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.

@Greenbks so sorry for your loss. Mine has undoubtedly been the worse year of my life. But my version of worse in no way compares to yours.

No certainly not my best but not my worst either.

Sorry for everyone's losses.

No not the hardest year I've ever had. Don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing really. I hope I've had the hardest years and they're behind me. I didn't have the best start in life. Who knows what life deals you though?

to everyone struggling.

Not by a long shot.
Can't say I've not suffered with anxiety and depression plenty this year. And my chronic illness has had me more tired and in more pain than any other.

But
I actually enjoyed lockdown for the family time.
We extended our house after 10 years of saving for it.

The first year or two of motherhood had me suicidal, I had a massive breakdown and depended on a lot of meds and people. That was my worst.

Tricky. It's probably not as bad as the year I was very very unwell mentally and was suicidal, but that was mostly a bad year in my head, if that makes sense.

This year the problems are much more tangible, although I did have an episode in June after two months of working from home made me crack.

I am lucky (touch wood) that I have a good job and no-one I know has been ill with it. But my relationship with the man I thought I would marry broke down, and I have had no one around to lean on. It has been very, very lonely.

I suppose the clincher will be the outcome of the US election

I hope 2020 has no stings in the tail.

Not by a long shot.
Can't say I've not suffered with anxiety and depression plenty this year. And my chronic illness has had me more tired and in more pain than any other.

But
I actually enjoyed lockdown for the family time.
We extended our house after 10 years of saving for it.

The first year or two of motherhood had me suicidal, I had a massive breakdown and depended on a lot of meds and people. That was my worst.

@Greenbks

For me it's not even in the top 5 worst or most stressful years although its certainly been shit in many ways.

Honestly? No, not at all. I've had a lovely baby, been on maternity leave for 9 months of the year at home with my DC and partner, switched qualification paths so I love the degree I'm studying and am working from home the for foreseeable future. For me personally it's actually been great.

I have so much empathy for people going through the opposite. And also while its great for me at an individual level, I've had this growing background anxiety about the political and environmental state of the world that is getting exponentially worse as we approach the US election. Peak anxiety tonight

I had a terrible time in mid teens whilst my dad was dying
And a terrible year or two early 20s in an abusive relationship
So, purely at a personal level, in as much as my mental health is ok, I am not living somewhere unsafe, I have work, health and family it is a better year than many

But I am desperately worried about the future for my children and my community in a way that I have never been before.

Nowhere near the worst year of my life. In 2009, my Dad died in January then two weeks after that, I intervened in a street assault, got a whack in the face for my troubles and had to go to court as a witness. Then in June, my brother died. I survived the great cull of 2016 but only just, I was in hospital with peritonitis for three weeks and took months to recover.

2020 is probably the most boring year of my life but by no means the worst.

No. 2006 was utterly shit for me. I was 15, my grandmother died in the january, someone was murdered behind my house so my parents had a freaked and put the house up for sale. We moved from a city to the middle of nowhere leaving everyone amd everything I knew behind me. I knew nobody, it was a small irish town who were all related to each other, and I was cripplingly lonely. I lived 7 miles from a path let alone a shop. I developed serious depression that I continued to ignore for 2 more years. I was utterly miserable.

No matter how bad this year gets I will always count myself lucky that I have my husband, my daughter, a secure job, a secure home, and that I am about to give birth any day now.

really bad, my son is ill

It is shite but not as shite as when i had a massive breakdown age 19 due to significant abuse. I have a povely dd and dp now so very lucky.
My granddad was in a Japenese pow camp for 3 years and still had a happy life afterwards despite being starved and tortured so i count myself very lucky.

Yes. My life was great, had loads to look forward to this year. Now I've got nothing. No theatre shows to rehearse for, no singing, no fun. I need my life back. So done with covid.

Thanks guys. I’ve been through some shit stuff in life but losing my baby after birth has fucked me me up for life. I would happily live this way forever and go through every other bad thing in my life if I got to keep him.

Having said that, husband and I count our blessings everyday. We are financially comfortable (although we’ve learnt that life is not about having lots of money) in a Country where I got maternity leave and feel that we are generally well supported and have each other.

No. My mum died when I was 36 weeks pregnant in 2004. That was definitely the worst period in my life.

Lockdown hugely improved my marriage because my DH now lives here, rather than being away with work or exhausted from being away with work. We both have secure jobs but now he WFH.

I feel really sorry for my teenagers though. Watching them go through the hardest year of their life has been really difficult.

No. I had the baby I waited forty years for.

No it hasn't. I've definitely had worse.
This year has been stressful and anxious making though.

It's been frustrating at times but I've had much worse years than this. Seeing a young relative dying in his twenties was the worst. But my childhood and adolescence were pretty rubbish too.

@Greenbks I am so sorry to hear that

No, it isn't the worst year of my life. I have found it hard but I am not completely traumatised in a way I have been before (I lost my best friend to cancer and lost my dad in a horrific way.

No. I had the baby I waited forty years for.

No
I had a mental breakdown in 2011 that lasted for a long time which was very tough. Also had one in 2004 which was pretty horrific too.
This isn’t far off though...

Of course

No
I had a mental breakdown in 2011 that lasted for a long time which was very tough. Also had one in 2004 which was pretty horrific too.
This isn’t far off though...

Nope, not even close. 2018 was truly horrendous and 2019 was worse.

2020 is a breeze compared with them