There’s no way to sugarcoat it; maintaining friendships in general is not an easy task. It was hard enough during in-person university when everybody had busy schedules and internship sequences that didn’t align, and where you had to truly plan out hangouts or study sessions in advance in order to see each other. But now COVID-19 has decided to introduce some new and improved developments, where people can’t even hang out with their friends in the same way physically unless they want to, potentially or accidentally, kill each other. When you add in the fact that most people seem to be scattered across the country, you could say it kind of sucks right now.
But as the cheesy saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens. Sure, it might be a pretty tiny door during quarantine, but there honestly are a lot of things everyone can do to maintain friendships with each other or make new friendships. Staying connected in a time of complete isolation is still possible and the friendships that last through this pandemic will be strengthened in a way like never before. As a side note, please make sure you’re not the only one in the friendship putting in effort. It takes work to maintain a friendship in a worldwide pandemic, and you want to make sure that your effort is being appreciated and reciprocated. You deserve to feel connected too!
1. Play online games
Yes, this includes Among Us and other cute online games like Pictionary, online board games and video games. If you have a group project and find it hard to connect with your other fellow members, nothing breaks the ice more than killing each other’s avatars on a spaceship! There’s something about mini games that allow people to let down their guard and just have a fun time together, regardless of whether they are your best friends or not. The best part about mini games is that they don’t last that long, so you can easily fit in a quick session in your schedule (unless you get addicted and play multiple rounds – oops)!
2. Schedule weekly calls
Planning around busy schedules isn’t fun when the world has slowed down but assignment deadlines have not – clearly, the deadlines didn’t get the memo. But you would be surprised how one thirty-minute call can turn someone’s day around. If you and your friends often study together in school, then try hosting Zoom study sessions together during certain hours. Or if you and your best friend have deep talks about life every now and then, keep that tradition going by scheduling weekly phone calls to chat. Either way, the act of scheduling really shows your friends that you want to put in the effort for them.
3. Send a letter
Society might be trying to turn people into robots with specific routines, but on a natural level, people are sentimental to some extent. There’s a reason why you keep photographs, family heirlooms and reminisce about nostalgic memories instead of chucking everything into the trash. That’s why there’s something that’s so universally special about receiving a handwritten letter, the feeling can’t even translate into words. So now that you can’t really see your friends in person, why not write them a letter? Talk about how this pandemic has affected you, ask questions about how their life is going and reminisce about some memories together.
4. Check in every now and then
This doesn’t have to be a long conversation that ends up being an all-nighter. But it’s the little things that determine how genuine a friendship is. When someone messages you to ask about how your day went, it speaks volumes compared to when they only message you for a personal request for themselves. Sending a little check-in message to your friends goes a long way, and it’s also a great way to determine who genuinely wants to put in the effort to maintain a friendship. And if you can brighten someone’s day just by asking how their life is going, why wouldn’t you want to do that?
It’s not an easy time right now and this list will never compensate for being able to give our best friend a hug or eat takeout together while cramming for that exam. But it’s a start, and hopefully, things can only go up from here, so hang in there! The beauty of quarantine is that in a time when nothing is really happening, little gestures like these can end up having a bigger impact that usual.