Is anyone else finding it all a bit much now?

[champagnesupernovainthesky]

Constant doom mongering on the news..... constant fear of school bubble closures.... stress of getting available test if need one...feel like nothing to actually look forward too.... the list goes on....

I suppose I just want to have a moan..... it all just seems to be going on and on with no end in sight again....

@murakamilove

In a virtual meeting at work today, told to prepare for this lasting a lifetime!!! Help!

Nothing lasts a lifetime

No way ?! What are they panic buying we didn't run out before

I think because a few of the shops have had employees catch it so its worried people. Here though it was bad during the panic buying, I've only recently, like in the last few weeks, had the opportunity to get shopping delivered to the house. I haven't but its been like that since March. Lots of shelves empty for months, you couldn't buy flour until about may/June time unless you went at the right time, and I was always working so it was never the right time when I went.

The worst is to come though. People can't get jobs, they are going to start struggling mentally soon, because there are no jobs or they have hundreds of applicants. Mortgages won't be paid, people will lose their homes. Next year could be worse than this year sadly. I hope it won't be.

YANBU.

It's OK, we must all just get ourselves a big gun and go and shoot some innocent birds. We're all allowed to do that apparently, no rule of 6 there.

Yes particularly sick of being so 'chipper' I miss the days when I could be a misery guts without feeling guilty

YANBU I think most people feel the same Just a really miserable time. Wish we could just have a day off from it all!

I,m at my wits end i really am i had to self isolate because of a heart condition my husband is self employed and we depleted most of our savings. So now we are on universal credit which is adding to my anxiety because when will it end (be taken away) or sometimes you don,t know if the criteria will change or what we will do if it does. My eldest son is stressed about a levels my younger 2 are on the autistic spectrum and i basically nearly reached the point of a breakdown before help was offered.
To top it all off i have a toddler and recently had very bad pnd which meant that its taken me nearly 2 years to form any bond with her. The biggest challenge by far has living in close proximity to my husband who has been in various ways immature selfish self centred and a new realisation for me evil.Who sits there smirking and giving meaningless platitudes when his wife is sometimes crying shouting and in various degree,s feeling very lost and abandoned? There is no love forthcoming
no reassurances no warmth no affection.
I feel like my heart is brutalised i can,t believe i,m living in such bleak circumstances. I cope i survive but thats all it is i am on a tredmill going round and round. Everything in the house is breaking down the t.v the hoover the bunkbeds the tumble dryer we have leaks from the ceiling (we live in social housing) electrical sockets falling off the wall black mould problem and yet my husband expects me to take care of everything (including motivation) i just don,t know why i,m living for and sometimes i just sit dumbfounded.
Cigarette,s wine or over eating are my only escape and yes i know they are all bad for you but i,m dedperate. I think i,m just terminally disenchanted/depressed.
I,ve just had my fill and the doctors are so inhospitable its like danger virus don,t even come over the threshold unless you are nearly dying.
We,re good at sitching up bodies or prescribing medicine but what about what the heart/soul needs? This is just social darwinism survival of the fittest/richest i guess if i,m cynical society has always had that element now that element is widespread.

Yes it is very, very stressful and does get us ALL down, I am sure there will be thousands of us all feeling the same at some point but have
to say that, we have to keep our heads up for our children's sake and our own mental health.

@Aristonandonandon - I completely agree with you re older and retired people. Completely understand the need to protect older people in society. But agree that we are now being encouraged to send our kids to school and get back to work, while they’re still able to entertain in the garden. Of course, they have every right to enjoy their retirement - I get that - and this situation is nobody’s ‘fault’ but coming out of lockdown has been kinda easier for many of my elderly neighbours than for us.

I feel like I need to take a holiday from it all and go somewhere covid free... guess that’s a trip to the moon then 😕 I now have insomnia, whereas I only used to suffer maybe once a year. Stressing me out! Not about actually catching it but if someone in my place of work does then I need to close my business down and issue refunds etc and there’s no more support from the gov...

Like @SqidgeBum I am all done caring about the state of things beyond my four walls. It's a thankless task. Instead, I will try to keep hold of my job and be a reasonable mother to my kids. Our lives are mainly in the house now and that is ok. I've learned how to make it so. We will keep seeing people who want to see us assuming were all healthy. We will get outdoors and spend time in nature when we can. I suppose its possible a police road block will stop me taking the children to their grandparents' for christmas but I'm not anticipating it. The thing that angers me most these days is the ubiquitous phrase 'we're all in it together'. Don't speak for me. If living through a pandemic must be reduced to a meaningless platitude, then count me out rather than in.

