> To chit-chat and connect. To reintroduce small talk into my life. I get the need for this. I had been living pretty solitary and hadn't worked in an office f

> To chit-chat and connect. To reintroduce small talk into my life. I get the need for this. I had been living pretty solitary and hadn't worked in an office for a little over a year when I went back to working part-time in an office and those first few days were a shock to my system. That first lunch together with 5 people in the break room felt really weird and it was hard to even keep up with the conversation. In the afternoons I was completely spent, my brain was fried. Sometimes to the point where I did not even realize what is was talking about anymore and I frequently lost my train of thought. Blanking out in the middle of a sentence. So for what it's worth taking advice from random strangers on the internet: take things slow when reintroducing social things in your life. Give yourself time to adapt. Ease into it and listen to your body and brain signals. Of course YMMV. In my case it was not only covid lockdowns, I was also struggling with burnout and a recent autism/ADHD diagnosis which probably affected my social skill decline as well.