How are you REALLY finding lockdown?

[MinnieAnonyMouse]

Full disclosure, I am very lucky in that I'm able to wfh, we have a nice sized garden and no kids yet. I appreciate my position is very different to some people who have no access to the outside / houseshares / living with abuse / lost jobs etc.

How are you finding lockdown? Aside from the minor issues like I miss being able to go to the shop just because I fancy something and I'd like to see my mum, it's not affecting us too badly. I'm quite an introvert at the best of times and this has reiterated that I am very happy at home and am not all that bothered about leaving. I'm loving not having a very long commute!

I wondered how everyone else was getting on - I can't be the only one who isn't overly fussed by it all? As I say, fully appreciate I'm very lucky. Feel free to rant!

Mixed, mostly fine, some lovely moments with my 2 older teens. Great not having to go into work everyday.
Probably ,having a pause from life has done us good. But I and definitely my teens need to have some sort of life. It's wrong that my 17 and 18 year old have nothing to do,both exams cancelled. They need to get out and live.

Its awful. I am struggling every minute of everyday and cannot continue much longer. Like some others, I will not be able to continue the lockdown in its current form if it is extended and I will take the financial hit if it means my kids still have a mother at the end of this.

DH is working from home and is incredibly busy (large retailer supply chain so it's nuts atm). I'm home schooling a yr1 DC, have a very high energy 2yo and newborn twins. We are in a small 2 bed flat which we were supposed to be out of months ago but it fell through due to corona virus. No garden.

I feel incredibly anxious all the time. I can't meet the needs of all of my children due to lack of space and time. The babies are teething and I'm averaging 2.5hrs sleep at the moment (DH can't help as they're BF). I can barely leave the flat except for short walks, otherwise the 2yo needs a wee and the babies need feeding. The 5yo is clearly incredibly unhappy, the babies and 2yo need more from me that I can't give.

I am so close to snapping. I cannot continue like this. I need support and the odd rest. I need the once a month long trip to my parents' for the weekend to take some pressure off. This is hell and I can't do it much longer.

Shielding a vulnerable husband here, who has been really poorly with chest infection but covid neg.
I am due to retire next week anyway so missed the run down to it but despite all of this I love being at home, I worked in a school in safe guarding and everyday could be stressful, it is nice not to feel responsible all the time. I enjoy easing myself into the day rather than the rush and pressure of before. I enjoy time to process things and appreciate things...
So all good there.
7 weeks in though I would love to sit in a wood!!
I am 2 minutes from a beach but I Don want to take any risks at all.
If covid got in here it would be death for the old boy...

I’m ok. We are lucky that we are financially secure and have a decent sized house and garden. We have 2 teen DC’s. My year 10 DD is great at getting on with her work independently but I am worried about her missing school. Yr 8 DS is a bit more challenging and I alternate between tearing my hair out and enjoying helping him!

I am absolutely loving being with my kids - I feel like time has been paused and we are getting along so well together. I know once real life resumes DD will be off with her friends (as she should be) so I’m holding her close whilst I can.

I do realise that we are fortunate and I feel for those who are finding it tough/unbearable 🙁

Hoping Boris has some news later on how we can start to move forward and ease lockdown.

I’m furloughed with no children living in a semi-rural area. I’m lucky, and I am the first to acknowledge that.

Lockdown is suiting me absolutely fine because I'm asthmatic, so minimal contact with other people is ideal for me at the moment. There is open countryside outside my front door so I can exercise as much as I want with zero concerns re social distancing.

Obviously, life is a bit dull but I really want to dodge the bullet until there is a vaccine / effective treatment if at all possible.

I didn’t find it tough to begin with it, I had loads of time to chill out and walk the dog, however now I am bored and lonely as I live alone!
I am off back to work on Monday after being furloughed for 6 weeks, I am looking forward to having a routine and stopping living off biscuits and crisps!

Missing friends & play groups so much. Sometimes struggling to keep my toddler entertained! Worrying about other people.

Other than that I'm really finding it ok, trying to keep positive.

Another single parent here loving it. Currently furloughed. Been working non stop for 30 years bar 4 months maternity leave 11 years ago. Really enjoying all the extra time with ds, we have a nice routine going, and just having the time to just be instead of rushing from one place to the next. Feel like I can breathe again. Could happily continue like this for quite some time. Also an introvert, love being at home with no pressure to socialise which I suspect makes lock down a whole lot easier.
I do feel for those trying to work with young children at home, that must be tough.

