Did anyone else ever have that fantasy about ‘having a few months off from life’ and now think what a fucking stupid idea that was?

[BasinHaircut]

Pre-COVID, the idea that all social obligations, kids sports clubs and general drudgery would be cancelled for a while to give us a break seemed like heaven.

The reality is fucking mind numbing and I vow not to be such a whinge bag about having loads to do ever again!

Anyone else?

No but then nothing has stopped for me during covid, its just got harder without the ease of any childcare from the clubs. The obligation for zoom meetings to support as well. Nope not been bored at all and would love a proper break from it all.

I’m an introvert, I can’t say I hate this. The drawback is sharing my home office with DH.

What I would love is 2 weeks away from everyday life, on a tropics island, alone with books and my laptop.

I would also consider myself a bit of an introvert but there was a point earlier this year where I went from loving it, to feeling completely trapped and suffocated by DH and DS as there was no escape from them. That softened when DS went back to school but having us all at home again for the past couple of weeks (DS’s class were self isolating for the last week of term).

If I could live alone 50% of the time things would be perfect!

Oh yes - I dreamt of being able to work much more from home, but now I've done it for nine months I really miss wearing nice dresses and heels and seeing people and doing my job face to face and, most of all, I'm really fucking sick of my house now

@dizzygirl1 can I ask how on earth nothing has changed for you? This fascinates me. Not even back in March/April when the country was more or less completely shut down?

I’m definitely still enjoying not having to be so social, not having to ferry DC from activity to activity etc. I’m struggling financially though so I’m not actually getting to do all the hobby, DIY stuff I always said I wanted to do with some time off. I’m still working out of the home, my work has reduced but so has the income which is hard. It’s not all good but it hasn’t been all bad for me.

I actually loved the first lockdown. The shitty half measures of the second lockdown not at all.

Ooh I'm still enjoying the "Time off from life" months. Sometimes I miss working at the office but the presenteeism, mind numbingly boring conversations, stale sandwiches...eeurgh no thanks!

I'd like to meet up with close friends and stay over with my family but everything else can fuck off to Zoom. The work meetings, parent teacher sessions all fine on video mostly.

"I actually loved the first lockdown. The shitty half measures of the second lockdown not at all."

I agree with this. There was a bit of novelty factor involved and getting to be with my family all the time which I loved. I also felt really safe as DH and I could work from home and get shopping delivered so we were really fortunate with that.

Second lockdown was awful as people not taking the rules seriously and pressure to do things I thought were unsafe, and by that time the novelty had worn off and I just wanted to be alone for a few days!

@YouBoughtMeAWall I seem to have even less spare time than I did before. I have no fucking idea how that works with the loss of over a hour each way commute, no hobbies, no dinners with friends etc.

We finally managed to decorate our bedroom in the autumn but that’s all we’ve done.

I have fallen into a pattern of just slobbing in front of the TV of an evening though and I plan to change that as my New Years resolution.

I agree. I miss feeling like I have a purpose! And I miss help with my 2dc. I'm flat and exhausted by it all and cannot wait to have multiple things to rush to in one day again. To see my friends and family. To go to the office. Normal busy life.

I always said I would like a shot at homeschooling the kids.

Now I think I will cry if they don't reopen!

Didn't help that I didn't have time to research and prepare activities though and that I had to work my full time job at the same time.

Beginning to really despise Zoom events and meetups.

@Frequentflier

Beginning to really despise Zoom events and meetups.

I never want to join a zoom meeting ever again. My work have them constantly and I do my very best to never join any of them.

I think that in thoses’fantasies’ the whole world was
Open so you could scoot off on holiday or days out, meet friends and go to the cinema and shopping etc!

The time off from life fantasy means time off from work and household chores too! None of which has happened during Covid.

It's all been pretty normal here really. I did naively think in March that I may spend a few months sorting out cupboards and learning to knit, but no such thing, as I was busier than usual work wise.

That’s a good point @BrieAndChilli. Or at least my family wouldn’t be hanging around me all day bothering me.

I swear my son can ignore me for hours, but the moment I get a cuppa and a book/podcast he must have my undivided attention for a steady and unending stream of trivial things.

I miss spending time with family and friends. I have gained a lot of weight and become very unfit over the last 9 months so was using my time off over Christmas to get into a bit better shape so am annoyed the gyms are now shut.

I don’t miss anything else. I don’t miss spending a fortune of time and money commuting to work. I don’t miss in person work meetings, team catch-ups, noisy colleagues or travelling three hours a day to do a job I can easily do from my house. I like routine appointments being by phone. I quite like zoom drinks. It’s cheaper and the location (my house) is always convenient.

I said at the start of the first lockdown that I would use the time to do short online courses and learn another language.
By the end I was watching YouTube videos of cats and people lighting farts.
But in my defence we did get the flowerbeds planted.

And DH has just put fucking GROUNDHOG DAY on! FFS.....

I have been working from home for a year before lockdown and it’s had quite a negative impact on me. I put on weight, moved less and because I set my own hours became a bit adrift. I felt really bad about myself and put it down to me having lack of motivation. It’s been a revelation that lockdown has had a similar impact on most people I know.

I said at the start of the first lockdown that I would use the time to do short online courses and learn another language. By the end I was watching YouTube videos of cats and people lighting farts.

I’ve learned how to put my ducks to bed, how to control my out of control horse, how to care for my 4c hair, how to make a holiday Barbie dress, how to live in my tiny apartment.*

*I have none of the above.

I dream of going off on a yoga retreat, or going off with a rucksack and wild camping for a few days.

Lockdown #1 stripped me of purpose in life other than the aggro of fruitlessly nagging a DC with multiple SENs to do home learning and try to cajole the immature 7yo into learning too.

It was such a relief to have the structure of external motivation back to get the DCs out of the house for 9am in September. We need external motivation to focus and not drift.

I miss volunteering, community and real people with facial expressions.

I liked life being busy. Sometimes if we were a bit run-down we would skip a week of swimming or whatever. Nothing depended on it. It's OK to not feel like it sometimes. I didn't need to have my life reduced to a vacuous void for 5.5 months and dragging out to a year.

Another one not been bored. Been bliss to have four days off. We slept.