Aibu...how close to normal is life for you

[jeansandashirt]

Aibu to wonder how close to "normal" (as we know it) is your life right now?

Apart from no holidays (although I have three pencilled in for next year which is probably a tad optimistic) and hardly any social life, things feel normal-ish.

I feel a bit jealous when people say their lives are completely normal. I wonder how they've achieved that.

Pretty close to normal. Dh is working from home now but my job still the same. Shopping as normal once a week. Kids were at school and will be going back in a few weeks. We didn't go out for our anniversary meal earlier this year but otherwise pretty normal for me apart from the masks.

Not very normal. I got long covid back in March and still not fully recovered. I’ve gone from working full time in an office to part time WFH; I sleep in the spare room so DH & DC don’t disturb me; I can’t walk for more than 5-10 minutes and haven’t left my neighbourhood in 4 months except a drive to the covid test centre last weekend which was v not normal! But kids are back in childcare and lots of other things are back to how they were.

@Chaosatthezoo

I feel a bit jealous when people say their lives are completely normal. I wonder how they've achieved that.

Admittedly WFH is different but I'm taking that as "new normal". Otherwise my family are 5 hours away so I'm used to it seeing them that often anyway. DC never left nursery, apart from WFH neither of our jobs changed. And I'm not worried about catching it so never washed the shopping or any of that.

Mostly following the rules but yes I'm hugging friends and family on the rare occasions I meet them.

It’s exactly the same. I don’t go to the pub or to attractions for days out, so nothing has changed for me.

Alien 50% maybe. I don’t think wearing masks and not being able to try on clothing is normal for me.

Also with 3 cancelled holidays and no real prospect of getting abroad I definitely don’t feel normal.

We have been to pubs and restaurants/cafes and that was a pleaseant experience, similar with hairdresser and beautician opening.

I do miss going anywhere spontaneous like National Trust places, museums as all needs to be planned at least a week in advance and pre-booked. Also lots of places are still shut so DD’s wish for “an intact castle” is difficult to find.

Not at all like normal. I do live in Greater Manchester though.

I work in NHS strategy, currently WFH rather than the office and no visiting hospital sites yet. DH normally works away 50% of the time and he's WFH too. DS is at home rather than holiday club.

Still eating out much less and haven't been to a pub yet (would normally go to a beer garden a couple of times a month during the summer).

I'm still doing all my shopping online aside from the odd trip to the local coop.

Would normally go to a NT place every weekend, now you have to book which means you can't be spontaneous.

DS can't have friends over and we can't meet up with friends in indoor places or on private property. Can't have family over to stay.

Didn't book a holiday abroad have done a couple of short UK breaks.

Not suffering greatly, apart from not being able to have family and friends over. But it definitely isn't anywhere like normal yet.

A lot better to be honest. I was on furlough but I'm now back working, I don't WFH so I'm working normally. We are going out to the cinema, restaurants, trampoline parks. Seeing family and friends. When DS goes back to school it will be even better.

The only thing I can't do at the moment is travel, which I did a lot of before lockdown.

95% We haven’t been on holiday this year and wearing face masks is a bit shit, but I’m back at work, seeing family and friends and the kids are seeing their friends.

Not far off, a good weekend before was a dog walk in the country and an outdoor pub lunch so that's back to normal. Still mainly WFH but did a day a week anyway. Happy to go into local shops, not eating in restaurants as much and don't fancy bars. Do miss the theatre and events. I'd say 80% normal

Nowhere near normal. Caught Covid in March and it's left me with long term health issues which have seriously impacted my quality of life.

The charity I work for is struggling to survive, DH still WFH and won't be going back this side of Xmas. I miss hugging friend and family, miss going to the theatre. I love mooching round bookshops when I feel well enough but the masks make me tight chested and want to cough (not cool anymore to cough in public!) so I don't go. It's miserable really but I do have s lot still to be thankful for in the great scheme of things.

Completely abnormal.

My in-laws are 90 and very frail. One has a genetic type of COPD so Covid would probably be fatal. Therefore, to see them we sit in the garden outside the patio doors and are even careful about handling coffee mugs. One of them had a hospital stay with a broken hip in early May and that was scary.

Because of that, we are very careful where we go and what we do. We've had a couple of barbecues in the garden with similarly cautious neighbours. We shop not more than once a week, and try to book a delivery if we can.

Our DS is a student and back in Aberdeen (really rather he wasn't there!) but he and the friends in his extended household are being really responsible. They went to a beer garden once and said it wasn't fun and not worth the hassle so they meet up in their gardens. We were planning to drive up (couple of hours) and see him last weekend but couldn't.

