Life after lockdown

I lost my dad in October 2020. He was in hospital and I couldn't see him. Then he got moved to a residential home and I couldn't see him. He rang me telling me he missed his little girl (my DD). I said I was sorry but hoped he understood why and he said he loved me. He had a heart attack 3 days later and died. My former best friend became obsessed with blaming me for lockdowns and sending me videos all the time then ghosted me. We were friends for 38 years. So yeah lockdown affected me but I don't go on and on about it. I think I have less patience for crap people now and it actually made me want to see people more but people seem flakier now

I was made redundant from my ideal job due to the pandemic and took another unrelated job to get by. I have struggled to pick my career back up (roles are scarce and have hundreds of applicants per vacancy) and I’m not sure it will ever recover. It’s had a huge impact on my self esteem, not to mention finances.

I did lose a grandparent early on to covid and am clinically vulnerable myself so I supported lockdowns when they happened though.

I agree. I'm not in the UK, but everyone I know was okay about lockdown and have just carried on as normal afterwards.

I get that some people were affected by it, but to insist that everyone must be suffering is just nonsense.

I think this is also true.
A lot of media hype and spin has meant that some people have convinced themselves that it was all awful and they need therapy because they had to work from home for a few months.
For SOME people it was really, really crap. Loved ones were lost, life saving treatments were refused etc.
I was a ‘front line’ keyworker ( hate this rhetoric by the way). I worked throughout, had young children to homeschool and elderly relatives (one whom died alone) to deal with.
I still think it’s time to stop blaming everything on lockdown. I’m seeing kids in yrR now who would have been babes in arms, we’re still blaming their poor speech and language on covid . Why?
I’d intrigued to know for how long WW2 was allowed as an excuse for not trying to be the best we can.

I don't think everyone was hurt during lockdown. I disagree with this strange notion that the country has PTSD because they had to stay in a bit and wear a mask.

NHS staff, carers, people who couldn't access vital services, yes, and of course those who lost loved ones and who still suffer from long COVID - those people I'd imagine are actually traumatised.

I'm glad the deaths weren't much much worse, as I believe they would have been without lockdown.

I love history and was very interested how our Pandemic compared with 1918/20 and the Plague outbreaks. The advice to keep separate from each other as much as possible is still the best, possibly only, advice.

Others will vehemently disagree, but we'll never know what would have happened without lockdown

I don’t feel different in any way. It happened, I’m over it 🤷‍♀️

I'm far more cynical than I was pre-covid. I never really had much faith in the government, so no loss there. But watching the WHO performance, where they went to China and insisted that there was no virus leak, it really did happen spontaneously in spitting distance, was a steep learning curve.

I don’t really feel any different. But then I worked throughout lockdown so didn’t experience it in quite the same way as those who had to stay at home.

I do feel that it has negatively affected my teens and their social development though. Also dd1 had a really nasty and long lasting reaction to one of her covid jabs which she is only really coming out the other side of now a year and a half later.

It made no appreciable difference to me.

I'm still angrier and generally more emotional about Brexit than lockdown.

I love the fact that I can now work from home and it’s not a big ‘thing’. It’s just accepted as the norm. I work on a massive site divided into loads of smaller offices. I was in our office for training a couple of weeks ago and it was only me and 3 others, the office holds about 100 people 😆

The use of the term selfish is seldom very helpful in the context of covid and lockdown policy. A better way of putting it is that all of the possible responses to covid involved putting the interests of some people above others.

It’s an absolutely spot on point.

As with most things in life there were definitely Winners and Losers from the COVID pandemic

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And sadly the losers as often is the case were predominantly the poorer, women, young people and children.

@QueenBodicea

"For me, I hate the endless Teams calls we have now whereas pre-covid we would have met in person, usually a much more enjoyable experience"

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I know what you mean. I often have days WFH where I have teams calls after teams call and can spend the entire day never speaking to a real person- it's lonely, not good for your social skills and makes for a more introverted isolated experience.

