The pandemic has changed every one of us.
 | By Indrani Sen Culture Editor, Opinion |
I'm not much of a shopper, but I feel a pang of longing when Erin Aubry Kaplan describes the tactile experience of browsing in malls and boutiques before the pandemic: "fingering flowy blouses on hangers, rummaging through a table of purses on sale, inhaling the scent of a new body cream at the makeup counter." |
Kaplan owns up to a similar pang for the joys of the American consumer experience in her guest essay today — then describes a fundamental change in her perspective that occurred over a year and a half without brick-and-mortar retail therapy. "I no longer want to shop," she writes. "Even though I'm vaccinated and now can stroll the mall corridors again (masked, in accordance with the latest guidance as cases surge again), I have zero motivation to go forth and browse." |
It's a change to celebrate, even if it wasn't intentional, Kaplan says. She writes that her new outlook is "like losing extra weight unexpectedly, without even trying or understanding why you lost it — mystifying, but undeniably liberating." Still, it leaves her feeling a little flummoxed. |
The pandemic has changed every one of us. We're all a little different today from who we were in early 2020. And even if we're better for those changes — more conscious, less entitled, perhaps kinder — we will likely each find ourselves facing some difficult questions. If I don't like the same things, am I still the same person? When a staple of life loses its thrill, how to replace it? |
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