Bad taste to enjoy lockdown

[schooba]

To think it's bad taste for people to enjoy lockdown?

I think some people are sleeping and in total denial to the damage of it.

Well, you can't really help it if you enjoy it. Given the situation around it, though, it's rather bad taste to crow about it.

2 types of people

1 hmm, locking down the whole of society is a massive and scary step, but I will support it in extremis as long as it is released as soon as possible

2 awesome, 10 weeks sitting on my hole doing fuck all. I hope this goes on forever and I will block every attempt to restore basic freedoms by faking a fear that is totally out of proportion to the risks

It's poor taste to want to keep the entire population locked up indefinitely because you are a lazy and boring person

But that wasn't the proposition. The actual proposition was simply about enjoying. That is obviously not poor taste, because what you feel in the privacy of your own head has no effect on anyone else. Now, it could arguably be undiplomatic to say you enjoy lockdown to someone you know doesn't. But even in that situation, I'd say the responsibility for any bad feeling lies more with the offended person than the allegedly offensive one. It's not reasonable or nice to want other peoples lives to be shit just because your own is.

You'd have been better saying you think it's bad taste to tell others you're enjoying it.

@Nihiloxica I can’t tell if you’re joking or not ?? Do you actually live in fear every day? I’m probably more scared of my house setting on fire because I’ve left my straighteners on to be honest.

I know someone who died of ecoli, do I have to shiver in fear of ‘killer bacteria’ every time I go near poultry products or a petting zoo?

YABU

How ridiculous to play the martyr and expect everyone to be miserable?

I bet you didn't give a minute of thought when YOU were enjoying something whilst others were struggling - but now that you feel inconvenienced, everybody should suffer too? Is that the reasoning?

God so much handwringing. There are, like all things, good and bad aspects for the majority of people. I'm enjoying having my children at home and a much slower pace of life. The weather has been amazing and I'm sure lots of people feel like they are in an extended holiday. I'm also really worried about the fall out that is going to come from all of this - there is a real chance of total economic disaster for the middle classes in particular. But me worrying about something isn't going to stop it happening and I might as well find some joy in the meantime.

Life is wayyy too short to be miserable and hand wringing every day

Well then it's too short to be locked up for months because some people want everyone's life to be shit.

@nihiloxica. I'm doing 'fuck all in the sunshine' with my DS who has a congenital heart condition. If (when) he gets this I don't know what his chances are going to be. I'll enjoy every moment of this with him while I can. The fear is there every day. I go to the supermarket and shower as soon as I get home - he's not allowed to hug me - it's like I'm working in a hospital which is totally ridiculous! All to keep him safe. So I'll carry on doing 'fuck all in the sunshine' and enjoying every moment I have with him.

There are pluses and minuses. It's nice not having to commute or rush around getting everyone to school or the station. It's good not to have to spend evenings reminding about homework or finding whatever they need for school the next day, and we can all eat together rather than dashing off for clubs or activities, and DH was rarely home before 10pm anyway.

I miss seeing friends and family, I'm disappointed I won't be able to go on holiday this year, and my own boundaries around work are completely eroded so I'm now working far too much.

I don't want lockdown to continue any longer than it really has to - I would be horrified if the schools weren't back in September, but people shouldn't have to apologise and feel guilty about the fact that lockdown has forced changes which have improved their own lives.

@ChilliCheese123

I'm saying that people are pretending to be scared when they are not so they don't have to go back to work.

I'm quite enjoying it. It's made my pregnancy easier in terms of work and avoiding FOMO / the pub. It's quite nice to have some calm and quiet.

Also, I think the after effects of lockdown will be with us for a long time. Many people will have had their eyes opened to a slower way of life. I've noticed my husband in particular (who normally has ants in his pants) has slowed down considerably and is enjoying and appreciating the things we have at home.

So I'll carry on doing 'fuck all in the sunshine' and enjoying every moment I have with him.

Great.

But my children would like to go back to school now.

I hope you won't campaign to keep them off.

They matter too.

But there does seem to be a large overlap between the people who are loving it and the people who think any easing of restrictions is impossible and far too dangerous

This is not true of me. I'm happy to rejoin the human race. Be lovely to eat out with my friends, for example. But I have enjoyed lockdown with my teenagers, there were times I didn't and times I felt suffocated, but generally we have got on extremely well and spent a lot of time together. Even they say it's been fun! As well as wanting it to stop now.

I am working though, from home, I like my work so this is a good life for me. Ignoring the threat of redundancy for now. Weather nice. Nothing bad taste about enjoying the life you have.

@nihil I see. I see what you mean, my own friends/family are all dying to get back to work where they’ve been furloughed. A lot of us work in key services though so never actually stopped in the first place !

Out of people I do know in real life though I do think some people’s lives have actually not changed much and it’s these people who go on about lockdown needing to last til Christmas. Just because your life consists of pottering round the garden and going to Sainsburys once a week doesn’t mean mine has to! A lot of them have partners who bring home the bacon from an office upstairs. Alright for some !

I don't understand where you are coming from.

