Is this year the worst year of your life?

[AbsentmindedWoman]

It's a shit year, I think virtually everyone would agree. But is it the worst you have lived through?

I'm bored, frustrated, and because I am chronically ill and depend heavily on access to specialist doctors for time-sensitive treatments, have a constant level of background anxiety in case SHTF and my doctors are forced to cancel. However, for me it's not the worst period of my life to date.

What about you? I'm interested in different perspectives on this, as we all are coming to the situation from very different places.

No because my son was born in April, for that reason alone its been a bloody good year.

No I have had to endure far worse. It is my sons generation who will be affected. He is 15 and in the middle of gcses. If schools shut again it wd have a terrible impact on him as he got so demotivated last time. It is employment prospects that look bleak for 'generation z' as they are known.

No, not by a very long way. Thank you for asking as like others here it’s cheered me up to think of all the things I have to be grateful for.

No, it is far from the best year, but does not hold a candle to 2003, which culminated in the suicide of my husband.

No, not by a very long way. 2003, 2009, 2018 and 2019 were far, far worse for me.

And for all those who are having a tough time, and those who have endured tough times in the past.

'2020 has been my best year so far. No one I know has died or been ill, including myself. A 1st in my life. I'm enjoying it while it lasts'

Yes, same here. It's of course been a stressful, difficult year but imo as long as family stays well and we have a roof over our heads I can cope.

'In many ways, yes. I am an extrovert and have hated not seeing a wide range of other people'

🙄

This year should be the worst one of my life. Severe depression. Mother with cancer but I can't visit as she lives abroad. Father died. Another close relative in their last weeks of life. Pandemic, lockdowns, redundancies at work and my industry tanking.

But it's not. The worst year was being with my abusive first husband. The last few months that I lived with him.

This year is incredibly difficult. to all who need them.

Definitely up there. DS was ill and in hospital 5 weeks, gone on to developed cyclical vomiting syndrome needing multiple short hospital admissions to rehydrate. No school, job insecurity, no holidays, no stress releasing hobbies, unable to see many friends or family. Guilt over lack of lockdown schooling because of the hospital admission for DD2. Uncertainty, anxiety and shit weather. Feeling down which is not like me at all, and is also causing me concern. Oh, and the fear of family being hit with Covid and dying, or vulnerable shielded DS getting that on top of his disability and dying, or little DDs dying from a rare complications. Yes, it's been a horrible year.

Nope. Not my worst year ever at all.
Actually very little changed for me. That’s what happened when you have a chronic illness. Your normal life is a lockdown life.....

Not even close. This year I have (touch wood) had no serious illnesses, nobody has raped, beaten or otherwise abused me and none of my children have died. All of those things have happened in other years.

I have lost one dear friend to suicide and that was hard, but it's not nearly the hardest thing I've ever lived through.

No...

I am also someone who has long term health conditions and unfortunately pain, hardship and uncertainty has always been a part of my life.

I have had so many thing to deal with along the way: being estranged from all my blood relatives, having 5 operation in the past 5 years & countless admissions to A&E, bullying at work, abusive parents, failing relationships and many more things.

I can completely understand how if someone has so far had a fairly happy and settled life the virus can be devastating but if you already have lived through a lot of knocks along the way, this is just one more thing to survive.

Strangely some really good thing have also happened to me this year. So for me it is just a continuation of life's steep highs and lows.

Not even close to being the worst year of my life.

It's not great.
Really quite shit.
But could be worse. I have felt worse.

No.

DH and I got married. Our jobs are secure. DH started his dream job recently after 9 months if hard slog and I've enjoyed not commuting for 3 hours every single day.

We've tried to make lockdown enjoyable and haven't really had any cross words. It had definitely strengthened our relationship.

My family are in Scotland and we are in England. I miss them desperately. This has definitely been the hardest part of the year.

I'm counting my blessings every day and have definitely bad worse years.

*had

One of the best.

Sadly yes, worst year of my life.

My darling (and relatively young) mum died very suddenly in September.

No.

I had a very tough year when my son was born, he was extremely early and extremely low birthweight. He was very sick for a long time and there were months where every single day we weren’t sure if he would survive.

It took me to a place which I can only describe as raw animal pain and survival instinct. There were very dark thoughts. It’s a place most people haven’t been to.

We came out of that hell with a live and healthy child (although several more years of surgery and health scares). We have an amazing little boy.

I think every day about those families who were with us but weren’t so fortunate and whose children tragically died. I can never imagine their pain.

@Greenbks I’m so very sorry for the loss of your child.

No where near my worst year. I've had whole decades that every single second has been worst than this year.

Nope, that was 2014.

I had horrible stress selling my former home, our flat had difficulty selling for a really stupid reason plus we had loads of stress due to possible knotweed, DH lost his job while we were in the process and I was panicking we'd be stuck in the 2-bed flat (with two kids) for years because his only prospects seemed to be freelance work that would make getting a mortgage impossible, we got a buyer but then lost them and the place we were going to buy and in that same week DH wrote off our car. It was an utterly horrid year.

Yes. Absolutely. Without a shadow of a doubt.

I'm a pretty positive person but even so this objectively is probably the worst, I'm maintaining my positively though!

• wedding cancelled
• dp's industry destroyed at a point when he was going to transition to paye rather than freelancing so we'd have two very good guaranteed incomes
• a grandparent very ill, causing my parents a lot of worry
• I've been working like a maniac and am now at risk of redundancy
• should be married and TTC by now but have decided not to until life settles down / we find out about my job and I'm not particularly young

That being said we have a roof over our heads, savings, and incredible friends and family so it's fine overall.

No. My worst years were when my dad died; my partner died; the year (or so) I was secretly psychotic. They were all very bad years, in very different ways to each other. This year is mostly just boring, with some financial worries and some upset around family members health.

No. Life is different yes, but not the worst. We've actually done loads and I've learnt loads (about my kids, family, myself) just very differently.

We made massive life decisions with our new found knowledge and really looking forward to plans ahead. If this year hadn't have happened, I may of been stuck in a comfort zone achieving very little. I want more. I'm getting more!