Also given our calendar availability is open for all to see I noticed a trend for some people to feel they have to book up every available slot in their calendar to look busy.

This means there is less time to actually do the actual work generated from these teams meetings which hits productivity. Also if you want to speak to someone you first need to email them to schedule a call which might be a week away. Whereas pre COVID you could simply walk across to their desk or failing that just call them.

Work wise everything now seems to take longer, is less efficient and less dynamic.

The lockdowns were an unnecessary farce so I don't blame you.

I’m ok (happy etc) but I’m annoyed sensible voices weren’t heard at the time and it’s only now people are able to hear the greater damage to women and children, and damage generally

I know why as I recall how people reacted, what was said, I hope they realise it

I think it affected everyone differently. There's 7 of us here and we all have different after effects.

I'd never invalidate anyone's feelings as they are important and real.

Personally having loose people to COVID who were healthy breaks me daily. They should be alive and enjoying life and their young children now instead of being 6 foot under.

Each of my children reacted differently, the ones I thought it would affect didn't and vice versa. We've been on suicide watch for 2 years with one, another didn't get a chance to make new friends when they started college, it was all online and by the time the college's opened back up they were not long back before they were finished and trying to get work, which was difficult as many jobs were taken by people who changed carer's/jobs during the close of many businesses during the lock downs, plus lots of work went online which meant sitting in the house and not mixing with other people, 2 of my other children basically picked up where they left off and my youngest who's severely disabled reverted back due to no therapies no school no anything.

So while some had a great time and think it was a piece of piss, there were some who were affected. We can't judge on how we feel/felt personally, we have to understand that everyone's brain is different.

An acquaintance who has a severely disabled child, is a single parent, she ended up as an in patient in a mental health unit due to the lock downs, her child was being cared for by a relative in another County, this woman's poor brain got so ill sitting in daily with no respite and no one allowed to visit her, she was allowed for someone to move in with her but unfortunately there was no one and it was too late by the time she reached out, she said she felt like a failure .

I always try to understand if someone says they struggled or are still struggling, I thought I escaped the awful effects of the lock downs, but it has a ripple effect, my adult children suffered so it's me now dealing with that, it's no fun watching your once sociable children enjoying life now wishing they were dead .

I feel like I’m back to normal now but it took a long time. I felt genuinely scarred by the 4 months I spent working from home full time and caring for a toddler at the same time, and really angry that I’d been put in that position. When the narrative about lockdown was all about those who’d been furloughed and could have endless long days off with their children, or those who could spend their time doing DIY in their homes, or even homeschooling but not having to work at the same time, I was very, very bitter.

For me, I hate the endless Teams calls we have now whereas pre-covid we would have met in person, usually a much more enjoyable experience.

I don't now, but it took a long long time for that feeling to go away and I still feel such intense anger towards the people responsible for locking us down and sacrificing working people/ children/ poorer people for the rich middle classes and baby boomers (and I say that as a higher rate tax payer!). I have no trust in society now after I watched people sleepwalk into the restrictions and clap like seals for the end of their freedoms.

That said, it makes me more determined to live my life and do as many things as possible before it all gets taken away again, so I suppose in some ways that's a positive.

I don't know about that. After about May 2020 I was totally anti lock down and doing my own thing (an attitude I passed onto my kids and DH, even tho a family member of his was ill at the time)

I had a secure job and was being paid full whack throughout (and for about the first month I didn't even have to do any work because of the nature of my role) and DH was also paid full whack in a secure job WFH.

Have a great time!

I am still not back to 'normal' following Covid as my DD's MH fell off a cliff (dragging me nearly under too), and though a lot better is still not fully recovered. All the lockdowns ran into each other as far as I was concerned so I 'lost' at least 18 months.

However I have been out to my first fireworks since 2019 and have booked my first theatre show for December. Things are getting better.

I still think about all the things my dc missed out on and how it still affects dc2 in particular.