'In a virtual meeting at work today, told to prepare for this lasting a lifetime!!!'

It won't, at least not in the present form. I know several people who are doctors or medical researchers and they all agree that long-term pessimism isn't justified, It may not be totally eradicated (so far as I know, smallpox is the only virus that has been; and there is hope that polio may be in the near future). But like most viruses, it will be controlled. There will be a vaccine sooner or later. It may be one that isn't 100 per cent effective; it may need to be repeated each year like the flu jab. And even now there are better treatments and the promise of more. It may be 6 months before we get back to sort-of normal; it may be a year; it may at worst be 2 years (bloody hope not, but even that's not a lifetime).

I think all this pessimism that some people put out about our never being out of this is not only depressing but counter-productive. If people think this will come to an end, then more will comply with precautions, because you don't want to take risks that might make you seriously ill or worse, if waiting just a little longer would make you able to get back to freedom without too many worries. If the gloomiest possible predictions are spread all over the place, people are more likely to think 'fuck it, why bother?'

YANBU OP
I’m with you. So fucking fed up. And yet I can’t stop reading threads about it?! It’s like every time I pick my phone up I’m hoping for a breaking news headline that says ‘vaccine approved, is completely effective and by the way we have a treatment that is also effective so burn your masks and have a party’

Still nothing though...

@foolproof I am so sorry for you

I still feel very worried, not only about the bloody virus and what it might do to me and mine physically, but also about (1) the economy (especially with the possible double whammy of a no-deal Brexit); (2) everyone's mental health; (3) my own mental health! But it Will End One Day. I hope before it does even more damage than it has.

YANBU to feel that way. It's important we all look after our own wellbeing and find small sustainable everyday pleasures right now. Keep going, it won't be forever. xx

I agree with everyone

My elderly neighbours biggest decision is when to go to their house in Spain

They have spent all of lockdown laying in the garden while DH and I have been working from home and supporting kids to study (teenagers so GCSE's)

They are now back at school and we are still trying to do it all

It seems unfair tbh 🤷‍♀️

Yanbu BUT the Oxford researchers think they could well have a vaccine on a big scale by spring. Try not to lose heart. We need to get through winter then things will be better.
Turn off the news and spend time doing things you will enjoy

Yes me too. Feeling sorry for those who have lost, the young people, those starting uni, loss of freedom, education, jobs, businesses etc. Just been a terrible year for everyone.

Not all elderly people are having things that great. (I don't count myself in that category yet, but I know quite a few people who are.) Some are very medically vulnerable and terrified of catching it; and/or have other health problems for which they haven't been able to get proper treatment. Some are feeling the financial pinch quite badly, and/or have had to step up with unforeseen payments to help relatives in serious trouble. It's not wonderful for people of any age. If you are reasonably healthy, reasonably wealthy and those around you are reasonably wise, you may be able to survive better than others; but not that many people combine all these!

I started a garden on city land, no permission. So far 3 avocado trees and some green onion making lovely progress. Making plans to expand. It's fun to see something actually growing in such a doom and gloom world. Be safe, be happy. Don't let our dysfunctional, incompetent governments rent space in our heads.

And shits going to get even worse when furlough ends
I hear ya

Elderly neighbours are more vulnerable to the virus. Many will be worrying about themselves and their friends and putting a brave face on it. That's not enviable. Everybody has their own worries and stresses, and it's not a competition. You never really know what's going on in other peoples' lives and what they're dealing with.

I totally agree with the PP about distractions such as jigsaws. I bought a brilliant Christmas jigsaw at The Works today and am really looking forward to doing it. Puzzles, sudoku, mah Jong, crosswords, books, cards, whatever are all wonderful distractions that can give you some mental peace. Also worth finding some comedy before bed I find - a good dose of silly is good for the soul.😊

Yanbu- I'm fed up with it all. I'm in Birmingham where the enhanced restrictions mean that my in laws can't look after my SIL little boy while she's in labour any day now but I can meet up to 6 mates at a time in the pub. Utter nonsense.

I have watched out for and helped my elderly neighbours through lockdown, got them shopping etc. I had a terrible day yesterday with work, a yeargroup at DC school getting sent home for 2 weeks of house arrest and the obvious likelihood that could be my DC and me in the next few days and weeks. They spent all day in the garden and had the other elderly neighbours round for dinner in the garden. We are protecting them from the virus and currently things are much more shit for us.