Anyone else feeling rusty about interpersonal relationships?

[njbm 2,901]

I feel a little PTSD about getting back on the horse. After 14 months of wear a mask, don’t go indoors with people who are not in your bubble, stay six feet away, intimacy with others seems difficult. 
 

Our husband is vaccinated, wife has second shot next week. We still feel hesitant about hanging out with others, even without swinging. After all our precautions, we don’t want to “blow” it. Are we the only ones who are hesitant?

 

A close swinging partner was hospitalized for covid for three weeks. His wife thought he was going to die. He lived, but went through a lot. Sixtyish and in great physical condition before covid. We are a little stunned. 

[NC_Seniors 519]

Same ...

[adamgunn 1,461]

After our vaccinations cleared, we were contacted by one of my wife's previous lovers; he was also vaccinated. We both wanted to get back to it, decided that, all right, lets do it.

 

There was a five day lag between when we told the man to stop over and the date, it was spent in a bit of debate. Both of us had second thoughts, we put them back into our pockets. When he entered the house, you could just feel the reluctance to even shake hands, it was a good half hour before everyone was mentally prepared for the escapade. But after the first kiss between them, all hesitation melted away.

 

We still wear our masks when we go to the grocery store and such, and we're not actively looking for more partners; at this point we won't go to our swing club although it's open. But with other vaccinated people we would certainly be in small groups, threesomes, foursomes even sixsomes probably.

[hunterdonNJcpl 1,423]

You'd be crazy if you didn't at least feel a little guarded at this point.

We're going to ease back into this with extreme caution.  You know the old saying: only fools rush in.

[curious_2for2 92]

We're moving slow, too. With all the differing opinions regarding vaccines, and personal decisions, we're opting to the side of caution.  We are scheduled for the Nov Bliss cruise, and we'll see how that goes, if it goes.

[njbm 2,901]

We are scheduled for the November Bliss cruise, too. The pandemic can be the same, worse, better or gone. We are playing it by ear. 

[TeamCalgary 169]

Good thread njbm, thank you. 

 

We feel the same way also; Covid has brought another variable into the mix in terms of fit.

It was complex before, but now we also have to take into the account the risk profile of any potential couple.

Folks that seem too cavalier about the whole thing make us nervous. 

[njbm 2,901]

I like to check if a couple on SLS has any certs from the middle of the pandemic, pre-vaccine. If so, we consider them reckless. At least compared to us Fauci acolytes.  

Edited May 1, 2021 by njbm

[GoldCoCouple 4,068]

We were into social distancing before it was cool...While we look forward to getting started again, we have always had difficulties finding that couple where everyone 'clicked'. We expect more of the same (and that's okay since it needs to be right for everyone involved), we don't expect the pandemic to have done anything but increase the difficulty level. On the other side of that coin, that's one of the things that make finding that four way connection so special...