Pre-pandemic, I didn’t really distinguish between a hug from a loved one and a bodily restraint. My reluctance to be embraced was well known to friends and family, and immediately obvious to anyone who tried. So I saw one upside to social distancing: no more enduring hugs from overbearing strangers. But over the course of a year, I started to crave connection, the sensation of being close to the people I loved. Back in near-normality, with no social distancing rules, I fell upon life’s marrow like I was starving and it could be taken away at any moment.

Source: The Guardian May 14, 2021 13:18 UTC