In March 2020, when the pandemic reached British shores, I was 26 years old. The 30 milestone was still a blip on the horizon, and I still had so much left of my twenties to enjoy, right? Yet, three and a half years later as a newly-minted 30-year-old, it feels as if no time has passed. Most days I’m convinced I’m still 28, my brain struggling to comprehend that time is racing by.
I’m not the only one who feels like this. It’s a phenomenon that has been coined by The Cut as the ‘pandemic skip’.
One TikTok user, @lnappsylife, described it perfectly, saying that the ‘pandemic skip’ is particularly prevalent for women who were in their mid-twenties when Covid hit and who are reaching their thirties now.
“[We are] feeling the pressures of the biological clock, the pressures of getting married, the pressures of getting engaged,” she says in the video that has been viewed nearly 400,000 times. “And how our bodies are basically three years ahead of our brain. People who were 26 and 27 and who are now 30 and 31 are feeling like there is so much more to be done and so those years, those late twenties years, are so crucial. A lot of people are travelling during that time, a lot of people are getting higher up the career ladder at that time. I think it’s really coming to fruition now, some of the things we have been missing out on, and our minds are just not caught up with our bodies.”
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Users were quick to agree, with one person writing: “It’s a relief this is being spoken about more. It’s been driving me bonkers for the past year and a half feeling like I’m almost grieving the time and experiences lost.”
Another added: “I entered the pandemic at 27 and then all of a sudden was 30, and it’s all so confusing and disjointed.”
What is the ‘pandemic skip’?
Psychologist Nova Cabban describes the pandemic skip as the “sense that we have missed out a chunk of time, growth and opportunity as a result of our lives going on pause during the pandemic”.
“As a result of this ‘missing time’ there is a disconnect between the stage of our lives we feel we are at and the reality of the age and stage we are in,” she explains.
One of the reasons why we are feeling this pause in time so keenly is due to the disruption that the pandemic had on our typical routines and life events that mark personal growth and development, Counselling Directory member Jenny Warwick says.
“The pandemic forced us all to put our plans on hold, leading to a feeling of stagnation,” she adds. “As well as this, the prolonged stress and uncertainty experienced contributed to a sense of timelessness. Our minds were focused on survival rather than personal growth.”