This is the BBC World Service.

I'm Sanasathi and welcome to World of Wisdom, the place for fresh perspectives as we explore

some of the personal issues that life turns up.

Last night it was New Year's Eve in many parts of the world, a time for celebration and

even some hugging and kissing as the clock strikes midnight and the New Year begins.

Well, that might have been true in the old days.

But as with so many other aspects of life, the pandemic is making us rethink things.

Susanna, a psychologist from Italy, wrote to us,

where she is from it is normal to embrace people when you meet them.

She has been brought up to behave like that and sees physical warmth as part of who she is.

The huge change to social interaction caused by COVID-19 has left her feeling disorientated.

We put her in touch with Gary Zukov, author of The Universal Human.

This is a shortened version of an enlightening conversation they had.

The pandemic has made me more guarded with others and almost unsure on how to connect with them.

I come from a culture where physical contact is the glue of the relationships.

And now because of COVID, we are doing this a lot less.

And this has made me feel somehow more isolated.

How do I learn to deal with this change?

And how I interact with the people around me?

That's a question a lot of people are asking now.

Are you open to looking at this from a new perspective, a different perspective?

Absolutely.

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