When inflation was above 5% the real interest rate (nominal interest rate minus inflation) was still negative, which is expansionary. Even now that inflation has cooled off it’s still only positive 2% which is not that high by historical standards.
Couple that with firms reopening, and taking staff off furlough, and it’s not really that surprising that a recession didn’t eventuate. This wasn’t the 70s and early 80s with stagflation.