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Original poster

What is your life like post-COVID?

113 replies

ForeverWeBlend · 18/01/2023 19:50

I'm late 50's, two adult DC. During the pandemic both DC were here with us, plus one of their friends who could not go home due to a fall out with their parents. On the whole we were happy - but we didn't lose anyone and both DH and I were able to WFH, so we did not have the financial problems many others had. So grateful for that.
But life has never gone back to 'normal'. We go out rarely now. I find it hard to get the energy to see the good friends I used to see regularly. When we get invites I look for reasons not to go. TV, glass of wine and I'm good.

Is it just me?

OP posts:
asblindasabat · 19/01/2023 00:30

Life is good! I’m completely back to normal and I’m loving it. I get tired of going to the dentist and then still forcing me to wear a face mask. They too need to get back to normal.

TealSteal · 19/01/2023 00:41

asblindasabat · 19/01/2023 00:30

Life is good! I’m completely back to normal and I’m loving it. I get tired of going to the dentist and then still forcing me to wear a face mask. They too need to get back to normal.

They are entitled to to the precautions they see fit. Change dentists if you don't like it.

Youdoyoubabe · 19/01/2023 00:44

Almost back to normal. But I don't have Fomo any more really and will choose to stay home more. It also coincided with one of my kids moving home so I have company at home now whereas I was mostly home alone before.

asblindasabat · 19/01/2023 01:03

TealSteal · 19/01/2023 00:41

They are entitled to to the precautions they see fit. Change dentists if you don't like it.

Show quote history

I just don’t wear one.

ibe · 19/01/2023 01:11

I caught covid in the first lockdown. Lost a parent to covid in the first lockdown. My mental health deteriorated. Nothing will ever be the same.

LoveCillian · 19/01/2023 01:46

Totally back to normal
Thank goodness

happiertimes123 · 19/01/2023 01:49

My mental health has plummeted. I struggle badly with agoraphobia as a teen and it is back with a vengeance. I'm only really starting to cobble my life back together now that we've moved somewhere that we'll put down roots: fresh start and all that. Hoping and working hard to make 2023 a much better year than the last 3.

TheNinthLock · 19/01/2023 07:21

My world is more or less the same.

I lost one ex colleague and one neighbour in our street due to Covid, which is of course a shame.

On a more personal level, dh was classed as an essential worker (engineer within banking and IT systems) so he continued to work throughout the lockdowns. I am a SEN TA and continued to work in school throughout the lockdowns. We are both still in the same jobs.
DSs apprenticeship was cancelled under Covid, so he worked in a supermarket during Covid and is now halfway through a new apprenticeship. He was living at home at the time and is still doing so now - the plan always was to move out once qualified so that has been delayed for by two years.

Dd did her A levels during the Covid years. She is now in her second year at uni.
We were never a big socialisers, but our small group of friends is still strong and our social life is back to where it was prior to Covid.

I appreciate I am extremely fortunate.

sunshinealwayscomesback · 19/01/2023 07:26

I definitely feel different about going out but there are lots of factors of change as well as covid so I'm not sure how much weighting each part has. Way happier at home, though work is just the same and I am lucky as I feel my kids were unaffected by the lockdowns.

I feel anxious before larger events when I used to be excited. I was always extroverted and feel that's not me at all anymore - I am far quieter. I feel a different kind of person. I much prefer 1:1 or small groups to a big bash. I really don't look forward to bug bashed at all.

Also, if there's not an easy plan of getting home I'd rather not go. That might be my age though!

Amboseli · 19/01/2023 07:29

I wfh now, pre covid I went to the office.

But I go out far less now, I love staying at home. Pre covid I went out a lot more but maybe because I felt I should say yes to every invitation and reciprocate at ours. Just don't feel that pressure anymore.

SallyWD · 19/01/2023 07:32

Our life is more or jess exactly the same as pre-Covid. I can't think of any differences. We still see the same friends. We still go out and socialise. Our children are very sociable. Everyone we know has gone back to normal.

Lovelydovey · 19/01/2023 07:40

We lost both my parents - at a young age - to covid. That has had a massive impact on our family and the way we live. We used to see them regularly and they were childcare part time for our DC. Our youngest DC has anxiety and is a school refuser as a result of both this and other covid experiences.

We both work from home 50% of the time too now - essential with a young school refuser.

and given the stress of everything, we’re generally not in the mood to socialise much.

In summary, it’s got much harder.

Trounlet · 19/01/2023 07:43

ForeverWeBlend · 18/01/2023 20:23

Op could it possibly be that you're getting older rather than Covid to blame? Because I can't see from your description why your life couldn't go back to normal if you wanted it to.

You are right. Maybe COVID made me prematurely old. That's why I have asked the question. Is it me? Or is it a result of the lockdown?

Yes I feel that I'm much older post covid, I'm looking at retirement as I've lost all enthusiasm for my job (health so I worked more than my normal hours throughout the pandemic).

