Social Battery = 0%: Relearning How to ‘People’ After the Pandemic

Okay, so I walked into school today and forgot how to exist. Like… literally. I made weird eye contact with someone for too long, forgot how to start small talk, and stood awkwardly while everyone talked about stuff I had no clue about.

It is 2022, and even though COVID has not disappeared, life is kind of back, but I feel like I’m not.

I saw this meme the other day that said,

“If we are hanging out and I suddenly go quiet, just know my social battery died and I am buffering.”

And I have never related to anything harder.

Turns out, what I am feeling is not just introvert energy, it is post-pandemic social anxiety. And it’s super common right now.

Psychologists say after two years of lockdowns, online school, and isolating in our bedrooms, our brains got used to silence. Comfort. Less unpredictability. That is actually a thing! It’s called neuroadaptation, when your brain adjusts to a new “normal.”

So when that “normal” changes again (like going back to noisy corridors, random small talk, teachers watching you IRL), your brain panics. It is like, “Wait… we are doing this again?”

Even people who were super social before are struggling now. Why? Because we have all lowkey forgotten how to people. And that is okay.

I used to love being around people. But now? Sometimes I need a whole nap after a group project. And I have had to remind myself:

Social energy is like a muscle. And after two years, mine is just out of shape not broken.

I am slowly learning to:

• Say yes to one plan at a time.

• Take breaks during the day without feeling rude.

• Not overthink the awkwardness (because literally everyone else feels it too).

We do not have to bounce back to “normal.” We get to build a new normal, one where mental health comes first, and social awkwardness is just part of the vibe.

If your brain’s glitching during a conversation, same.

If your heart races walking into class, same.

If you are relearning how to be around people, you are not alone!

We are all buffering. But we will reboot.

Together.