To think 2021 isn't going to be the amazing year we all want...

[Skyshale]

...or am I being massively pessimistic?

Everyone is going on about next year, saying it will be amazing and that we can all travel again, see family and be as normal.

But the virus isn't going to think "Oh, look, the clock has struck 12 on New Years Day. I'm gone now...BYE EVERYONE forget I ever existed".

AIBU to think 2021 isn't going to be the amazing year we all imagined?

Can I just say (I've had a few wines and my thoughts are running away with me) I would LOVE 2021 to be an amazing, incredible year for us all but a horrible dark side of me thinks it ain't going to happen...

Everyone is going on about next year, saying it will be amazing and that we can all travel again, see family and be as normal.

I haven't heard anyone say this.

I think that if covid-19 is all we have to worry about then by mid April 2021 everything will be back to normal.

When you think about it, the spike was already flattening mid April of this year.

So next year, with a vaccine available and a lot of vulnerable people already having had it, then from May onwards, we can put it behind us.

Although, sting in the tail, this virus had a 99% survival rate. I think that the HORRORS of a virus that affected young people or a virus with a survival rate of 50% - that horror is not ridiculous. These zoonotic viruses terrify me.

I think we may look back on the halcyon days of worrying about a virus with a 99% survival rate. Who knows what year the next zoonotic virus will spread. But I'm not worried about covid 19 but I'm not not worried about viruses.

If Covid 19 is a cold, Brexit is pneumonia.

2020 has been a fucking hideous nightmare for most people, perhaps not for those who have enjoyed time with their "little families" and having DH WFH (puke).

We have to try and believe 2021 will be better and more normal. How much more can we take?

I just want to see my fucking family. I don't want a socially distanced work. I don't one another ruddy zoom call.

*walk, not work

I do think the end of the year is significant psychologically though. We got to the end of this strange year that nobody could have predicted 11 months ago.

Normally the new year can make people feel, god, another year, that was the same as the last and I"m still with Steve/still working at Wernham Hogg/still living with my parents... Or whatever.

This year we all actually got through something. So I think YOu have to ALLOW people to feel that the end of 2020 is a big deal.

Im planning 2021 on the virus still be prevalent but planning around that so I am not disappointed.

Using annual leave for travel in the UK and spreading it out for long weekends instead of a whole week or two off - that way if some plans are changed Ive still got more further down the line to look forward to.

Im not planning on any trips abroad as just don't want the hassle and greif of planning and it not happening.

Planning on areas of U.K. Ive not visited before and some that I have, very close to home - for me its the getting away and who cares if its just 40 miles away

No it’s not going to be a good year. Even if Covid numbers drop after vaccination there will still be hundreds of thousands of people mourning deaths, there will be many people still suffering the after effects of long Covid, there will be hundreds of thousands of people still on NHS waiting lists, there will be millions on reduced hours or unemployed, many high streets will be decimated, the economy will be shot, many people of all ages will be struggling with MH issues. There will be uncertainty and anxiety about almost all areas of our lives.

And then there is Brexit and whatever that brings.

But by April the weather will be better, with any luck we will be able to get out and about under clear skies, and I hope that many of us will have learned something useful about kindness, support, resilience and the unimportance of material gain versus humanity. We need to hold on to the positives.

@ZanyPam

2020 has been a fucking hideous nightmare for most people, perhaps not for those who have enjoyed time with their "little families" and having DH WFH (puke).

We have to try and believe 2021 will be better and more normal. How much more can we take?

I just want to see my fucking family. I don't want a socially distanced work. I don't one another ruddy zoom call.

Completely agree with this, the ones I know screaming from the rooftops about lockdowns having to continue, everything must close are the people hugely benefiting from DH at home, a good chunk of extra money each month they are saving on commuting etc. Couldn't wait for the schools to shut either, they wanted the kids home permanently because it wasn't safe..... but they were the ones at all the theme parks, holiday parks, restaurants etc when they all opened up in the summer!

YANBU, I don't see things getting back to normal.

With any luck I will have a new working from home job to start in January (if I get it) so it won't affect me too much. DD will still be at school (Scotland won't close schools).

My DF is the only one who hates lockdown. Not that the rest of us like it but we've adapted and just got on with it. He hates the loss of freedom and misses the pub.

I think it's good to be optimistic but I get a bit worried for people who seem to be pinning their hopes on "next year we will be able to do x" (I'm thinking of specific people I know here). Because it isn't realistic, I'm working on being okay with where I am as much as possible and if things get better it's a bonus.

@viques

No it’s not going to be a good year. Even if Covid numbers drop after vaccination there will still be hundreds of thousands of people mourning deaths, there will be many people still suffering the after effects of long Covid, there will be hundreds of thousands of people still on NHS waiting lists, there will be millions on reduced hours or unemployed, many high streets will be decimated, the economy will be shot, many people of all ages will be struggling with MH issues. There will be uncertainty and anxiety about almost all areas of our lives.

And then there is Brexit and whatever that brings.

But by April the weather will be better, with any luck we will be able to get out and about under clear skies, and I hope that many of us will have learned something useful about kindness, support, resilience and the unimportance of material gain versus humanity. We need to hold on to the positives.

I need a bucket.

I think it will be better than this awful year, but not so much that things will go back to 'normal'. The optimist in me says that we are a year into this thing, so a year nearer to reclaiming 'normal' life.

