To feel like we are just existing now

[Ghostlyglow]

In a miserable, joyless world of queues and masks. A couple of friends have lost their jobs this week. Where are we going with this?When will it end?

...For those without gardens

I've never struggled with mental health before lockdown but last week I was starting to scare myself with how I was feeling. I had a massive breakdown in my garden when my parents came round. I'm on my own with 2 children and the youngest is really hard work and the realisation that I won't be getting any help really got on top of me. My mum works in a hospital and my step dad is vulnerable so they just can't risk taking the children for me. They did take my children out a walk for a few hour after that (small one in her buggy and my older child is good at social distancing) and this is now the new plan for weekends depending on weather. It has helped me a lot just knowing that I have this to look forward to. I'm not even looking forward to starting to form bubbles with my step dad being at risk it's just not possible.

We are social creatures ( look at monkeys who are our relatives) We were not designed for this and its taking a devastating effect on many.

I don't think its helpful to sanction the moaning and complaining. It might help somebody get it off their chest and they might find a kindred spirit.

My weekly highlight is visiting my favourite tearoom for a takeaway sandwich and slice of cake. Can't tell you how much it made my year when they reopened! Little things eh?

@Nihiloxica completely agree. Those saying we should have had a stricter lockdown are being selfish. Being able to take my energetic 4 year old out on long walks and bike rides truly kept us going. I have a friend in Spain who tells me that little kids were struggling to run because they had literally seized up after all that time indoors.

I firmly believe we should never have locked down. It was too late by the time we did. Government should have gone with their original plan and other measures put in place like protecting the vulnerable.

@Alex50

Other countries aren’t having protests and riots going on. Statues being pulled down, 1000’s of people gathering, yet schools can’t open.

Countries (that I know of) which have had thousands attending protests recently include: France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, and Germany. BLM is not just a US/UK issue.

Dying of other things is totally fine. In fact, it's encouraged so that we can dedicate all of our efforts to dealing with this quite bad cold virus. We are choosing to kill people who die from domestic violence, cancer, heart attack, stroke, dementia, dehydration, hunger, despair

This. I don’t agree that it’s just a bad cold but the reality is only some people are vulnerable to it. Those people should continue to shield. The rest of us should be back at work, at the pub, in the shops.

BLM protests are just the beginning. The more people lose their jobs, the more likely we will have bigger protests and riots. The poor will get poorer. There will be no money for social security, this will make it worse and cause worse social divisions.

I am 31 and have lived my whole adult life in post-financial crisis world and now this is so so much worse. We will be paying for this for the next 20 years because of a disease that most people recover from just fine.

Lockdown is a huge mistake. The vast majority of people do not die of Covid if they catch it.

I so grateful for this thread. You are all writing down the thoughts that are buzzing around in my brain.

If you wouldn't have wanted a stricter lockdown, then you will have to put up with restrictions in place for longer. It's either shorter and stricter or looser and longer. Nobody wants their kids indoors for a month but I hope the people that are saying that would have been totally unacceptable are not the ones who are also complaining that schools aren't fully open yet.

Our version of lockdown has been less strict than other countries.

Other countries were beginning the process before us and are therefore coming out the other side before us. We are couple of weeks behind most of those.If we are following a similar path, what are they able to do now that we should be able to look forward to doing in a few weeks ?

It's either shorter and stricter or looser and longer.

You clearly want that to be true.

But it is not.

Yet people at the next election will vote this awful party back in, Boris will go back to waffling, and somehow people will be taken back in... I have never felt so ashamed of this country as I do right now.

We needn't have locked down at all, that's the truth. Hand washing, sensible social distancing in public and encouraging those who could work from home to do so would have achieved much.

There was no need to ever close schools.

Yanbu.

My husband is completely miserable wfh, and he's, starting a new job soon so can't make relationships with new colleagues. He can't properly say goodbye to the colleagues he's worked with for half a decade.

I've got two chronic, painful conditions that have been left completely to go to seed by the NHS since lockdown, and even once it lifts there will be massive waiting lists.

My dc also has a medical condition, I've no idea how thd delays in treatment will impact it.

Husband wfh and me being in constant pain, money worries, as well as having a shielding relative to stay with us because of the virus has pushed my marriage to the brink, I'm hoping we can limp to the end of the year where things might be better and there might be some hope. I'm not saying that the virus is the cause of my marriage problems, we had those before, but it has brought about circumstances that has made the relationship pretty untenable right now.

It’s the boredom. And now the utter terror of knowing without a shadow of a doubt that the government hasn’t got a clue.

What would a stricter lockdown of looked like out of interest?
I think we probably should have acted faster and closed borders, restricted travel etc.
But I'm not sure we needed to rule out 1 type of outdoor exercise. As long as 2m apart.

I'm quite happy to " just exist", because the alternative is a horrible illness or death !

I know people that are working on the front line
I know people that have passed away during the lockdown
I know people who are on the shielding list who are vulnerable

I believe that the virus will be around for several years to come & that we will need to continue with social distancing etc

My life has of course changed like many others, but in some ways for the better

I'm enjoying the garden
I'm enjoying a slower pace of life
At the start of lockdown, I didn't enjoy WFH, but I've now adapted to a different way of working
I've kept in touch with friends & family

However, I am conscious that some people have been furlough, made redundant, don't have gardens or friends or good relationships.

I try to stay positive it is hard and keep myself busy never been out of work and currently furloughed.
Things will be strange for a long time I think

I said at the outset that lockdown was a monstrous mistake, and I have continued to say it. I have not abided by it, because every "illegal" decision I have made and every "illegal" activity I have taken part in has put absolutely nobody at risk.

It's interesting that there are now so many threads saying what a terrible idea lockdown was. I had a thread deleted by MNHQ about three weeks into lockdown, in which I took issue with it and said that I would not abide by it (other than, obviously, adhering to social distancing in public). Apparently it was "too triggering". I emailed them to object to their censorship, to no avail.

Thank God the tide is now turning, and people are seeing lockdown for the long-term disaster it has been all along.

I'm quite happy to " just exist", because the alternative is a horrible illness or death

Ffs no it isn't!!

My GP cousin and his wife have both had it and both of them said if they hadn't known it was covid they'd have felt well enough to work.

I know multiple people who have had it and none have had anything worse than your average bog standard virus.

Yes some people do sadly die or have a shitty time with it, but that certainly isn't the majority experience.

I'm also interested in this 'slower pace of life' thing.
What do people mean? Why were they doing so much they didn't want to do before?
I've never experienced fomo or really felt the need to accept every invitation, do something all the time.
My kids do 1 or 2 extra curricular activities that they and I value and miss, but not something every school night.
The things I was doing were things I chose to do and I want them back!
I don't mean to insult anyone, I'm just interested.
Do you think you'll maintain the slower pace once things start back up?

I'm sure it would be more of a joyless world if deaths had to continued to increase exponentially, potentially into hundreds of thousands in the UK, and millions worldwide.

And that's just re Covid. Without functioning health services, millions more would have died of other things that couldn't be treated.

It's not just the NHS that was close to collapse - same in Italy where they had people dying in corridors and doctors were having to chose who got treated.

The NHS was not "close to collapse".

YANBU

I was OK. But I'm really missing normality this week. I miss taking my DS swimming, I'm missing my daily commute, I'm missing days out, I'm missing restaurants etc

It doesn't help that I'm in the middle of making hundreds of people redundant and whilst I am incredibly grateful to still have a job it is soul destroying.