Photo by Khand Tenney.

Are you a reluctant hostess?

My first blog post on ContentedInteriors.com was titled Are You Scared to Have Someone to Your House? Since that post we have experienced the global COVD-19 pandemic…which of course resulted in most people being quite scared of having people over for the sake of their health. While I’m not asking anyone who is still nervous for unique health reasons to host people in their homes, I feel I must address my initial question in this post-pandemic world. For many of us who did not host people for months or possibly years during the pandemic are now more out of practice with it, and possibly more fearful of it, than ever.

With it being again safe for the average person to meet up together in person, you are likely craving socialization and probably having it—in restaurants, in-person work, girls nights out, by vacationing with relatives, attending kids’ sporting events and church, and so on. But are you socializing in your home yet? 

There was something bonding about the pandemic—we were all stuck (physically, emotionally, logistically—as we waited for furniture to be delivered). At least half of the news articles were about the pandemic and death tolls…and social media posts too. We were all thinking about the same things. We didn’t seem care about our outfits or our worldly possessions as much as we cared about our friends and families from afar. With the return of [more] normalcy, it seems we are quickly leaving that period behind; which is mostly good! I’m happy to be done with the worrying and the not seeing people. But there is also an expectation that life should be 100% normal again, specifically that our houses should have all received some major transformation during those two years. This is far different than The Reluctant Hostess of the1950s. Back in creeps the fear of being judged for our homes when people come to them…and that is what I do not like about the end of the COVID-19 pandemic era.