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.

I have two part time jobs, one of which is NHS, the other academia. There is no let up in either of them and it is virtually impossible to plan, craft and deliver online teaching and assessment with two children in the house.

There is a very strange dichotomy in the country of people who suddenly have lots of time on their hands, and people like me who have to deliver on their jobs with two primary aged children with them....there is very little home schooling going on here at all because that is not what I am being paid for sadly.

People finding the silver lining in a crisis that's going to kill hundreds of thousands worldwide and destroy the economy and therefore the future for many younger people today, because they can sleep in and bake at home, rubs me up the wrong way, tbh.

On a personal level, it's nice not to commute but otherwise a nightmare. We're lucky in keeping our jobs but this does mean trying to work 2 full time jobs from home around 4 young DCs. We're worried about older family members, siblings and friends who are working frontline in the NHS and the economy after all this is over. I volunteer with a women's refuge, and hearing how things are getting so much worse for women and children who were already suffering is terrible.

redeyetonowheregood
Same here. I am not enjoying it at all. Have much less time. I can’t work at my job and be a teacher of my kids at the same time.

I'm not sure how i feel about it...my head is a fuzzy mess. This all feels like a dream that we won't wake up from any time soon.

First day WFH today, got quite a lot done. Dd12 cant get motivated with her online classes and seems a bit stressed.

Other 2 DC both furloughed from work and eating me out of house and home. The dog seems confused and is wondering why the fk we are all at home constantly.

I have felt drained and exhausted constantly for about a week now and I'm constantly worried about the CV situation.

I can't find a positive at the moment.

I really feel for the posters not enjoying this. It sucks.

@Stuckforthefourthtime The first paragraph of your post is how I feel too. We've already had the hellish news a friend has died this week. I should probably stay off here before I get banned for sticking it to folk with silver linings.

No, not really.
I am in a new job and trying to figure it out WFH.
DH is a key worker so is out of the house from 10 - 7.
I’m trying to get the children into a routine while having to juggle 6 video meetings a day, learning the organisation, and having to lead a new team.
We live in central London so space is at a premium.
I imagine there are many scenarios (some outlined here) where it must be blissful and that’s great 😊
For me, juggling career, homeschooling, single parenting (in effect), cooking, cleaning and all the rest had me in tears for 30 mins earlier this evening.

OP I'm with you
There's no stress of trying to get them out of bed for school on time and out the door
Still setting an alarm in a morning so we can do school work but it's at an easier pace.
No after school clubs, laying out uniforms, packed lunch making etc
Can go to bed at a decent time instead of having to stay up to try get pain in the arse college age teen to bed to get the college bus in a morning - leaving him to it, can't be arsed now lol
Less anxious and more chilled

People finding the silver lining in a crisis that's going to kill hundreds of thousands worldwide and destroy the economy and therefore the future for many younger people today, because they can sleep in and bake at home, rubs me up the wrong way, tbh

You'd rather everybody was miserable and only seeing the negatives instead?
How's that going to help anything?

I have enjoyed not having the hour commute twice a day and the extra hour and half in bed every morning. Rolling out of bed at the last minute, working in my pj's and not bothering to brush my hair. However don't think.I'd want to work from home all the time. I miss the social aspect and getting out of the house. Having to work at home and then not being able to go anywhere at night is pretty boring.

@bananafish your husband being out of the house for 8 hours a day does not make you a single parent in any way shape or form. Ffs.

I work from home anyway. What’s happened is my DH is now working from the same room as me, and there’s also two teenagers who are mostly lying around - DD is doing some but DS is year 11 and not inspired to work. I have virtually no time to myself and am feeling overwhelmed. Lunchtime walk is very much needed.

Ha ha. No.

I am used to wfh a lot of the time, but I don't normally have to do it whilst planning and delivering home schooling to 2 children of vastly different ages. I am already exhausted after 2 weeks (we started isolation early)

Jesus Christ no. 2 very full on jobs to be done from home with conference calls and teams to run and fires to put out in the effort to not go broke. And an energetic, sociable child to homeschool who's missing his friends and having too much screen time. And endless meals to cook. And worries about elderly parents. And worries about possible recession.

I'm so rushed and stressed it's not funny. Wish to God I was on Netflix and baking and crafting and quality family time.

No, very stressful, everything is messy, eldest child very upset. I last week I had to work past 10pm one day, having stated at 8am. Not a slower pace of life at all.

We are on day 10 having had to isolate last week so had no preparation really. Not fun at all. It will be worse when the weather turns bad again.

WotchaTalkinBoutWillis, there's a big gap between being unrelentingly miserable, and saying that the global crisis killing hundreds of people daily and financial ruining many many thousands more has led to them 'loving the new pace of life!'...

