After months and months spent at home during various lockdowns, hours upon hours of Teams tutorials and online lectures, and a strangely quiet semester in town last year, I absolutely could not wait to get back to St Andrews in September. I don’t want to speak too soon, but life in the bubble does seem closer to normal than it has for a long, long time. With socials, events, meetings, sports, and some in-person classes back up and running, it feels as if our beloved little town is finally coming back to life. But as incredibly fun and exciting as it is, I’m sure I am not the only one who still isn’t used to balancing so much on my plate. It feels as if life went from a casual Sunday stroll to a hardcore sprint in no time at all, and I, for one, am out of breath.
Socialising these days just isn’t the same as it was in 2019. Our collective social momentum slowed down to a halt, and it’s no surprise that these long, busy days full of constant interactions are pretty damn exhausting. Even making small talk in the queue waiting for a coffee can seem like a chore, especially when most of us have only spent time around the same handful of people for months on end. Our society is rebooting, and it’s taking a while for everyone to re-assimilate to old routines.
St Andrews is no different. I don’t know if it’s just me, but every stress or social anxiety seems magnified within our little bubble. Don’t get me wrong, I was absolutely ecstatic to get back to the routine of in-person classes, queuing outside the Union, and running into quite literally everyone I know in Tesco at least once a day. The mutual excitement is still exploding from the town and it’s impossible not to feel energised by it. But at the same time, there is a disparity between the pace of life we’ve become accustomed to over the past year and a half, and the pace of life that we are now forced to rapidly adjust to back at university. I’ve had several conversations with friends recently about how overwhelmed and exhausted we are from a social schedule that we wouldn’t have thought twice about eighteen months ago. Every moment of the day is filled with a class, meeting, event, coffee with a friend, library grind session, family dinner, or Friday afternoon pints. As exciting as it can be, juggling such a big handful of social commitments is challenging when we’re all out of practice.
Social anxiety has been a major cause of mental health deterioration in the general public over the past year and a half. The UK government’s COVID-19 mental health and surveillance report revealed significant decreases in the wellbeing of the UK population. Longitudinal studies suggest high increases in reported depression and anxiety amongst people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and ages. There was over a 25% increase in the percentage of the population who reported thoughts or actions of self-harm, and over 30% of the population reported symptoms of clinical depression and anxiety from COVID-related stresses. In other words, even though it may feel great that everyday life is gradually returning to “normal,” we’re all still struggling with the social effects of the pandemic, and it’s likely that we will be for quite some time.
There is also immense communal pressure to make up for lost time. Time didn’t stop for a year, but the world did, and it’s difficult to adjust to post-pandemic life without feeling the need to do everything we couldn’t do in lockdown. As a ridiculously sentimental fourth year, I am so incredibly determined to squeeze every last drop out of every possible experience and opportunity this year. Why would I choose to spend any time alone when all of my friends are finally in the same place? It’s difficult to balance making the most of social events and focusing on work, dissertation deadlines, and job applications (spoken like a true stressed-to-the-max fourth year), while also prioritising mental and physical health.
I will gladly be the one to remind you that our social batteries need some serious love and attention these days. Carving time into your schedule for extra rest and recuperation is essential for balancing social and academic life again. There’s nothing wrong with catching up on work instead of joining friends at the pub, or skipping out on Sinners for a night of face masks and Sex and the City. After over a year in isolation, we need to be incredibly patient with ourselves as we re-adjust to life together again.