I have good days and meh days, but they’re mostly good. There is plenty to do in the house and garden and I live rurally, so lots of lovely countryside to walk in without seeing anyone. DH and DS (20) are here, and there is lots of laughter in the house. I do realise that I’m extremely fortunate though, and there are people who are really struggling. I do miss seeing my dad, but we speak every other day and text daily.

I’m absolutely loving it Got so much time to do everything I never have time to do; catch up on tv programmes, read books, learn new things, play games. It’s great!

It would be fine if I wasn’t ill. I don’t get bored or lonely and I love not having to rush anything.

Truthfully apart from having to queue outside the supermarket sometimes, and not being able to go to the pub life doesn't seem terribly different.
I'm still at work where we are freakishly quiet (the calm before the storm!) DH is furloughed and loving it, DS is off school at least until he starts 6th form in September and is bearing up reasonably well, though I'm aware that the disappointments keep coming for him.
Thankfully we don't know anyone who's even confirmed to have had Covid-19 let alone died of it.
We're making efforts to get along better and have spent more time with DS than we would do normally, which has been a big bonus.
We seem in a bit of a bubble and I can see why people are becoming complacent.

Tough. Lonely, getting depressed, isolated.
Teen dd desperately misses her friends and school. And now looks like lockdown is to be extended. Can't face it.

Loving it TBH. Fortunate to live fairly rurally and both of us are still being paid (DH WFH, me on rota). Have blitzed the house and the garden and walked miles. Have lots of time to chat to DC (young adults) and do life skills stuff with them. DH not commuting which has improved his frame of mind 100%.

On the other hand, I'm worried about the economy, people who are struggling (financially and mentally), the DC's employment prospects, and the MH of one of the DC. I've always enjoyed being at home but I found the second week hard, so I can understand why some people are finding if difficult.

I'm just starting to actually miss seeing my friends for a proper chat.

Prior to lockdown I had been suffering from 'overwhelm' - too many people wanting too much from me, not enough time, sleep, or thinking space.

Since lockdown my mental health has improved in spades, I've got time to do what I want even though I'm still working and looking after DCs. Not to mention 'encouraging' them to get on with their schoolwork. There's no pressure, no sense of obligation, no demands on my time that I don't want to be involved with. All the 'takers' in my life have disappeared.

I'm much, much, happier than before. The occasional bad day but it soon passes. I don't want to go back to before, so I guess now is the time to think about how I want my life to be.

I'm kind of in the middle with this one. I've been furloughed and can't do my job from home, my dh is still working so we have an ok income. One ds 8. We have a garden and manage to get out for local walks everyday so we are lucky that way. I've read loads and worked on craft projects I have going. My skin has never been better as I'm not wearing makeup. I'm enjoying not rushing around from work to school to clubs but it is very much getting like groundhog day. Struggling to get ds to engage in school work and it ends in an arguement most days. It's hard knowing for the forseeable future there is nothing to look forward to such as days out, holidays, birthdays etc

On the surface I should be fine. We have a large house, plenty of tech, a large rural garden. Small village with plenty of space to walk. DH's job is secure, but he actually doesn't have much work on at the moment, so he is available a lot of the time, and in most evenings rather than out at work. I also home ed some of my children.

But...
I am really really struggling.
I miss my friends, I miss my acquaintances. I miss random chats with strangers at the supermarket or school gate. I miss my usual activities and the things I do to keep sane.
DH and my teens are introverts, so not really available much for conversation or to explore all the new thoughts and ideas I have with them.
Home has never been my happy place. (No abuse or anything, I just like to be put and doing, and when at home I get depressed)
My friends all seem to be loving the introvert life. Have basically told me they don't like people much. (Which I take personally as I am a person).
So that makes me even more upset. But with no-one to talk me down, those thoughts are getting bigger and bigger.

I can't do this much longer.

In all honesty shit I'm hating it now.
The first two weeks felt like a holiday my DH was furloughed but is having to go back to work in next week or so.
I'll be left at home then with our two DCs 3yrs and 1yrs old which will make it slightly difficult for me to take them out together as my DS 3 year old likes to be carried everywhere and I can't do that and push my DD.

I'm missing my family so much right now. I'm also missing my freedom being able to go places for walks not just staying round the same boring streets.

I want the government to give back our freedom and choices and those that decide to keep themselves locked up then fine but those of us that want to see family and friends we should be allowed.

Neither should be made to feel like they are in the wrong for their own choices.

I feel let down to because all other appointments with health boards have been cancelled while this has gone on maybe some of the NHS hospitals should open up other appointments now so that other serious illnesses don't get missed and forgotten about.

