Is anyone else loving this slower pace of life?

[JMAngel1]

Just that really - silver linings anyone?
No commute, no racing around.
Easy structure to homeschooling is going well - kids are happy which is all I'm aiming for and feel like I'm teaching them good life skills too - housekeeping, baking etc
Decluttering is very cathartic for me and yesterday we made banana bread - I never get time to bake usually.
Lots of reading together and board games.
Trying to stay calm and take each day at a time.
Beautiful sunshine for our one walk a day.

Yes 💯 has put some things into perspective for me.

Yes I am enjoying not having to stick to time limits and not rushing, I am also trying to stay calm because I do usually get bored but the sun is massively helping! If it was raining I would feel completely different and miserable

Dh and I were talking about this feeling of suspended animation this morning, and the balance of feeling both terrified and free.

I'm having a weird mix of feelings: hypervigilance mixed with a sense of total liberation. So I've had what is probably an anxiety-fuelled eye tic for almost three weeks and am not sleeping very well, but the fact of no appointments or obligations on the horizon is blowing my mind. I'm extremely introverted so I love being at home in my newly quiet neighbourhood.

Dh was made redundant and left work last week (had been wfh for almost two weeks anyway), so now he's home all day with no work to do (just job interviews and networking sort of stuff); his redundancy was front page news for us and has now been downgraded.

I'm cooking more (our grocery bill has more than doubled) but there seems to be more time to do it and it isn't restricted to certain times of the day, I can make meals any time because I'm not going anywhere. I'm beyond grateful that our food delivery has continued with only minor interruption.

Sad and unnerved that I've had to indefinitely delay visiting my mum, and her oncology follow-up appointments will be postponed, but it's so clearly beyond my control that - alongside feeling powerless - there is a certain sense of liberation in acknowledging I can't change it.

Yes... I'm 90% loving it. Everything sow and quiet, I can wake up and start working in silence at 7am with coffee and a hot water bottle.

Sadly, people are dying and unwell so that takes away from the bliss quite a lot.

And I'm quite the extrovert so I'm surprised... i believe that I may have been more stressed than I believed

No because unless you don’t have to work it’s utterly shit. I am trying to do 2 jobs, no actually make that 4- mother, housekeeper, teacher, manager

Wish kids weren't always so bloody hungry. Permanent cycle of preparing food, washing up and panic attacks in random order. Just want life to be normal again.

@NutFree I could have written your post!

Not here and I thought it would be great. I'm actually stressed out my box and knackered.

Trying to watch kids in the day time, my work in the evening's. The house is like a tip.

I am off work after an op, but I’m recovering well so I have minimal discomfort at the moment. I’m aware how lucky I am, I am totally happy to be at home taking things slowly. The dc are being positively angelic, and I’m again lucky to live by the sea in a very quiet and beautiful area of the country. It has certainly got me thinking about my usual mad life as a full time working single parent.

Saving 2.5 daily commute is great.
Trying to motivate two teenagers not so great....

I think we should really try and appreciate the good bits - I bet that once things go back to normal I will be tempted to complain about the busy schedule, needing to be in 3 places at once and so on. So we should appreciate the positives while we have them. I realise I am lucky to have a salary, an understanding employer, and a garden.

I am obviously a bit worried about dying, but to be honest I'm such a worrier I'm always worrying about dying of something, so it hasn't made a lot of difference.

It's not a slower pace of life for some! We are having to juggle work around looking after a toddler. Zero outside space as in a flat. I am working before she wakes up and after she goes to sleep to make my hours up and I have never been so tired since she was a newborn.

We have decided we are moving property to have a garden after this is over!

No. I want to be outside. I don't know how anyone can love spending most of their time indoors, I find it bloody awful and as I'm still recovering from cancer I need to be in for 12 weeks.

@Babdoc in so sorry you're going through this, it sounds bloody horrendous. I wish you much better soon.

Slower pace of life - you've got to be kidding me. My stress levels have never been higher! Can't wait for it to rain so the smug fuckers with gardens can start to realise how fucking difficult this actually is!

No chance

am stressed more than I ever have been in my life I’m doing shit at work I’m being a shit parent have to completely neglect them for three hours a day in front of the TV so I can get some work done and battle all morning to get the school work done.

I certainly don’t feel like I’m spending quality time with the kids and looking forward to the weekend but will probably end up having to work then to

@Snaga I posted on another thread I had to come off Facebook as I was getting so much irrational rage about the gardens. All the smug fuckers with all their great outdoor activities while we are just allowed 1 walk outside a day. I want it to rain and rain for the next 3 months (PMT doesnt help either!)

NO, I hate having to stay in so much. I've even joined NHS volunteers in desperation as a way to get out more.

Nope. I'm trying to work and look after my toddler. Not a slower pace of life at all. I'm desperate for life to go back to normal.

Me!!
single parent and so enjoying the relaxed and with my children
The weather and garden making life so much easier too

It feels like a very special family time here. Anxieties aside!

Plus - I’m now really enjoying home schooling!

Children (7 and 9) sleeping for 12 hours unbroken 7-7. I can’t understand why given not a fraction of the sport and exercise they usually do (my eldest goes to a sport centric prep)

Anyone else’s children doing the same?

I consider myself a 'social introvert'. After being a SAHM (not by choice) for nearly 10 years and finally finally finding a proper job.... Covid 19 happened and I'm back at home trying to prevent my kids forgetting everything they'd learnt at school. I'm back to the same low mood as I was before.

It would be lovely if it wasn't in such bad circumstances and for some people it's the very opposite of slow. We are really worrried about our business, impact on education and health of family members.

But I hope out of this we rediscover some of the better things in life and re think our priorities, it would be a silver lining. For instance if we don't go back to the insane over consumption and we keep the community relationships we are discovering, it might help us impact climate change/loneliness.

Also I think the government have been canny with the exercise, been trying to get people to do it for years, ration it and all of a sudden everyone wants to go for a run.

No

I miss being at work for the sense of achievement and social interaction. Its also distracting from my really shitty family life of many years. I've managed this week, being in the garden while the sun is out, but next week I'm dreading. I have 2 dcs and the reasons I never went into teaching are valid.