I was just thinking about this today. I’ve always been someone who prefers solitude and quietness, but I can be very sociable too, albeit for short periods- a night or two away with friends for example, would be fine but after it I’d need down time to recharge. Anyway, this weekend I met up with two friends for a night away, so we went shopping in the morning, spa in the afternoon, then dinner and drinks, and brunch next day. I found my tolerance for being with people in such close proximity for that length of time has really diminished. What i’d previously considered their charming quirks were now major irritants to me, and what were previously very mild annoyances were now massive ones. I was biting my tongue more often than not and by the time we parted ways I had had more than enough. Pre covid, these trips were filled with laughter and fun, and I would have been the life and soul, on Saturday I was the first to go to bed. It’s very possible they found me similarly irritating, I didn’t ask, but obviously they might have experienced the same.
I think the lack of socialising enforced by covid and repeated lockdowns has changed me in that way, made me less tolerant of others.