From Moving in to Moving on: Here's What Love Looks Like During a Pandemic - PEOPLE

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Name: Danielle
Age: 29
Location: New York  

I had been in a relationship for about a year when the pandemic hit. We had just moved in together in January 2020, a decision I didn’t take lightly after what was a beautiful yet difficult first year in love. 2019 was hard for me: inconsistent working conditions, a tense living situation, news my father was sick and beginning a new relationship. I was forced to confront head-on emotional and intimacy trauma that I thought I had dealt with while being happily single for years prior.

Quarantine was tough. Everything we’d built and enjoyed about one another was now being squeezed by the vice-like confines of our New York apartment. However, this chapter of life became entirely about falling back in love with myself. I had started going to therapy right before the lockdown, and throughout the months that would follow, I navigated the depths of my trauma, my fears, my rage, my humanity, my relationships and yes, my inner child. I started to listen to that still, small voice inside me who knows and loves me as I am right in this moment. I started writing, drawing and painting again. I took courses, read, cooked, tended to myself and did a heinous amount of laundry in our tiny portable washing machine.

Throughout this year, my entire life changed for what looked like the worst. We gave up our apartment because we’d lost our jobs and couldn’t afford it. My father passed away followed by the sudden passing of one of my best friends. I was broken up with ... twice during the holiday season and had to move again.

And yet, I truly returned home to myself during this time. I have been reminded of the strength inside me that allows me to navigate changes in my body, my environment, my family, my intimate relationships and beyond with grace and kindness. To be of service and to know that I am worthy of unconditional love, of compassion, of help. And that starts with me! I might not have anyone to celebrate Valentine’s Day with in 2021, but don’t I?

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From Moving in to Moving on: Here's What Love Looks Like During a Pandemic - PEOPLE
"Love" - Google News
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