To think our new normal could be a better way of life?

[Wehttam]

Ok first of all, hear me out. Maybe this is hypothetical fantasy but I think it has merit.

As we are adjusting to Lockdown and both its benefits and disadvantages, I have started thinking about how civilisation may be able to use this as a starting point for a new way of life, accepting the previous 24/7 have it all lifestyle is fundamentally poisonous to our wellbeing.

I fully understand this is a global pandemic and is catastrophic for many people, losing loved ones, suffering illness and the fear of how this could potentially affect many people’s lives going forward economically is a worry no one wants or needs, I am not minimising this nor am I advocating for blanket suffering or pain before you come for me.

Environmentally this is momentarily allowing the planet to slowly recover from one of its biggest problems, Us. Look outside, the air is cleaner already, the noise we had so become used to has quietened, our frantic pace of living has slowed, for most of us this will have untold health benefits as well as benefits to nature we will see manifest further over the coming weeks.

I fully appreciate how for many people this is an uncertain time, those suffering DV or poverty are living in hell, the situation right now is unpeeling the veneer society generally paints over these problems though. What if our new reality was to help those who are vulnerable and suffering but still maintain this level of calm muted living.

Excessive commuting, over consumption of single use anything, traffic everywhere, takeaways, shops, bars clubs, restaurants catering for every niche or whim, flying everywhere incessantly, worrying about having he latest this or that, which all means sweet FA at the moment. What it all boils down to is all of that was needless to actually live and breathe properly wasn’t it?

Eventually once Lockdown starts to be lifted, are you willing to go back to that chaos the outside world had become? I’m not so sure I am and I dont think it will be any good for those who do. Thoughts?

I hope that those of us who can take something from this, will. I’ve often felt the push to be busy and productive. I will be taking a daily walk now when I can because I have really enjoyed looking at the birds but would’ve felt like I was “wasting time” previously

You are probably right in the overall perspective, OP.

From my pov the health benefit is not great: I can't have the long walks I relied on to keep healthy. My dd can't have the x-rays and medical treatment for her twisted pelvis (which may result in her becoming permanently crippled). My kind neighbour's hip replacement has been cancelled.

Dh is worried he won't be able to get to the allotment (fairly long walk). The need to visit the shops seldom means he now drives instead of walking down to the small local shop with a trolley. I have never been able to drive anyway and he always took the train to work and walked the rest of the way.

Workwise, my situation has got more frantic as I now rely on sometimes unreliable technology instead of face to face contact. I am finding it incredibly stressful.

My 88yo father is suffering from social isolation- my mother is fine, but his memory is going so he can't enjoy books or cooking like he used to. If one of them falls ill, I can't get there.

If once the pandemic is over, people would really switch to walking the kind of distances people used to walk before cars became common and cutting down on needless travel, that would be brilliant. But if it's just a case of people getting used to sitting still more, then that is hardly going to be very good for the nation's health either.

In many respects it is a better way of life. I have felt more relaxed, no commuting, enjoying WFH and having a bit more time, less cars outside my window, being able to hear birdsong, no rushing around with after school activities, just not as much juggling or as many demands on my time, spending more time as a family, having oldest DC at home, watching the kids bond in a way they havent done since they were small. DH being more present and spending time with family ( and doing jobs round house and garden🤣) rather spending most of every weekend training or competing in triathlons.
Obviously very very difficult for those seriously ill, in abusive relationships, experiencing financial difficulties etc
But if you are fortunate enough not to be in those categories there is a lot to be thankful for.
Sadly I think things will return to normal rushing around as soon as lockdown is lifted.

I think we generally have a short memory and life will go back to normal as soon as the need for social distancing has passed.

I'm hoping that a few of the parents who have been insisting that their children really DO need several walks a day start walking them to school when they reopen instead of all piling the car.

I think the thing it has taught me is to be much more organised about meal planning and shopping, now that popping out to tesco every other day is no longer an option.

Get me back to normal, I hate every second of this. I was more productive, better at work, a better mother Pre- corona.

I think that is a lovely thought but optimistic. I think SARS-CoV-2 is not going to be eradicated and this will have an ongoing impact that will make us look back through rose-tinted glasses at life before 2020.

I think that governments will need the economy up and running again, so people will have to make individual decisions about how much risk to take in their daily lives.

I think it will be used by some governments to increase surveillance and tracking of individuals.

Annually tweaked vaccines, herd immunity and better knowledge of how best to treat patients will improve the stats on transmission and survival, but the virus will be an ongoing problem. Because it is so contagious, people who get it will be treated by medical staff in PPE and families will have to keep their distance instead of being able to gather around their loved one's deathbed and hold their hands and kiss their forehead in their final moments.

I would love to see less consumerism, less instagram shite (people queuing up at beauty spots to take the same photos as everyone else but ruining the actual beauty of the place; hauls; ridiculous amounts of make up and styling), less frequent travel.

Alas, I doubt it will happen.

One thing that I worry about is that people will stop buying secondhand stuff.
It’s the mass consumerism and disposable nature of modern stuff (especially the cheap clothes from the high street) that has been a major contributor to environmental damage.

