Does anybody else feel like life never really went back to normal after 2020?

And I’m not talking about masks, lockdowns, or any of the political debates. I mean the feeling of life itself.

Everything technically returned to "normal." The stores reopened. The roads got busy again. People went back to work. Life kept moving.

But something still feels different.

The years seem to pass faster than ever. Friendships feel more distant. Conversations feel shorter. People seem more distracted, more exhausted, and less present.

It’s hard to explain because nothing obvious is missing.

Yet somehow it feels like we lost something important along the way.

Life used to feel slower. More connected. More genuine. There was a sense of optimism, excitement, and possibility that’s difficult to describe now.

Maybe we're all just getting older.

Or maybe 2020 changed people in ways we're still trying to understand.

I can't put my finger on exactly what was lost.

I just know that life used to feel a lot more alive than it does today.