In pre-pandemic times, I ate at the occasional restaurant. I went to the occasional bar. I saw a movie in the occasional theater. Now? I don’t do any of those things, and I don’t miss it. I don’t miss the cost, the time, the distraction. This is why it’s difficult for me to understand peoples’ overwhelming desire to do these things now, when we’re still very much in a pandemic.

I polled my Instagram followers about this and so many people sent me private messages. The responses ranged from, “I want to support service workers” to “I’m a parent and being able to sit at a restaurant without my child and with other adults is amazing.” The messages people sent me about why they choose to eat at restaurants made sense to me, even if my newly socially anxious self thinks it sounds exhausting. Many also said it was about the convenience and being taken care of: having someone cook for you, clean up for you, wait on you. I can understand wanting those things.

But doing them even during a pandemic? That’s harder for me to understand.