To miss the first lockdown?

The people I know who loved lockdown were wealthy. They had big gardens and no money worries.

I was pregnant and didn’t receive the quality of medical care that I needed, I lived in a little flat with no garden. I’m freelance but received no furlough and my partner had a full on breakdown which involved mostly being furious at me the whole time.

I’m not usually someone who compares myself or my life to others but honestly I just don’t want to hear anyone go on about how lovely lockdown was.

I quite enjoyed the first lockdown. I was furloughed and didn't have to go to the job I hated.

The sense of community, staying home, daily walks, Joe wicks, banana bread, baking, Netflix binges. House was organised. Apart from the anxiety of catching covid it was quite good for me.

Unfortunately my mother really struggled mentally and I felt awful for those people who were lonely or scared. I felt for those with kids.
It would have been hell if I'd had my son back then. He lives for nursery and seeing grandparents, and I'd be worried about his development.

I’m going to take a wild guess and say that those that loved it didn’t have anyone close to them die or suffer horribly with their mental and physical health?

Fucking disgusting using words like 'blissful' and 'nostalgia'

Be careful what you wish for...

Had exact conversation with mates last week. 2 were at home for the entire lockdown and absolutely hated it. Another 2 worked part time and struggled but I worked probably harder than I ever have before or since and can't actually remember it being much different. That said I'd never want another lockdown.

I loved it. The quietness was wonderful. Feeling no pressure to mix or see anyone. I know it was a difficult time for some people, but for the true introverts amongst us it was lovely.

Well guess it depends! I liked it, my DD had full day online learning so didn’t miss out. My just turned 16 year old son who was just starting his vocational qualification it was a disaster. Personal training level 3 but no gyms were open, he couldn’t make new friends, couldn’t see his girlfriend, couldn’t work out. Awful awful awful. Shattered his confidence and not sure he has yet to get back to what he was before.

That must have been so hard for you🙁

No, non, nope, bloody awful time.

I was furloughed so I appreciate I got time with my daughter that I never would have had but I am sociable and hated it. The only thing I miss is the traffic in my very busy city didnt put your blood pressure through the roof daily.

I was very ill with covid and it took me a year to fully recover, sometimes I do wonder if I am still not quite right because of it. My DS was 18 in Lockdown and very much missed that sort of just young adult that I remember loving. I also knew a 34 year old schoolteacher who died, still teaching key workers children. Plus obviously fuck my BIL who is a nurse and walked miles back and forth to the hospital he worked in because he didn’t want to be on a bus as he was more susceptible to being infected and worried about passing it on. I remember my sister crying down the phone that he was leaving at 4am.

I get people may want to remove themselves from society but you don’t need lockdown to socially remove yourself from society.

It was awful. I was on mat leave with my 3 month old. Just when she was showing greater awareness in the world around her we were stuck indoors. No support network, no family closer than 100 miles away (was so jealous of bubbles/families 'meeting' in supermarkets), no visitors. Such a lonely time. She didn't know her family and was scared of them all when it was lifted. I remember one HV came out once to weigh her in the garden in PPE. Never saw anyone after that. I'd hate to go back.

I’m so sorry 💔

My 23 year old DS suffered from MH issues because of Lockdown.

My work colleague had 6 people at her DHs funeral after he died suddenly and unexpectedly

My best friend had to choose which 3 people should attend her dad's funeral apart from herself, her mum and her brother.

I work in social care with older people. It was a truly shit time.

I'm glad you didn't experience any of that, but for a lot of us it was horrendous

My dh didn't mind it. He was furloughed for a couple of weeks and then worked a shift pattern that was terrible. But the ones from his company that were furloughed longer were made redundant in a restructure so it was better he was asked to work.

I was working from home and looking after a just turned 3 year old and 5 year old. The children were bored and frustrated that I couldn't spend all my time with them, my manager kept pulling me up on not always being available and I asked what I was supposed to do about getting my young children food, changing nappies (until dd2 just decided to use the loo one day and never went back, that was great!) and having to get dd2 to have a nap as her sleep went to shit. And dd1 developed awful constipation and I couldnt get it across on all the bloody phone appointments how bad it was and she hadn't had a bowel movement for three weeks. It resulted in three weeks off school with movicol in the new term when they eventually were back and a while of needing gentle laxatives after that. Dds were bored and worried and missed school, nursery, grandparents and playgrounds.

It was horrendous and the worst part was I found out that I could have just requested special covid leave and just have time off paid. That was after I was signed off with stress for a couple of weeks which then added to time of sick the previous year and I was put on an improvement period even though my manager knew the previous time off had been depression related as I had tried to take my own life. It was fucking awful. And I am quite bitter about it still!

I did really like how the roads were almost empty and I could hear birds sing rather than noisy cars thundering past. Obviously though I didn’t like the reason behind the tranquillity of my town.

No, it was awful seeing my child suffer so much emotionally being out of school and isolated from his peers.

I have an aunt and cousin who absolutely loved it though - but they can’t identify with my experience and I can’t with them - everyone’s experience was different but for most I would say it was negative/devastating.

My mum died.

YANBU. Not necessarily because I agree (although I actually do to an extent) but because that was your personal experience and you’re entitled to miss it. Lots of people seem to get very angry about this because it was such a terrible time for so many people. I know people for whom it was a nightmare. But looking at it in terms of my own experience, there were things I loved about it. This is despite the fact that I now have a child with severe and debilitating OCD, partly due to his anxiety about the pandemic and the uncertainty of it all. But I had no idea that was going to happen at the time and still have good memories about the first lockdown. For a few blissful months I didn’t wake up every morning with my heart pounding and my stomach lurching about the day ahead.

No. The weather was lovely, yes. But, that is as far as I would go.

My asd DS was the happiest he had ever been. I miss how contented he was, but it was dreadful for so many people.

I can't relate to the "pause in the pace of life" personally. I was manically busy and stressed to the hilt during the first lockdown. DH and I both had to work and both our jobs were made busier and more challenging by the pandemic, but because we had to combine working with home-schooling a 7 year old and looking after a toddler with SEND, the only way was for us to work in shifts from the crack of dawn until well into the night. It was horrible, and it took a long time for my Mental Health to recover, but we're lucky none of us became seriously ill with covid.

Think of it as having a retirement taster in advance since your actual retirement date will be delayed several years to pay for it.

I don't think that's something you can really be unreasonable about.

You're talking specifically about how you felt about your personal experience of it.

If there was something positive you took from it then great. Find a way to recreate that feeling. Take some time for yourself. Have some time alone. Go lay in a field or something.

Not nostalgic, because of the harm it caused so many, but I did enjoy it

You do realise that's a trauma response? The knee jerk defensiveness? Some of us still get a visceral reaction to things we experienced during lockdown, because we were navigating things like dying parents with no cohesive care and a Stasi like attitude from people we did have to encounter.

I'm glad some people had a "good experience", but I know far more who have residual trauma even now because things like death and funerals and serious illness, which are already awful to go through, had none of the usual support systems in place. And the "keep calm and carry on / blitz spirit" rhetoric was insulting when you had to scour the town for essential palliative care medication because pharmacies were running out, and bus drivers were demanding to know if your journey was "essential".

It was collective insanity on so many levels.