black and white photo filled with a crowd of people mainly turned away from the camera. There is one man at the bottom, front of the photo who is looking in a different direction and you can see half his face

Easing into the ‘new normal’

In England, as lockdown starts to ease, the pressure to go back to pre-pandemic life can cause heightened anxieties. We are now so used to a slower pace of life, social distancing and wearing face masks has become our ‘new normal’. With little still known about what will happen once restrictions have been lifted, it’s understandable that so many of us are starting to experience ‘return anxiety’.

Group of three women, outside, huddled together laughing. Sunlight appears to distort the left half of the picture, so the features of the woman to the left are slightly distorted. She has wavy brown hair and is wearing a black hat. We are only able to see the face of the woman in the middle, whose brown hair is tied black. She is laughing and wearing glasses. We see the woman to the right at a side angle, her arm is gently holding a black and white scarf that is draped over her shoulders. Her blonde hair is tied back and she is also laughing.

Can you be friends with your colleagues?

The answer isn’t a simple yes or an obvious no. In my first permanent job I quickly became friends with the people I directly worked with. We had a group WhatsApp, would hang out at weekends and go for drinks after work. It was great until it wasn’t.