I feel utterly miserable about the state of everything. Anyone else?

[nellyelloe]

As I sit in my freezing cold home, about to try and pay my monthly £300 energy bill (heating on a few hours a day), after spending £140 on a shop that was £100 not long ago, and waiting for 18 months and counting now for a pain management referral and an operation, I am beyond miserable. I work full time in a professional position, but there's no joy from payday anymore, as it's instantly swallowed up.

I just feel total despair at how miserable everything is right now, and would kill for 2019 back

Totally agree, it's just weird.... competitive coldness amongst high earners, go figure as they say

The point surely is that the increases affect everyone and no one irrespective of income wants to spend extortionate amounts on fundamental basic standards of human comfort in their homes.

Of course they do, but the idea that you'd moan about not being able to save or spend loads on whatever as you're having to spend more on heating does seem very insensitive to people who are genuinely struggling and who haven't got that disposable income to just divert elsewhere.

If you don't heat your home it will develop damp and mould. Let alone the effects your health. You can afford it. Your attempt at poverty top trumps is utterly repellant. There are people who cannot afford it. I'll save my sympathy for them.

Yeah.

I can't afford to put gas on my prepayment meter. It's freezing. Multiple disabilities.

I feel like this era ought to be the hunger games era.

I hope that's not aimed at me. I cannot afford to heat my home for more than 3 hours a day on our fixed salaries when everything else has gone up hundreds of pounds too

I did not mean the grin emoji

I cried this morning - I'm stressed with work, not sleeping well and bloody cold much of the time. The Pollyanna's on this thread aren't helping. I know others have it worse, I'm not lacking in empathy. Makes me wonder what the hell we can do collectively to improve things.

I keep crying too 😢 I'm sorry you're feeling so bad x

Count your blessings OP. You are not stuck in Afghanistan with the Taliban for merry company, half of you relatives dead and the rest starving and unemployed.

I feel the same. It's not helped by the fact it's icy here and I daren't go out because I hate driving on ice and they don't grit the small roads where I live, and daren't even walk after I fell really badly two years ago. I've given up not heating the house though, I'll deal with the bill when I have to. I still have credit although it'll be wiped out in at the most two months. I sit wrapped in a blanket all the time so that I can keep the heating at 17.5, any lower and it gets mouldy in the house. I have fibromyalgia so in constant pain and waiting for an xray for my knee, which is particularly painful, can only walk with a crutch at the moment.

It helps no one when posters say "others have it worse". That's always true. It's also always true that others have it better. But if people said that they'd be quoted "comparison is the thief of joy". So hey maybe we should tell people in Afghanistan "comparison is the thief of joy" see how that goes down! People are allowed to complain and be worried. They are valid emotions. You can be simultaneously thankful for what you do have and upset about what you don't have. It's not one or the other.

Sorry you are all feeling so blue :( if it helps, worldwide, the picture is not so bleak. I recommend subscribing to the Future Crunch newsletter - it features all the good stuff that has been happening in the news worldwide - it can be found here. Meantime, even in the UK, generally speaking, poverty has remained the same and has decreased for pensioners over the last 20 years or so. So not great but it could be worse.

I wish there was something to look forward to.

A cold winter, food too expensive, no holiday next year due to costs rising in every aspect of life, NHS going under (by design), strikes, everyone I speak to is experiencing redundancies in their organisations, no election on the horizon to get the bastards out..

I suppose they think the king prancing about with a diamond crown on is going to cheer the nation up as we use the TV for warmth.

Wow, helpful, thanks 😳
As my dying Nana said, 'just because I've got terminal cancer doesn't stop you having a headache'. Wise words. We aren't after a hierarchy of suffering here

The misery olympics bring nobody any comfort.

This does sound hard, but if you are really unhappy to need to try and find a way to make changes for the better. I know it's not an option for everyone, but I moved abroad to a hot sunny country in SE Asia and bills are much more manageable here, council tax doesn't even exist and the quality of life is fantastic. Would there be the potential to do what you do in another country? People are quick to dismiss the idea but what is actually stopping you from giving it a go? Life is short so try to make the most of it.

I am sorry but you really have Putin to thank for this. This is all entirely deliberate and meant to hurt you, as an indulged person of the west.

No. This is the result of a conservative government for the last decade. The economic decisions made mean there is effectively no buffer in the system for when a crisis like this hits.

I am living in another european country. Things are a little tougher than normal, but nowhere near like in the uk. The decline of living standards has been apparent in the uk for years.

BTW i always found the uk housing freezing and heating expensive. That was a constant source of argument as a student and with my parents. I truly feel for people now.

I agree. I am in a professional role and feel the same as you. I have considered leaving the country its now such a depressing mismanaged place.

I am sorry but you really have Putin to thank for this. This is all entirely deliberate and meant to hurt you, as an indulged person of the west

Have we forgotten about brexit already?

am living in another european country. Things are a little tougher than normal, but nowhere near like in the uk. The decline of living standards has been apparent in the uk for years.

Can I be cheeky and ask where? I'm looking for options!

@Smileandtheworldsmileswithyou can I ask where?

Agreed !

We are considering leaving the U.K. really seriously.
We've looked at the Channel Islands/IOM as a possibility but also Malta and Madeira. Would love other suggestions

There are no job opportunities on Madeira or Malta, just so you know. Maybe in tourism if you speak several languages. Same with the Canary Islands in case you already thought of them.

I'd quite like to move to Turkey