Surely it is better to make the best of a bad situation? To be honest, lockdown hasn't changed my life all that much in some ways, and has had a lot of positives and a small amount of negatives. For me personally. I fully appreciate that it's not the same for everyone, but should I sit in a miserable heap because others are having a tough time?

There are ALWAYS people going through hell. Always. Should we be in a permanent state of misery because it's in bad taste not to be?

It doesn't mean I don't have empathy or sympathy or an understanding. I've been through hell that lasted years, and I fought my way back for the sake of my children. I refuse to be unhappy just because it's in bad taste not to be. It's in bad taste to expect that of others, in my opinion. I'm not happy so you shouldn't be either? Fuck that.

Well then it's too short to be locked up for months because some people want everyone's life to be shit.

I am not sure you understand the whole pandemic if you believe the restrictions were put in place to make people's life shit....

Some people are so self-centred they seem to believe every decision is about them...

No. Poor taste to broadcast it though.

I agree with pp who makes s good point. People enjoy their lives despite the fact of wars, famines and the general suffering in the world at any given time. How is this different?

It is a crucial life skill to cultivate ones own happiness as there is always suffering globally and sometimes personally.

I'm very happy during this partially because I have had times of intense personal pain and I have worked incredibly hard on my mental health. Did I expect everyone else to be miserable when I was unhappy?

DH and I have been working from home we have teens so they have been brilliant and been getting on independently. I only work PT. Our food shopping bill has gone through the roof but we have saved a fortune on travel, entertainment, leisure.

I was genuinely enjoying a much simpler slower pace of life during lock down.

I am vulnerable health wise so was happy and felt safe at home especially during the lovely weather.

By week three I felt so happy and relaxed and like I had, had 3 weeks on a lovely chilled holiday. Especially as DH is saving 3 hours a day on travelling so he is a much nicer more chilled person to be around.

We haven’t been bored we have felt relaxed. However, my father died during lock down and that was horrendous and brought me to my senses but lock down has allowed me time to quietly mourn my dad.

As in all things, read the room. People can feel positive about the unexpected side benefits of this for them or very negative because of the effects in their income or not seeing family. I’ve been loving less planes and less traffic - talk about that locally, where all agree, but not very relevant to contacts in other places and the increase in activity around now ( builders back in action all up my street ) is actually a welcome indication that there is some revival in the economy.

One person did put a really ill thought out message on a friendship group I am in, saying she was having a wonderful time, getting so much done at home, loving being in the garden etc and wanted it to go on for at least another 3 months and didn’t we all agree ! It fell totally flat because two of our group are waiting to hear if ( likely) they are going to be made redundant from jobs they loved, , some others are living on their own and the sports activity we are all associated with was a major part of their social contact, others have children whose schooling has been interrupted etc etc. We’ve all made the best of the situation in our own way but that’s not the same as not appreciating the difficulties others have and the wider effects on our economy.

@Nihiloxica. He'll be going back to school. His consultant has said, as he's not had a transplant, he can go back. So he will. And I won't be campaigning as I work for a school (I'd be putting myself out of work - I'm not that bloody stupid). And nowhere have I said otherwise.

Plus, if I did decide to keep him home, I can do so without your kids being affected in any way. No need for a campaign of any sort. But you have to realise that some of these people 'doing fuck all' are protecting vulnerable people and have a very real fear of this. But it's nice to see you care so much about them. They matter too (as you put it)

As parent to an autistic teen my handling of certain situations impacts on his handling of the same situations. Of course this isn't lovely - it's difficult and affects some lives far more than others. However, if I sit furious and impotent with rage about all the ways people are crassly enjoying lockdown, odds are I'll set my teen on a downward MH spiral where he then feels that rage and unhappiness and I refuse to allow my fear to do that to him.

So we've walked the dogs, painted crappy pictures, played Uno, been swimming every day in the pool, played more Risk than should be legally allowed and maintained a 'positive' routine. When we have supper every night we've talked about the lovely things we'll do when lockdown ends, we've pushed them to facetime and Skype family and friends, we've built lego and had sleepovers in the garden. On the surface it all looks like fun - and whilst it is, it's not because we're thriving, it's because we're trying to keep our DC thriving.

When you look at the number of people in the UK currently battling with their MH, you can't possibly want everyone to try and remove the very small 'fun' ways of dealing with lockdown - some of those 'fun' things are the ones keeping the demons from the door and, crass or not, I don't give a single shit how you perceive our family's enjoyment of lockdown. We're making the best of a shitty situation to try and prevent our children from being too adversely affected by this. That you can't/won't/don't see this is a poor reflection on you.

Not in bad taste no. We all need to find enjoyment where we can in life.

What is in bad taste is people not considering Others circumstances e.g people on furlough posting barbecue and chilling out pictures all over social media when they have non-furloughed colleagues on there. People breaking lockdown rules or moaning about staying at home knowing their key worker friends can see that, people bragging about how much money they are saving to their recently made redundant or furloughed friends.

Enjoy what you can but be kind and be sensitive to others.