After a year of dating my boyfriend, we returned to our college campus for our senior year, but with one major concern, he was a D1 college athlete during a pandemic. Prior to COVID-19, he was on our university’s wrestling team, but ended his season going into quarantine and summer 2020. Once we moved back to campus in the fall, all sports teams resumed with practices and matches, this brought me extreme anxiety.
The pandemic has caused many problems in relationships across the globe, from sudden long distance to at risk individuals scared to visit their partner, it has changed couples’ level of comfort around their partner drastically. After learning that my boyfriend was going to continue his college career as a wrestler with cases still at an all time high, and with no vaccine in sight for months, our relationship was put to the test.
I personally am at a higher risk of getting COVID, and being hospitalized due to COVID, so you can imagine how uncomfortable I felt taking my mask off around someone who just wrestled with a room full of other college men, mask-less. And that’s just it, I was so uncomfortable that I did not take my mask off. Staying masked around each other and following other COVID guidelines such as staying six feet apart completely eliminated an entire part of our relationship, physical touch. That meant no more cuddling, no more kissing, no more Netflix and chill, no more holding hands, or even eating together in doors, at home or at restaurants. It sounds easy in theory, just eat outdoors and go on walks outside, but it was extremely difficult to never hug your partner especially at a time with so much anxiety in the public health crisis, in politics, and on our college campus with COVID cases surging.
During this time my anxiety got the best of me, and it was almost impossible to see my boyfriend without fear of contracting COVID from him, regardless of if he was definitively exposed, I knew the risk was still there. This caused problems in our relationship like trust issues, the lack of quality time spent, and the unknown of how long we would have to live in a warped reality of being afraid to be together.
Throughout the fall semester and winter break, we saw each other outdoors or not at all, which really tested our loyalty to one another. With vaccinations now available to everyone over the age of 16 in Connecticut, it has brought some peace of mind back to our relationship. Both my boyfriend and I are vaccinated and we can now spend time together without masks. And we can catch up on all of our Netflix and chill dates, we just finished the show Marriage or Mortgage on Netflix. I recommend that all couples watch this show because you will learn what your partner likes and dislikes in home decor, and a wedding aesthetic.
These past few weeks were filled with quality time, sharing tacos together, cuddling, and of course physical touch. Looking back on the status of our relationship 5 months ago, it was drastically different than where our relationship is at now. You never know how much your relationship will change when something as simple as holding hands can be dangerous.