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?

A long way from normal. Very likely to stay that way now I've been made redundant.

Not normal - wfh and wearing a face mask

Normal - shopping (aside from the face mask) we've been on days out and a holiday (hot abroad). Been to restaurants. Had my hair done. Had a few BBQs for family.

On another thread some posters were saying how they were at breaking point and I was wondering what their lives looked like pre-Covid to be so bleak now. More exciting than mine presumably!!

I've also realised that a sun / abroad holiday is really important to some people.

100s of miles from normal.
100s of mikes grim my mum.
DC are screen addicts
Wfh is increasingly difficult without even school work to distract the dc.
Can’t see friends due to local restrictions (despite no cases in my postcode for over 2 months).
Holiday cancelled.
Virtually no holiday club provision
Household all massively fed up of each other.

About 50%. I went back to work this week (Scotland, school nursery) and that's helped my mental health hugely. There are lots of changes to get used to, but being back with the kids and my colleagues and doing 'normal' things at work is lovely. Adults are still supposed to social distance in the nursery, but it's almost impossible.

OTOH, I'm not having coffee out, or socialising as normal. I miss extended family Sunday dinners and hugging allnmy relatives and friends. I'm also worried about my DC who go back to secondary school properly tomorrow. And I hate wearing a mask (I'm not an idiot so I wear one when required), so shopping is done online as much as possible.

Things feel almost normal for me - some changes are also here to stay?

I was wfh 3-4 days a week anyway - now fully wfh but same job just no commute. This will be the case until at least Jan 2021.
Buy far fewer clothes but that will stay as long as I continue to wfh
I didn't really go to the shops or cafes much - haven't been since March but don't miss it (I can't see myself going back to it at all)
Hairdresser re-opening was great, but I've stopped going to the beauty salon and do my own brows/de-hairing now (and will continue)
Few more takeaways than pre-Covid19, but no restaurants whereas before we'd go out about once a week.
Less dashing on the commute but have taken up pilates and I will try and make that change stick too.

There is nothing that I can't to do that I can't do.

It’s our new normal. We’ve moved to a much bigger house on a lovely new build estate where DS can play with other children. His hobbies are all back but we’ve got some new ones too like paddleboarding. DH is back out at work but it looks like I’ll still be WFH in Sept (term time only job) which I’m gutted about. DS starts high school so won’t return to his old school. We can meet all family and friends separately and we’ve been to shops and restaurants. Apart from the mask wearing, I actually prefer it!

Some things are normal ish
We've been out to dinner a few times and to a bar. Haven't wanted to wear a mask round the supermarket so been getting ocado instead. Working from home full time did feel weird but now I'm more used to it. Wearing masks is the main change.

I’m one of the saddos that lockdown was no different for. Dd had been home educated for a couple of months by that point anyway as we had just moved and she was still waiting on a school place. Dh always worked from home and we never saw anyone or did anything

I miss longer distance friends but other than that its similar. Masks I am getting used to and can wear for longer and longer - I really didn't like them in a shopping mall which was close and stuffy anyway with a stupid roundabout system for people. I shop more online for groceries as it just feels safer

Miles away from normal as:

• wfh
• my workplace is hugely changed
• kids' clubs/activities still shut
• dentist emergency only
• doctor all different
• shops/museums/etc limited numbers
• restaurants giving contact details, distanced, limited, booking
• public transport distancing

The biggest thing though is that me & DH had a conversation about 'what will we do if/when school shuts' - never before have I seriously considered school not being open.

Someone else on a similar thread said - if it feels normal, you're not paying attention. Would name check but can't, I agree with this view.

Almost completely normal, but also not back to how it was...

WFH is now 'normal' for us, we won't be going back to office work.

Going out less and spending less on unnecessary things is also 'normal' for us now.

However we are out and about - seeing friends, going to shops (when we occasionally need or want to) and restaurants.

All with it the SD guidelines but there's nothing that we would like to do that we aren't doing.

About 90%

Work for the nhs so never stopped working, the kids went to key worker school, I've been on two uk hols recently and have another one soon. We go on day trips, I guess the only thing we don't do as much is take the kids out for food or go abroad!

I hate having to 'think' about going out to the shops and I hate not being able to have parties. We normally have at least a couple of big barbecues in the summer with 20 or 30 people and I've missed seeing those big groups of people.
And I hate not being able to plan Christmas or other breaks.

Not very. I used to take ds to a lot of toddler groups and to be honest until they are back my life won't feel normal at all.

No library.

Masks will never feel normal to me so that's normal shopping over for now.

We've booked a trip to visit family for first time since January and that doesn't really feel normal either. Usually around about now I'd be feeling all happy and excited but this time it's just tainted by worry as a local lockdown situation could stop our plans.

Lots of other things that I won't bore on about too.

I do realise I'm lucky in the grand scheme of things though and my heart goes out to anyone who has lost someone to COVID.

Also no 2 year health reviews for children. My ds and all his friends have missed out.

Both working all the way through, but from home which is weird. Nobody has been effected, I see my friends etc. We haven't been shopping (bar food) since March and I haven't seen my family (up north) since Christmas. So that's hard.

I'd say 50% normal as we're fine, but a lot is missing.

Not at all. It’s depressing.

Very normal apart from not going to baby groups and my mum not being able to visit

Pretty much completely bar the wearing PPE at work and obvious mask wearing.

We didn't really go out very much prior to covid so now we're back working, life is pretty normal.

Outwardly, fairly normal, I suppose. Some of what I am doing at work is different (less travel, more online), some of my regular activities (art class, seeing friends) aren't quite back to normal, but in general my day to day life hasn't changed that much.

But, I am into double figures of people who have died, are in critical care, are in palliative care, or have had other major life traumas in the past week. That is not normal.

I can do all the boring shit. Shopping. Work (I’m a teacher so that comes back in 2weeks). Can’t do lost if things I actually want to do - sing in choir. Go to the theatre. Impulse meals out (everywhere wants bookings) Museum still shut here.
So the shit bits of life are normal, everything that makes it worth living is not. Doesn’t work for me.

Not too far from normal for us. I’m back at work. We don’t generally see people outside my immediate family anyway as we live so far from the rest of our family.

The only major part of our lives missing at the moment is parkrun and running events.

far from normal..Covid 19 has severely cut my wings and lust for life. I am so wary now of everything.I question decisions then question them again...I am not a happy bunny.

About 60%, I am back at work now & DH has started a new job which will be mostly working from home.

The real change to my lifestyle is to my hobbies and interests - no Church, no meet ups, very limited community involvement (but still doing some volunteering), I feel life is very 'insular' ... few places to go to without major planning around all the restrictions.

It feels normal because I have got used to it, but I obviously haven’t seen my work colleagues in person for months. I also can’t see my parents or sister and won’t be able to for the foreseeable future which is sad. I also hate wearing masks. But, I have been doing some nice things like mini breaks and restaurants and mini golf, seeing friends, so it has got better.