How different would your life be if Covid hadn’t come along?

[Username721]

Just curious really!

Work? Relationships? Did the pandemic bring any long term life changes for you?

I wouldn't have had to live into a hotel for 3 months.

I wouldn't have had to hold iPads up to dying patients so their families could say goodbye without being able to hear me talking because of the ppe

I wouldn't have ptsd from working icu during Covid

I wouldn't be thinking about leaving the nhs completely because of the abuse from patients and the public due to the backlog from the pandemic.

I got a chair thrown at me last week.

I would still be working but I retired because I hated wfh.

I'm a nanny. Our 'workplace' has changed drastically, bosses WFH permanently and always popping in throughout the day 🙄

It's really changed the dynamic of nanny life, I miss the olden days.

@FangedFrisbee thank you from the bottom of my heart ❤️ I'll never ever forget the nurse and consultant me and my sister met at the ICU.

My mum wouldn't have died if covid hadn't have happened. The last conversation I had with her alone was via ipad while she was in her coma, I'm lucky to have gotten to say goodbye in person dressed like a space man.

Same here

I hated lockdown in May leave but now everything’s back to normal my life isn’t too different to what it would have been. We have a bigger house though as we took advantage of the stamp duty holiday and DH gets to work from home so he’s around for DC a lot more than he would have been.

Nearly the same just more flexibility with work for us which is beneficial

Have to say we were very lucky as we didn't lose anyone to covid and it has improved our lives massively by me being able to mainly WFH, a massive reduction in childcare and being able to take DC to/from school every day.
WFH was never on the cards at all pre-covid and it's saved us so much money.

Wouldn't of had the time to decorate the house with a new born but as dh was off on furlough we could between us. Making a house i hated so much since first taking out the tenancy, into a house that felt more homely. Helping my MH.
Then dh returned to work and realised how much he hated it and took a leap to do something for himself.

Never looked back.

I get it was shit for many. But for us making a house a home. And dh getting to spend all the time with then 1 yr old and a baby for 6 months was lovely

It made my world quite big weirdly, due to everyone moving to online for groups, courses, hobbies with zoom calls, discord groups etc it made them accessible to me when they haven't been previously due to a disability.

I would have been able to travel abroad to seem my DM before she died (and DC would have seen her too). My social circles and networks would not have been destroyed.

I would still have been working in a private nursery with minimum wage as it was a welcoming team and the management were great to their staff eg rewards, staff nights out, etc.

however I ended up losing my job there due to covid and financially they couldn’t afford to keep all staff on, I’m now working for LA nursery earning great money, building a nice pension and working less hours. So it’s a win win situation for me.

I set up my own business wfh in 2018. It worked well with young kids but I was incredibly lonely. I was just finding ways to manage that I.e. gym, local groups when covid hit.
Gave me the push to pursue my dream career in nursing. I thought that ship had sailed and I’d never have chance to retrain. But I’m five months away from qualifying.

so it was good in that respect. Also enjoyed time with hubby on furlough and the kids. Made us closer as a family and more tolerant of each other.

I did lose my grandmother to covid in April 2020. She was one of the early care home victims. I do feel though, that her spirit has helped put me on this path

It's improved my life hugely.

DH was able to WFH and now is home 2/3 days a week. It's been wonderful as he can take the children to school and collect them. His relationship with them is amazing because of this.

I'm so sorry for your loss xx

So sorry to all those who have lost someone.

Hard to say on balance. I had a baby in lockdown 1. Some aspects likely would have been better but others worse.

Why would that make you try for a baby earlier than planned?

My surgery wouldn't have been postponed, so I wouldn't have become so disabled. I wouldn't be in constant pain now. I'm going to need extra surgery in the future as a result. I ended up losing my job and was unable to continue in a career I'd just trained for 6 years to qualify for. I wouldn't have gained a lot of weight (which I've worked hard to lose over the last year).

Probably a lot harder trying to juggle putting the kids in school/nursery and doing a 1hr commute twice a day.

I work from home now but only work 3 days a week so I don't get bored of that, it's fab! I also collect eldest from school and then have her home with me until I finish about 5ish. It's so flexible I can pop out to doctors appointments etc I absolutely love wfh. I wanted to task for it 1 day a week when I returned from Mat leave first time and I knew they wld say no. Just goes to show how quickly things changed!

That's really the only thing though that wld be different.

Very different health wise.
Both Dh and I took a long time to fully recover from our first bout of covid and were basically constantly tired and out of sorts for almost two years. Still not with the old energy we had and not sure if it will come back. Ruined a lot of things for us as our girl was an energetic toddler at the time

My dgs who had never missed a day of school suffered from anxiety when school resumed and has just dropped out of his A level course half way through and is suffering from depression now as well as anxiety. His issues, from a once happy, confident kid has sent my dd spiralling into anxiety and it is impacting on her job. My dh and I are only happy when they are happy so Covid has impacted negatively on all of us.

Positives
I wouldn't have my granddaughter (probably)
Wouldn't have a dog (definitely)
Both me and dh have flexible hours now and wfh 2/3 days a week.
Outweighed by
Oldest dd losing her job, struggled really since
Youngest dd missing 26 weeks of year 7 and 8 with no catch up lessons. She has learning difficulties
Massively outweighed by the death of my brother from covid last summer

I wouldn't have had to cut my hours at work after suffering with long covid so I'd be better off financially and my health would be better.

I’d still be working in a job I truly loved instead of a job I hate (lost dream job as business hit by covid and never recovered).
I wouldn’t have depression.