At this point I am fully vaccinated, and so are all of my friends, and I feel a great sense of relief as a result of that. Of course, I still wear a mask if I am going to be around people I do not know, such as shopping, or am going to be indoors anywhere with people I don't know. And I am not going to any events with a crowd at all. I have gone to a movie, though. I was the only one in the theater, but wore a mask anyway.
I have made plans to travel within the country this summer, and out of the country next year. I will be wearing a mask whenever I come into contact with people on the trip. As for next year, if it is still uncertain by then I will postpone it yet again.
Being fully vaccinated makes a huge difference. It is still wise to be careful, but having the vaccine removes the need for super stringent measures, and for me it removed the fear. They are saying that the current vaccines are effective against the current variation, perhaps even more so than with the original Covid19, so I am not worrying about that either unless that changes. Apparently the variation does not vary from the original in any way that affects the efficacity of the vaccine, although it did change to be more easily transmitted.
In the US, Covid is on the run, because so much of the population is vaccinated. I think we can eventually put Covid into the category of "bad thing to get but you won't get it if you are vaccinated", just like polio, smallpox, measles, mumps, and many others.
That is something we can all look forward to.
The changes that have occurred as a result of the pandemic are another thing. some will stay, some won't. some that stay are very good changes, some not. But everything always changes. It's just that this was sudden and drastic and we all suffered because of that. Once things settle again it won't be so bad.