What If We Never Really Came Back?

By Dr. Zack Tedder

We keep saying things are “back to normal.” But deep down…a lot of us know that’s not true.

Something’s off. Not just in the world, but in us.

Friendships you used to count on? Gone. Group chats went silent. Dinners stopped happening. People just up and disappeared, some quietly, some with a bang.

And no one ever said goodbye.

We grieved in private. We coped by scrolling. We adapted in silence.

And we never talked about the weird, aching space it all left behind.

That’s why I started The Disconnection Project.

Because the pandemic didn’t just steal time, it shifted who we are to each other.

We stopped hugging. We stopped trusting. We started measuring people by their proximity, their beliefs, their “risk profile.”

Even now, we hesitate before reaching out. We second-guess. We ghost.

And the worst part? Most of us think we’re the only ones feeling this way.

Well, I'm here to tell you: You’re not. Not even close.

This project exists to collect the stories that never got told. The conversations that never happened. The versions of ourselves we don’t fully recognize anymore.

Because maybe, if we tell the truth about what changed, we can start finding our way back. Back to each other, and, more importantly, back to ourselves.

Ready to share yours? Click here.