AuntieMarys · 19/01/2023 07:44

We are in our 60s. Didn't get Covid and lost no one. Dh went to work as normal, so no change at all for him.
We go out regularly and socialise...not as much as pre Covid but that's due to the economic situation.
Our friends are the same. We all go to gigs, theatre, travel as before.

MadameSzyszkoBohusz · 19/01/2023 07:50

Actually, I think the main change is DH and I are happier together than we've ever been. He worked such long days pre-Covid, and I either work irregular hours or not at all for long stretches (freelancer), so we were like ships that pass in the night for years.

Lockdown was really tough at first, but it did end up bringing us closer. We talk more, are more affectionate, and really enjoy each other's company. He's back in the office 2-3 days a week, and I really miss him when he is. But he now makes every effort to get home in time for dinner with the DC and I, which he never used to do, and we have lovely family meals together.

Not saying that Covid wasn't a massive shit show, it definitely was, but it's had at least one positive outcome for us.

Jewel1968 · 19/01/2023 07:57

I lost a parent in the early days of covid - they died alone. I think this has overshadowed some of the positives that has come out of COVID e.g.flexible working and spending more time with family that I wouldn't have had.

I think I am depressed because like others I have a big - I can't be arsed - approach to stuff. I do force myself to do stuff but I feel kinda disassociated from whatever it is I am doing.

I am also experiencing post covid health issues that doc can't help with and only time will help

Monkeybutt1 · 19/01/2023 08:02

Another whose life changed for the better. Pre covid DH and I both worked in an office and DS had to go to a childminder before and after school. We has to get up at 5 in the morning then rush around on am evening, we are both now on WFH contracts and we can do the school run so no childminder has saved us a fortune. We both lost work gyms so have built one in the garage, we have much more time now.
Agree though the 2 COVID years were horrific. Not being able to go to school affected our son, who was 7 at the start of it, really badly. He regressed emotionally but is back to normal now and loving his life and all his sports.
We know we are one of the lucky ones.

Oblomov22 · 19/01/2023 08:05

Life has returned to normal. We go out, I don't look for reasons not to go. Why has that changed for you? Have you got anxiety?

Oblomov22 · 19/01/2023 08:10

Afraid? Afraid of what?

midgetastic · 19/01/2023 08:21

Better

We had dreams before covid
Covid was a wake up call
So we have changed our lives and the dream is a pretty god one

TiredandLate · 19/01/2023 08:31

I had some big life changes during covid that might not have happened without lockdown - I quit my job, moved house twice, got a much better job and now have a very different (better) life. I wasn't shielding or vulnerable so I didn't feel isolated, my friends in their 20/30s still socialised at each others houses and we went abroad on holidays in 2020, 2021 and 2022. So overall things changed very much for the better for me and I don't see it as a period where the world stopped, like many people, I was busier than I've ever been.

I do appreciate it must be hard for people who really slowed down during lockdown to get going again though.

DominoRules · 19/01/2023 08:38

Our life is very different but not necessarily in a bad way. We were living overseas when covid started, it all became very complicated with some family issues here so DC and I moved back. DH had to stay on, country became red list so very difficult to see each other. Tough 18 months but then he moved back. We’re in a totally new area which was so hard to meet new people although easier now.

The DC love it, great friends, happy at school which is obviously the most important. DH and I do miss our old life, if it wasn’t for covid we wouldn’t have moved back. There’s been a lot of stress from some family members which I’ve taken the brunt of.

But we did get our much longed for dog a year ago who is the most amazing sense of joy, if I’m having a moment just being with him, walking in the countryside make me appreciate what we have

SnowyGiveAway · 19/01/2023 08:38

Normal. The same. Easier as I now have so much more flexibility around where and how I work. Snow day for my son today which would have been a panic for me a few years ago, but now half my meetings were online anyway and I can move the rest online with a click of a button, work fairly uninterrupted (albeit with a heavy reliance on Disney!) and take him sledding at lunch. My husband will do the same, and the day will be pretty smooth.

That's just one example but things like that make a big difference

tulips27 · 19/01/2023 08:41

@garlictwist Same with my local pool, they cut back the hours and you have to book. I've never been back, I really miss the people I used to know there and see all the time. I suppose even if I went back they wouldn't be there. I run now instead but I don't even enjoy it.

CosyFanTucci · 19/01/2023 08:43

Financially, things are good. I was made redundant at the start of the pandemic, banked the payout, went self-employed and earned more money but without a commute. Now have old job back with higher salary and can work from wherever I like. So the pandemic accelerated the trend for flexible work that will benefit a lot of people, including parents (though not everyone).
We’re not ‘post-Covid’, we’re post most restrictions, which may not be a good thing. Thousands are hospitalised with it. I have no intention of getting sick on a regular basis so I don’t socialise nearly as much and I don’t go to busy venues, which is fine with me. On the other hand, I have a stronger sense of the clock ticking and the unpredictability of life. So I want to achieve all my life experience goals while I still can: I want see the Northern Lights, go whale-watching, visit all the places I want to see. So everything I used to spend on going out, I now save and spend on travel and experiences that I will remember on my deathbed. So in that sense, covid has changed me a lot.