It could be over a few months, like a new job where one day you feel like actually going to work thinking, hey I actually like these people and don’t mind working here.
Or when your friends have been super busy for months and suddenly you get matched on dating apps, old friends reach out and people want to buy your old junk on Craigslist in a single day.
Twice. As a teen, I was extremely sensitive to the point someone made a joke and I couldnt stop crying got called home and hid on the bus the next day because I couldn’t go in. My mum was trying to cheer me up because she’s great and she casually said " why do you care amongst a bunch of other things’ I’m not sure why it clicked in my brain. It obviously wasn’t the first time that had been said to me but after that I became incredibly desensitized to emotion. I couldn’t care about others outside of a few people, I enjoyed company but any problem people had would go in one ear out the other. Because of this I lead an incredibly selfish life. I never even considered dating or hooking up with people because it was too much effort. I only cared about my own amusement and stopped cooking, cleaning, etc.
One night in during COVID I was lying in bed and the thought of death crossed my mind and I felt that switch again and I realized extremely vividly I am afraid of dying. Had a panic attack, was constantly stressed, realised in the next week that I want more of life, I want to get married and have kids. I want to improve myself. At age 29 I have decided to try push myself into the dating scene even though it will be stressful and I’m scared, I have created a cooking and cleaning regiment, I have been working out. I have been planning, and my empathy is starting to return.