To think things are feeling a lot more negative this past week

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... Just that really.

Maybe it's just me but I was starting to feel really hopeful and positive but something has shifted in the past week (delays / local lockdowns) and the future is feeling a lot bleaker!

Just me?

I think people are increasingly exasperated, confused etc by what is actually going on due to government communication or mixed messages.

However, people were starting to act like it was a normal summer. The masses booking and going away on foreign holidays, the pubs, shops and salons etc back open, restrictions lifted, schools all to be back in September and colleges; a vaccine on its way, everything back open by November, 'it'll all be over by Christmas' etc etc.

Then next thing it was mandatory masks, local lockdowns, quarantines when back from Spain, the stuff with over 50s today, 'the new normal', pubs might need to close again to let the schools open etc etc.

It always seem one extreme to the other.

Glad to see this post as thought it was just me feeling like this. My mental health has deteriorated this week after having improved since late June.

Glad it's not just me.

This week has felt like a really turn in the wrong direction.

Fingers crossed I'm / we're wrong but I think the reality is we are in for the long long haul (ie next year / 18 months).

Bloody rubbish.

I’ve felt horrible, impending doom type feeling. Doesn’t help that we are nearly at a full moon (if you believe in that type of thing?)

*This week has felt like a really turn in the wrong direction.

Fingers crossed I'm / we're wrong but I think the reality is we are in for the long long haul (ie next year / 18 months).*

For pessimists like me it's probably not as bad in terms of the week because i'd written off 2020 months ago and haven't made any plans (bar concerts I booked last year which again i'd written off months ago, even though a couple are officially still going ahead later in the year). For people who are more optimistic and bought into the rhetoric of things are getting back to normal, you can see it hitting harder this last week or so.

I'm just hoping we can have a more normal summer next year.

@Imissmoominmama

I’m feeling quite despondent. I’ve worked through it, after recovering from an operation just before lockdown (I was lucky to have it). I’ve just booked a camping trip with extended family, and I’m thinking it might not be wise.

The blitz type spirit has dwindled to a worry that this is it from now on.

Talking of the Blitz..... If you've ever read any factual accounts about World War II you'll know that populations went through waves of every emotion known to man and woman. Elation, despondency, tedium, depression, hope, despair through deprivation and a feeling of "is this ever going to end?". The War went on for many years, and it was a series of separate conflicts between different countries, so there were periods when not a lot was going on, it was as if the War wasn't even happening.

We need to consider this virus in terms of a war, with an invisible enemy. If we continuously convince ourselves we can't carry on and "life isn't worth living" after only 4 months, how is that going to help. Far better to do what they did during the War. Take things much more near term, don't try to plan ahead and then become bitterly disappointed when plans don't work out.

Plus the deterioration of mental health, increases in obesity and sedentary lifestyles. People working from home tend to add the saved commute time to their work time not their personal life. They aren't passing the gym. They don't have competitive events to train for. There is a significant proportion of people without significant, specific health concerns who 4.5 months in are still terrified to leave their homes.

I'm going to be harsh but this is just a bunch of lame excuses! It's a gross generalisation to say that because people wfh they are doing more hours. I'm saving 2 hours on my daily commute and I can assure you I don't use up that 2 hours working longer hours. Why ever do that? That's the benefit of wfh, it frees you up to have a better work life balance. If that's what you choose to do. There are plenty of people who have used lockdown to lose weight and build a fitness regime they couldn't when they had to commute into towns and cities and had no energy. It's about time people stop making excuses and actually reconfigure their life and their mindset, to take advantage of things that have changed.

YANBU OP. It’s time to get back to normal now and take our chances.

I'm worried about the economy, quite a few neighbours and friends now facing unemployment or having to agree to new, more "flexible" contracts.
Also really feel for the police, so much lawlessness that they just can't control.
Reading that the army may have to be used if social disorder escalates into riots has also made me fearful.

Yes I agree. I’m now concerned about schools opening in September. I know they will probably close at some point but I really want them to be able to start at school and have at least a few weeks of normality before another lockdown if there is one.

@daisychain01 I agree with you about the ‘spirit of the blitz’ stuff and disagree on the work/life balance. That’s great for you if that’s been your experience of lockdown but it most certainly hasn’t been ours working from from with a 20 month old who’s usually in nursery. Even with v understanding employers DH and I have not been able to get a full days work in with watching DD as well, so we have been working in shifts from 7am and often until 9pm to make sure everything’s done. No time/energy for exercise by the end of the day - it’s been better since nursery has reopened but if we go back into lockdown I’m going to have to ask for unpaid leave (LA so can’t be furloughed). I can’t deal with another lockdown trying to work from home

Do you think another national lockdown is inevitable? I feel so pessimistic about these local /regional lockdowns; I don’t see them
being effective enough to drive down an accelerating infection rate.

