We sat and waited for some sort of good news to sprout amidst the chaos of the pandemic.

Fast forward several months and we’re back in office buildings, restaurants and school campuses. We have vaccines available and life seems to be going back to “normal.” 

Yet it feels like something is missing in the new normal. 

Yes, we’re back to 9 to 5 work schedules, face-to-face learning and casual activities like walking the dog or shopping for groceries. But there are still a lot of elements missing in the social aspect of life. 

If you’ve looked around campus, the streets or even social media, you can tell that there is a lot less activity going on. Not many venues or clubs are holding major events to promote social life. Many yearly traditions and celebrations are scaled back or not celebrated at all. 

There isn’t enough social activity happening because there aren’t enough people participating in these activities. This past semester, only a handful of clubs were active here on Eastfield Campus. 

The most any organization did was a small Halloween event held in The Hive. Only six people participated in the costume contest. Before the pandemic there were at least 20 participants in the costume contest. 

Think about this: It only took us five months since the initial shutdown in  March 2020 to get back into some office buildings and school campuses. It took another seven months for vaccinations to become available to the majority of adults in the United States. By the time we reached the first anniversary of COVID-19 shutdowns, we as humans had adapted our lifestyles to the pandemic. 

We have become so used to the pandemic in such a short amount of time that even the newest variant, Omicron, usually gives us mild reactions — both literally and metaphorically. 

There is no reason for there to be any lack of social activity. 

The pandemic has caused a lot of us to be very cautious with what we do and how we interact with other people, but it shouldn’t shut down our social life. It’s good to stay in touch with other people, especially during these troubling times, because they might be experiencing the same struggles as we are. 

The pandemic has isolated everyone, but we can build those bridges again and connect with other people. We can party and play in several other ways. COVID shouldn’t stop us from having fun again.

History has shown us time and time again that we can bounce back and become better people. Time has not stopped. We should keep moving forward, reopen our doors and become an active community once more. 

— Daniel Serna Luna is a contributor and digital media major