Fortunately both DH and I work from home, but we usually have contact with others four or five times each week and we're not doing that. We haven't been to a pub or restaurant yet. I'm back to meeting my PT in the park a couple of times each week which has been good for my mental health but it's as risky as I'm willing to get.

Although we're in Scotland in an area where the incidence is pretty low, I can't imagine when we'll be eating out, going to the cinema, going out to do 'recreational' shopping etc. Tomorrow I'm going to get my hair cut and I'm actually quite anxious about it.

We're probably being more careful than we need to be, but we'd rather do that than catch Covid, or even worse, pass it on to my in-laws. I suppose everyone has to work out what level of risk they're happy raking but I do wonder at some people's attitude and hope they and the vulnerable people they come into contact with are as invincible as they assume.

60% at a guess.....

The main difference is DH and I wfh and I'll admit (as would he) that it's starting to grate.

We're lucky in having space (DS has been using the office to study prior to term ending), DH has been in the dining room and myself in the snug.

That said I'm sick of the two latter rooms being full of work stuff (paperwork, laptops etc) and trying to tiptoe round the house when DH is on a work call (and vice versa).

It's also making it harder to clean those rooms as there's "stuff" everywhere.

We've been good and not really done anything other than essential shopping but tbh I'm not the most social person anyway so DH/DS are feeling the lack of social interaction more keenly.

All in all I feel pretty lucky that we have secure jobs and have weathered lockdown in a house/garden with lots of space and that DS was old enough not to need "home schooling" - rather using online learning provided by the school (whose teachers have been amazing I'd like to add - the effort in preparing online tutorials and doing one to one Q&A sessions for pupils who needed additional support must have been enormous - state school).

Tbh we've saved a lot of money in not having to commute, not eating out and not having a family holiday and I'm again aware how fortunate we are in that regard when so many people have experienced a massive drop in income or are facing financial uncertainty.

I honestly don't know how people have coped in flats with small kids to educate whist still being expected to wfh.

So no, not back to normal but "operating" from a very fortunate position.

98% normal, been working through out. Only thing ive not been able to do is see family this year, elderly parents. Everyone lives far apart from each other.

Pretty near to normal apart from having to wear a face mask.

We're eating out once a week, going shopping and meeting friends. My DC are having playdates and will be going back to school soon.

We had to cancel our holiday to Majorca but hoping we can go in October.

DH and I are both wfh but looking forward to going back to the office 2 days a week from end of September.

Not at all normal. I've got what is now being called long Covid and have been ill since March. I can't work and barely leave my house.

I was previously healthy and fit. I am young.

Well, I cannot see going back to the office for the foreseeable but life “feels” very normal these days even with all the restrictions.

Really quite normal here apart from carrying a face mask and hand sanitiser everywhere I go.

@TiddleTaddleTat I hope you make a complete recovery soon, that sounds very tough

As a family we aren’t eating out, going to shops, going places or spending time with people. I see people on FB doing all of the above and think... am I the mug here? For not doing all that?

Thing is, my son is autistic and hates shops at the best of times. He’d be scared by people in masks. And eating out is tricky at the best of times.

So, needless to say life is very very far from normal for us right now.

It sort of is. My day to day life is almost back to normal - mum and I are going out for coffee/lunch again which we really missed doing in lockdown and I'm seeing my dad every weekend and have met with friends a few times, but my singing/theatre groups (the biggest part of my life) still can't meet which I'm struggling with to the point of my mental health being affected. So I would say things are about 40% normal right now.

Worked all the way through & my 2 youngest went to school so 80% my partner is still furloughed so been really weird having him around all the time.

Quite normal here, but better than normal as I'm still not working and DH doesn't have to commute. We're both part time and generally wfh anyway. Had actually started home edding already prior to all this, and DC now getting out and about with friends and a couple of clubs that are solely outside. We don't really eat out or go shopping etc anyway, but obviously it is easy to socialise at the moment as the weather good - not sure what's going to happen when that changes. We've just been spending a lot of time outdoors, beach etc which is what we'd normally do in the summer anyway.

This month, pretty much completely normal as far as summer holidays go. Husband would have been home anyway, as would the children. We had to cancel our (UK) holiday plans due to them coinciding with visiting elderly family members, which is unfortunate but not the end of the world for us or them. It's been a horrible few months for us though, and that's without Covid and lockdown. I'm enjoying some level of 'normality' that this month has brought - just the general prep for September, enjoying some calm before the storm that is getting back into the school routine for everyone.