Same goes for recycling, particularly the recycle schemes that collect higher value recycling stuff for charity

Really hoping our new contamination avoidance perspective doesn’t undo all the good work in that area

We’re loving working from home and spending more time together. It’s approx 15 miles return to our places of work (we work about a mile apart) A 7.5 mile commute with no traffic should be easy but in heavy traffic has taken 90 mins before, awful 🤦‍♀️ We’re getting up later and sleeping better. We’ve also lost weight due to not snacking at work. We’ve done loads of DIY that we’ve been putting off. Ideal.

However, I reckon it will all go back to normal when this is over 🙄

I assume OP has suffered little obvious impact on their life outside of restricted freedom.

The economic impact of this is huge. Look at the increase in unemployment. Look at the number of businesses going under. Haulage firms are a big concern. Food supplies rely on them. I can't see the future being better if we cannot get food. Mob rule is not calm muted living. Look at Southern Italy, and the effects of economic shut down. It is frightening. It is also potentially our future.

Love that Weary

In our village we are litter picking on our time out.Someone dumped a whole lot of rubbish in our river and two teens cleaned it out at the weekend.The local vet picked up a barrow load on his walk and we picked up a squashed down carrier bag of rubbish and fourteen empty alcohol bottles which someone has tossed out of a car.This are had a village litter pick in February so these people have dumped it since the end of February. Hopefully other people will do their area and our beautiful, quaint village will be a litter free area once more. I despair at people who chuck rubbish in beauty spots or anywhere. Take it home, recycle it, take to a recycling centre dump. There are three recycling banks with a five mile distance of our village.

I hope people will make changes for the better I think some will.

Wow! I doubt the 1.2m people who had to claim UC, many of whom also had to take out the loan the DWP calls an advance, which is then clawed back at stunning rates on future entitlement, because it's a 5-week minimum for any payout, who are begging for rent relief from their landlords and trying to get foodbank vouchers whilst entertaining their kids in a flat above the ground with no outdoor space are gagging to embrace this way of life as better . Talk about privilege! Fucking hell.

Kitty O'Meara, my fucking arse! 'Grieved their losses'. Some people are having to bury their children quickly with no one around. It's a loss you never just get over.

No, thanks. I was doing quite well and was happy before this. Didn't need a global pandemic with tens of thousands dead and millions thrown into poverty or worse as some sort of enlightenment. Most intelligent people don't.

Thing is, if we lived like this for years it really would have an impact on relationships. Not just existing ones, but new ones. How would anyone meet anyone? How would teens maintain their friendships? How would small children learn to make friends in the first place. I am am introvert myself but appreciate my friends and would be devastated not to see them again. Humans are social animals and need to have contact with other people.

Excessive commuting, over consumption of single use anything, traffic everywhere, takeaways, shops, bars clubs, restaurants catering for every niche or whim, flying everywhere incessantly, worrying about having he latest this or that
I wfh so don't commute or own a car, and don't have enough money to worry about the latest this or that, so I may not be exactly your target audience. When this is over I look forward to getting a takeaway every now and again, going to a restaurant with interesting food and listening to some music or dancing in a bar or club. I don't know why you think those things are bad. I have no workmates and live alone, and getting outside with other people and socialising occasionally is important to me. What is it you think is wrong with those things?

Utter tosh! This is hell for me for various reasons. Glad you’re enjoying it though

Oh, also I make my living in part from events. They help drive the economy.

For us, our life hasn't really changed except we can't see loved ones, mainly. We didn't live a chaotic life, we both worked mainly from home anyway, and we are introverts generally. But not seeing my mum and my gran is difficult, as well as not being able to see some close friends.

100% agree with you OP, you’ve written wise eloquent words, thank you ❤️

Tried to attach this

As for the calls for less consumerism and “wasting of money”...hidden amongst those claims are people’s jobs.
Takeaway coffee, restaurants, retail...people’s jobs and incomes have already been decimated,
I hope it doesn’t continue.

On top of being privileged rubbish, that Kitty O'Meara "poem" is also just... Simplistic and really twee.

Nobody is going to stop you from continuing to live the way you are now if you want to carry on. And there are aspects of this that I have enjoyed - more free time due to lack of commute, quiet roads, birdsong, time in the garden, DiY. But I can still have those things when I choose after, and I also liked my life before. I like restaurants and cafes and pubs and museums and theatre and cinema and holidays. And millions and millions of people depend on those things for their livelihood. How many people are you prepared to render long-term jobless for this?

It may well have some good long-term effects if companies are forced to radically shift their approach to presenteeism and remote working. And political will may shift in positive ways too. It also may have some very nasty long-term economic and political consequences, not least the normalisation of intrusive forms of surveillance. History tells us that laws passed hurriedly in the midst of crises have a nasty habit of staying on the books for decades afterwards.

Unfortunately for the environment, I doubt people will change much after this is over. I just can't see it - it might be different if the current problem was caused by over-consumption or us damaging the environment, but it wasn't.

I hope the people who think humanity will change for the better aren't too disheartened though.

I think a lot of businesses that have continued successfully with effective wfh will question the financial sense of maintaining expensive offices. It would cut down on commuting and give a lot of people much more free time.

It’s going to be a long, long time, if ever, before we return to “normal”. I think we’ll have a new one.

I quite like it. There is less litter around with the takeaway shops closed, and people rushing everywhere.