Yes, the fascists are in fill throttle mode now.

full

Helpful post. Knowing one isn't alone in being fatigued by the raw effort of beating back creeping despair is a salve.

I feel sorry for the pub owners. They will have just thrown out all their old stock, restocked, and now they may have to close again. Bloody ridiculous.

I’m so tired. Three primary aged kids, two with complex Sen and trying to work from home. What’s enraging is the amount of friends on Facebook who are mixing with many other families , going on holidays and days out and not social distancing. People I thought were sensible. We’ll struggle because a lot of people seem to think this is over and life can just return to normal.

[quote MindatWork]@daisychain01 I agree with you about the ‘spirit of the blitz’ stuff and disagree on the work/life balance. That’s great for you if that’s been your experience of lockdown but it most certainly hasn’t been ours working from from with a 20 month old who’s usually in nursery. Even with v understanding employers DH and I have not been able to get a full days work in with watching DD as well, so we have been working in shifts from 7am and often until 9pm to make sure everything’s done. No time/energy for exercise by the end of the day - it’s been better since nursery has reopened but if we go back into lockdown I’m going to have to ask for unpaid leave (LA so can’t be furloughed). I can’t deal with another lockdown trying to work from home[/quote]
Well yes, the missing piece of the equation is childcare, and I am mindful that having children at home is very challenging, as I have someone on my team has 2 primary school age children and we are very supportive of his need to work very different hours to normal.

My response was specific to the poster who suggested that "people who work from home are doing more hours" without qualifying that with the additional challenges of childcare. If people just end up allowing their hours to creep up, so they have no worklife balance because they end up logged on doing emails etc, then my advice is they need to set stronger boundaries and ensure their employer support them by not expecting them to be "available" the whole time. If their hours are all over the place due to home schooling and other childcare challenges then there isn't an easy fix,it entirely depends on your own circumstances and quality of life is undoubtedly a whole lot worse atm. For that you and others have my utmost admiration as my DSis has had to deal with all that, and be self-employed and try to help find her DH a new job (she's in recruitment) etc etc.

Apologies @MindatWork I was responding to you

Oh I forgot I was using the quote thingie!

@Maryjane3227

I'm worried about the economy, quite a few neighbours and friends now facing unemployment or having to agree to new, more "flexible" contracts. Also really feel for the police, so much lawlessness that they just can't control. Reading that the army may have to be used if social disorder escalates into riots has also made me fearful.

As regards the military/armed forces, there is nothing to fear about them being involved - they are amazing well-trained people skilled at working alongside the police to stop mass riots getting out of control (if there were to be any, that definitely isn't a given); they don't promote violence themselves, they enforce law and order, against people who will use any old excuse to create social unrest and anarchy. I work with military and I feel safer in their presence, no more fearful.

I'm going to be harsh but this is just a bunch of lame excuses! It's a gross generalisation to say that because people wfh they are doing more hours. I'm saving 2 hours on my daily commute and I can assure you I don't use up that 2 hours working longer hours. Why ever do that? That's the benefit of wfh

I go out and cycle before I start wfh (when weather isn't too bad) and that's time that would otherwise be spent sat on a train, preparing for a day in the office. At the end of my shift I go for a walk which is also time i'd normally spend sat on a train coming back from the office.

It's a chance to use saved commuting time as an opportunity to exercise.

I think the OP makes a valid point, especially as the panic from the government last week makes things more uncertain which is always unsettling.

Higher temperatures also are not welcomed by many.

When this was all starting up, a lot of people wanted it kept off the main boards as they didn't really believe the 'hype' so the coronavirus topic was started

It wasn't because people "didn't believe the hype". It was because so many of the posts at the outset were hysterical and ill-informed (I am absolutely not referring to the OP here).

Many of us wanted there to be a separate topic so that we could hide it and not read all the nonsense, failure to understand very basic statistics and peddling of patently false information re rules and guidance.

@annabel85

I'm going to be harsh but this is just a bunch of lame excuses! It's a gross generalisation to say that because people wfh they are doing more hours. I'm saving 2 hours on my daily commute and I can assure you I don't use up that 2 hours working longer hours. Why ever do that? That's the benefit of wfh

I go out and cycle before I start wfh (when weather isn't too bad) and that's time that would otherwise be spent sat on a train, preparing for a day in the office. At the end of my shift I go for a walk which is also time i'd normally spend sat on a train coming back from the office.

It's a chance to use saved commuting time as an opportunity to exercise.

See, this is what I believe we need to hear more of. Stories of success in using those precious minutes and hours well, doing things differently, trying to take the immediacy of the situation and turning it to something constructive and positive. It doesn't eliminate all the challenges but it does give us hope that some lateral thinking goes a long way!