Tending To Friendships During COVID

I was recently interviewed by NPR’s Chicago affiliate, WBEZ, to discuss the impact of COVID on our relationships, friendships and mental health and I decided to focus on the friendship impact because I think it is under discussed. One of the suggestions I make in the interview is to acknowledge that the impact of COVID (and frankly any crisis) is disproportionate across different members in a friend group based on a multitude of variables. For example in a single friend group there may be front line health care workers, essential workers and service industry employees who can’t work from home and are therefore more at risk and overwhelmed. There are income differences and relationship statuses that play a part and mean that one friend may have significantly more resources than another. Instead of ignoring the differences why not instead acknowledge the privilege and say “I know this is harder on you than on me” or “It’s so unfair that I get to be at home working and you don’t just because we chose different careers. I’m sorry”. People feel closer and more connected when they feel seen and understood.

Link to Article on WBEZ here