What is happening to so many COVID-conscious people has a name: social exclusion.
If this is a new feeling for you, it can be incredibly confusing and painful. For many of us who have always been "outsiders," the mask is just one more reason on a long list. But now you're feeling it: the conversations that die, the invitations that stop, the silence where your concerns used to be.
This is not an accident. Our society uses exclusion—excommunication, exile, ostracism—as a penalty for non-conformity. It is a tool to enforce the status quo.
The pain you feel is real. It's called an exclusion injury, and it registers in the brain similarly to physical pain. Your body is telling you a truth: that connection is being severed as a punishment.