The government also need to weigh up other issues this lockdown has caused
Suicides rates
Child abuse/deaths due to domestic violence
Domestic violence

It's as thought those people don't matter anymore so long as the government get to control us and tell us to stay in our homes like animals
One thing now I finally get how poor zoo animals must feel like

I am finding it very tedious now, I appreciate I am lucky in that I am furloughed (& just has my first furlough salary which as our employer pays the real living wage and I am part time is only about 4% down on my normal pay - plus a change in tax code and I actually got more than last month ). My DH is WFH and has had a pay cut but again, we are in fairly good financial position compared to many.

We live in a rural area so can do some lovely walks, I volunteer with vulnerable people so I have a genuine excuse to go out and I do visit my very elderly parents once a week (stay in the garden). Our teenage DS is home from Uni and studying on line.

But I am bored senseless, fed up with cooking from scratch, fed up with dutifully doing my online workouts and long walks, fed up with tedious family time & board games every.single.night. I miss my job, my friends, just chatting to people in the community.

However, I know I am in a very privileged position compared to many and I try hard to count my blessings .

In many ways not much has changed for me, I’m a sahm and dp is a key worker so business as usual.

It’s kind of like school holidays but without the pressure to be taking the dc on all the expensive days out etc everyone else seems to do.

But also without the option to go out anywhere...

And trying to get the older children to do their school work. That’s tough.

It’s harder to keep the house clean and tidy with them all around all the time.

Meal planning is harder than it usually is.

Reading, watching stuff I want to watch, playing games etc all curtailed by having a baby and a preschooler. So not getting those benefits.

The older dc are demotivated and missing their friends.

But I am so grateful that we are not having to worry about money as our financial situation is the same as normal, I’m not having to try to juggle work with looking after the little dc and getting the older ones to do schoolwork, also I suppose that our life is generally quite boring so it’s not a huge shock to the system! (Although that also makes me a bit sad when I read how much people are missing and I wonder if we’ve been wasting our lives a bit through renovating our house and watching the pennies)

I'm OK. I'm not bored at all, I don't have time to be with a toddler at home! We're used to being out and about at toddler classes, leisure centres, museums, so I find it frustrating to be missing out on those. I've ended up substituting it with daily walks with DD, exploring different places each time. I'd get bored with just going to the same place each day. I'm quite enjoying that aspect of it, I've found some lovely garden squares and churchyards that I'd never have visited before. We live in central London so there are lots of interesting places within walking distance, we can walk to large parks, the canal, the river and do interesting architecture/history walks.

Having DH at home is quite stressful. We all have to use the living room to work/eat/play in. We live in a small flat with no garden. Financially we're doing fine. DH's work fits well with working from home. I'm furlouged from my part-time job.

We're not very sociable and none of us are feeling lonely. I don't even really have any friends. So I'm not missing social contact at all. I used to enjoy going to the theatre before we had a toddler, but we haven't been since she was born, so I'm enjoying lots of free streamed theatre at home every evening.

I'm not feeling anxious about actually getting ill. I make an effort with social distancing, but in practice the streets are quite busy and I'm not going to cross the road or walk into the road with a buggy and toddler, so don't always manage it. All of us are young and in good health, so I'm not too worried. I don't know anyone personally who has died or had to go into hospital for it (some friends on FB say they think they had it, but all have dealt with it at home and recovered quickly).

I'm OK. I'm not bored at all, I don't have time to be with a toddler at home!

I have a 6 and a 4 year old at home who I am attempting to home school, plus a toddler (16 months) and I’m bored out of my mind!

Loving it BUT partner will be coming to the end of chemo end of May and we were looking forward to seeing people, having some gentle holiday time and her not having to be isolated any more. And then came the virus.

Loving it. The peace, the gift of time.

Totally acknowledge others have it worse and this is a self indulgent moan.

I'm finding lockdown incredibly frustrated. We have had to delay our wedding and a house move (desperate to move house, we have no garden and 2 sets of stairs with a DD just starting to toddle). I had a rubbish start to maternity leave in and out of hospital, was really looking forward to this spring and summer taking DD out and about before having to go back to work. Looks unlikely this will happen now, it will just be straight back to work after being stuck in the house for months.

I look like a bag of shit, desperately need a hair and nail appointment. I know this sounds shallow but I feel so much more 'together' when I am groomed.

I'm at the stage now where I just stay in my pyjamas until it's time to take DD for a daily walk, just feel lethargic and bored.

Feel really annoyed with the timing of everything. If this had happened next year we would be married and in a new house with a garden so lockdown would be much more bearable. I would also be back at work so in a way staying home with DD would have its benefits in saving nursery fees etc.

Totally acknowledge all of the above is self indulgent but had quite a bad evening last night thinking about all the good stuff we had planned for this year that is on hold indefinitely now.