I watch TV and read in the newspapers how mentally ill many people have felt during this pandemic period that is about to approach two years. It's about not being able to hang out with other people. That you have not been able to go to the cinema, parties, weddings, dinners and similar activities. This has been psychologically stressful for many to be forced to be alone.

The strange thing about it all is that I don't read anything about the fact that there are people who have felt significantly better mentally in pandemic times. I started to think, is it only me who felt better mentally in this pandemic or are there more people like me? I have talked to a psychologist about this mindset and obviously there are more people like me who felt significantly better during the pandemic. Most often it's people with anxiety who have enjoyed this break in life without a lot of demands on social gatherings.

I have written about it before that many people get energy from socializing in larger groups. For me, it doesn't work that way, I just get tired of it. I'm a person who doesn't get anything out of small talk to people, I always want to get something out of my chats. Talking about the weather gives me nothing and just takes energy away from me. I'm not saying you have to solve world problems every time you talk to a person, but there has to be something in the conversation that makes me interested or makes me laugh.

For me, loneliness has never been a problem. I don't even want to call it loneliness because I chose it myself and I have Cooper and Kira, a few friends I talk with and all of you on Instagram who brighten my day. I get a lot of my social life at work and I think it's good for me to turning off my life from the surrounding world on my spare time. With the pandemic, I have really been able to relax mentally because I knew there would never be a requirement for me to participate in social gatherings. I could control my life myself and what would happen in it, without having to do things that I don't like.

I usuallymake jokes that if I win a few million (swedish krona), I would buy myself a house in the Faroe Islands with Cooper and Kira. I had got myself some sheep and had called myself a sheep farmer. I could control my life and my days myself without a lot of demands. You might ask yourself why the Faroe Islands? It´s an island that is almost cut off from the rest of the world. But here's everything you need. Nature is outstanding and since only about 50,000 people live here, the nature are basically untouched.

Most people have a basic need to socialize and do things all the time. I don't have that basic need and I can't even remember ever having it. I've always been a loner who had my little inner circle that I socialized with. People will always have thoughts of us who don't live their lives like everyone else. In the past, I could be sad that people couldn't understand that I wanted to be alone and mind my own business, but today I don't give a f*** what people think about it. I've made it easy for me, people who drain my energy are no longer in my life.

Live your life as you wish (within the law) and don't worry about what others say. Because most of the time, these people are unhappy themselves who have to comment your life. 

Love // Niklas, Cooper och Kira