Navigating COVID-19 quarantine when you’re a couple
As society navigates Covid-19, many couples are choosing to spend time apart to show their affection and keep each other safe. Graphic by Riggs Zyrille Vergara
By Cassie Schattle, Staff Writer
It’s quarantine season – and if you’re anything like me, you’re going just a bit crazy.
Sadly, this has become our new reality, cooped up inside, lacking motivation to finish assignments, missing our friends and our freedom. Unfortunately this is something we just have to adjust to.
Luckily technology has come to save the day – but is technology enough? Oh, to be single during the apocalypse. I miss my friends, of course, but I’ve gone days, weeks, months, without seeing them. But what about that special significant other? The one that you see all the time, who is now quarantined away from you.
The song lyrics “kiss me through the phone” have never been more applicable. But luckily being separated from your boo doesn’t mean you never have to see them again. Every situation is different and everybody has a different idea when it comes to the term “social distancing.”
One Calgary couple is doing the best they can with what they have.
Allister and Gabby have been dating for just under a year. They met at the greenhouse where they both worked, and they have been inseparable ever since. So of course, it came as a shock when the entire world began shouting about the importance of isolation.
“I think the social distancing has been harder on Gabby than it has been for me,” stated Allister in an online interview (‘cause, you know, social distancing). “She needs to be outdoors.”
Despite not living together, the two still see each other two or three times a week.
“We are both taking this pretty seriously. We know that if one of us gets sick, we are aware that person will be quarantined for 14 days,” says Allister, who has always been more introverted than his partner.
“We usually stay inside, watch movies or do some hobby painting. Sometimes we go outside for a walk, but we do make sure we keep our distance from others,” he explains.
For most couples who don’t already live together, not seeing each other is the best course of action. Although you may trust your partner to do their due-diligence to try and prevent themselves from getting sick, you can’t trust others who they may have come into contact with over the course of a day.
For the days when they don’t see each other Allister says that, “texting and Messenger make it really easy to keep in touch, always. Nothing has really changed in the way we communicate with each other. We just call each other a bit more these days.”
As for the other relationships in your life, like your friends, Allister points out that there are some positives.
“I have some really great friends that I’ve met online. If anything, we almost hang out more now during quarantine than we did before.”
It’s hard to be stuck inside, for extroverts and introverts alike, but we have to remember that it is temporary.
The important piece is to rely on the technology we have always looked down upon. Take up screen time, use data – your friends, your boo, they’ll appreciate seeing your face or hearing your voice. We all have to do what keeps us sane and take everything just one simple day at a time. Stay safe out there.