No it is more stressful. We are all sharing one computer. One of my dc has asd and getting more aggressive and self harming has increased. And needs one to one supervision when on internet and doing homework. The rest of the time constantly demands attention.

Getting them to do school work is a nightmare. Partly as we are all sharing the pc as already mentioned. I ended up emailing school and they told me not to worry too much about it which was a relief but still getting the dc do half an hour a day.

Then I have my normal extra struggles with my exh being abusive and my elderly parents for whom i am a carer for. The latter who have not grasped the seriousness of cv19.

Obviously this is a horrific situation, however, yes I personally can see the silver linings.

My routine is much more manageable. I'm wfh, busier than ever, however : no travel (I do a lot), no morning rush, no traffic jams, and I can work in my bare feet.

I'm a lone parent and it's been lovely bonding time for me and dc, before and after my work, with no commute time interfering. They can do their school work when they like, and time it around my work calls and I am here to help more.

So grateful for my health and my home (which is rented, and nothing special, but safe).

I miss adult company, of course, but years of lone parenting has prepared me for isolation 🙄.

Clearly a lot depends on individual circumstances.

For me personally, I'm on day 14 at home (bar one walk to the village shop) and the first week I found very tough. A dreaded feeling when I woke up each morning, felt like a living nightmare. It was hard to accept life had changed massively for the foreseeable future. The last few days though I've felt much more relaxed with the new normal. I feel safer having not been around people.

I'm a single mum to a toddler with a disability, made redundant in pregnancy and the disability has delayed any return to work. I've often felt like I get the rough end of everything compared to many around me. However on this occasion I'm feeling very fortunate I don't have to worry about a job or financially, my son is too young to worry about needing to home school and we can just enjoy being at home, taking things at a slower pace, enjoying the sunshine whilst it lasts and getting more house jobs done rather than rushing around all the time. I will be pretty annoyed with myself if after this I still have along list of jobs I never get round to doing.

I do think even with the global crisis it's so important to look after our mental health so if people are feeling more relaxed with a slower pace of life and quite content with staying home then this can only be a good thing. Of course we would all rather this wasn't happening at all but we can't change that overnight. The more content we are at home the more likely we are to avoid isolation fatigue.

I'm really enjoying it. We've been quarantined for two weeks because DS2 had mild symptoms and it's been fab not having to rush about. We've done lots of gardening and played lots of silly games. DS1 is loving learning at home instead of going to school, and DH and I are both massively more relaxed than usual. Yes the house is a tip but I can't get too worked up about it. DS2 is missing getting out and about but the rest of us are massive homebodies.

Unfortunately reality is going to come crashing back next week as I'm a doctor and DH is a police officer, so once quarantine is over we'll be back to juggling shift-work and childcare without any of the help we usually have from grandparents who are all high-risk. Ds2's childminder is having DS1 as well during the Easter holidays when we're working, but after that it's going to be a nightmare. He can go to school on days we're both working but that changes each week, and he has ASD so is not going to enjoy the lack of routine. I'm also somewhat concerned about what I'm going back to at work...

Definitely. I have never been one to rush around a lot anyway - autistic and easily overwhelmed :o and although obviously there are things I miss greatly, this does feel a lot more “me-friendly”.

I miss my friends of course, but between all our responsibilities we didn’t have time to actually meet up that often anyway, and we were already used to just talking online, so it’s no different.

We already home educated our 10yo (and our 12yo until she returned to school in December - I think she’s finding it hardest of all of us TBH, having just made that change so recently! But she’s managing pretty well thanks to FaceTime/Google Classroom etc) so that’s nothing new, and for health reasons DH and I have both been mostly home together for over a year anyway so again we are well used to being around each other all the time.

One of my FB friends, who has some chronic illnesses like I do, posted about how she’s felt the last couple of weeks that life has slowed down to her pace and that’s been helpful - I really relate to that.

I have had a (the?!) virus the last 9 days, and I’m still feeling pretty rough, otherwise I’d be getting even more out of this time - when I have the energy again I’ll be much more able to play with the kids properly, cook, draw, read, play piano etc.

I think really the only thing I will struggle with is not having much time fully to myself - I miss swimming/gym/yoga class, or just being able to pop to the pub with a book for a glass of Pepsi :o

I dont understand how you're not all WFH?

@gypsywater don't know about others but I've been furloughed, my job can't be done from home and the business closed so there's no work for me at the moment.

I dont understand how you're not all WFH?

You really can’t think of any jobs that can’t be done at home?

Hairdresser
Bar staff
Cleaner
Massage therapist
Painter & decorator
Soft play staff

The list goes on.

Ah true!

@gypsywater not wfh as I'm a teacher and not a class teacher as such so I have no work to send. But i am still getting paid thankfully! Dh's job cannot be done at home AT ALL, not going into detail as it is outing but he is also still being paid by his company. I realise we are extremely lucky!