Yanbu.
It'll be better. But not anywhere near normal.
I hope the numbers are low enough to stay with family by the end of May and have a decent summer outdoors. Maybe work in the office one day a week and go to the gym occasionally. We want to get to London and eat outdoors too. But I fully expect winter 2021 to be risky.

Completely agree with this, the ones I know screaming from the rooftops about lockdowns having to continue, everything must close are the people hugely benefiting from DH at home, a good chunk of extra money each month they are saving on commuting etc. Couldn't wait for the schools to shut either, they wanted the kids home permanently because it wasn't safe..... but they were the ones at all the theme parks, holiday parks, restaurants etc when they all opened up in the summer!

I hear you. All my friends on fb who were most vocal were
People who could wfh, or already did .
SAHM with DH who could WFH (usually in a very well paid job)
Public sector workers (most if whom could wfh)
A friend of mine said at the start of lockdown how much money she would save by not going out, and has since told me about ££ purchass she has been able to make because if the money shes saved.my DH is SE. I had to point out not everyone is earning the same money (or any money in some cases!) So "we" are not all making massive savings!

One assumes the first few months will be more of the same but from Easter normal life will start to return dramatically

It would be a start if we could wake up on 1st January and not hear the word Covid on Sky News uttered as the first news item and the pointless slides about symptoms and restrictions are sacked off before the commercial breaks. As if we don't bloody know.

I guess on the plus side of things, we don't have to suffer Kay Burley for the first few months of 2021. That's made 2021 better already!

I'm dreading it. Besides the ongoing COVID and Brexit shennanigans there's stuff going on for me personally that is already causing me uncertainty and worry. I'm grateful for things like being happy in my home with DH and the teens but life seems very small and monotonous at the moment and it's hard not to constantly yearn for the "good old days" of just a couple of years back which seem like a lifetime ago. We took so much for granted, like freedom to be impulsive, make plans, travel widely if we wanted.

I thought a trip out to a restaurant last night might perk me up a bit but it felt a bit flat. The atmosphere in town was a bit odd. It was mainly young people, and it looked possible that there were multiple households mixing (quite drunkenly at times) so it didn't feel very family-friendly or diverse in terms of ages, as you would normally get this time of year with work Christmas parties. And that was in an area which has come down from Tier 3 to 2 recently. It just didn't feel normal and was just a bit unsettling.

We just need to hang on for more months yet before any feelings of "normality" might come back. So no, I'm not expecting any magic feeling of positivity once the clock strikes 12 at New Year. It will be more a feeling of "thank fuck that year is over with, let's press on".

@Pukkatea

I think a lot of the mental health issues I've seen emerge in my own friendship group are as a result of their optimism that covid would be over in a few months. First it would be a few months, then ok by Christmas etc. I was told I was being a killjoy by suggesting (as a former virologist, so some idea what I'm talking about) that it would be years before things were normal. But I've generally been OK - low expectations, low disappointment.

As a virologist and not a MH professional I beg you please stop giving out this kind of "advice"

Being a miserable glass half empty doom mongerer ( whether you're right or not) is not the key to people's mental health issues.

Someone said at work on Thursday evening that this has been the hardest year professionally. I imagine it has been with young children to entertain while trying to work. But for the rest of us? Really? No commute, no stress with trains, more sleep.

This is Mumsnet. Most posters have young children to manage, or slightly older ones to home educate, whilst still trying to work.

It broke my marriage, such that what I'm looking forward to most in 2021 is getting divorced.

I don't think it's going to be a good year at all. Financially the country/world is fucked. Brexit no deal will add to the gloom. Businesses folding and struggling to survive. Families with very little money. So many people have lost loved ones. Who says anyway that it is going to be great?

We can at least see family and go on holidays and just be normal again. This we will take as a positive for next year and appreciate what we took for granted.

I guess just living without fear and restrictions will be a bonus

I think we're probably in for a rough ride during the first quarter just due to Christmas. There are a crazy number of people out shopping at the moment and then with the relaxed travel restrictions I've no doubt the case numbers are going to go up for a while leading to more lockdowns. I think we may see some small improvements by Easter, but I don't really expect things to largely improve until at least the last quarter (and that's if they manage to roll out the vaccine properly and get it to all the most vulnerable members of the population). I don't really see "normality" as we knew it until 2022 though.

Thanks all for your thoughts and comments. I'm always interested in other peoples' views.

I apologise for being so pessimistic - but Mumsnet is a good place to vent, is it not?

To all of you who have lost loved ones and jobs etc - sending you my thoughts and best wishes that 2021 will be a thousand times better.

@CurlyhairedAssassin "We just need to hang on for more months yet before any feelings of "normality" might come back. So no, I'm not expecting any magic feeling of positivity once the clock strikes 12 at New Year. It will be more a feeling of "thank fuck that year is over with, let's press on"."

I couldn't have put it better myself.

I think there's a bit of a danger that people have forgotten that they weren't that happy before COVID.

The truth is, humans naturally err towards thinking things would be better if they were different from how they are right now. It's why we keep progressing technologically: We're never bloody satisfied with what we've got.

Once things get back to normal, people will start saying they miss lockdown, resent having to go to the office again, can't understand why 'work' means 'not seeing your kids' etc.

Not everybody, but a lot, I imagine.