To assume lots of people are finding life a bit shit at the moment? Or is it just me?

[TheCatIsBack]

I feel completely flat at the moment. I'm wondering if I'm depressed, or if it's just that life in general is a bit shit for everyone at the moment with cost of living stuff and COVID stuff that maybe actually what I'm feeling is normal?!

Is it just me, and should I get some help, or just roll with it and know that it's a fairly universal thing just now?

I feel the same way, anxious and quite flat (I’m normally a very cheerful person). I’ve found exercising, eating as well as I can on a budget and staying off social media as much as possible has helped. I expect a lot of people feel the same way as we do right now. It’s all a bit grim.

You’re not alone x

Well I've been feeling like this myself and I'm pretty sure others have too.
I also don't feel like I've got any friends left. Like people seem to have gone way more selfish since covid and aren't reciprocating.
It sucks big time at the mo but I'm just riding the waves at the min taking one day at a time. I try and do one nice thing for myself everyday whether it's a face mask, tinting my eyebrows like I am now, painting my nails or treating myself to something in the sale. That kind of thing. Does help a bit.

I think it's universal

for me it's personal and work stuff but a lot of people just seem to be having a really hard time at the mo. Then it gets worse because you can't risj bringing people down.

the Jubilee weekend was great for me. Two gatherings and a sort of unspoken rule that everyone was going to go back in time to better days, just for the duration.

Mine's too. I constantly worry about money. I can't help it. Looking at the prices makes me depressed. Fuel price rises every day. This is proper shit.

It is difficult for us.

Decent income yet we are pulling in all directions to cut our cloth. Everything has increased: petrol, food, activities. We are trying to build up our emergency budget and forgoing a break this year again. My ds informed me two of his friends are flying long haul in August as they do in every school holiday. He asked when are we travelling and I almost burst into tears. Unsure how we will keep dc entertained during summer, they are well passed the age of feeding the ducks, going to the park etc. Their interests all require money of some sort.

Yanbu. Everything is an uphill struggle.

Not just you.

I’m currently wondering how long I can keep myself together or if I will end up having a full breakdown and losing my sanity…and my job.

My MH hasn’t been this bad for over a decade when I ended up suicidal and off sick for several months. I’m pretty scared.

Not just you. It's crap at the moment.

I'm really worried about the months ahead. I've no idea how secure my job will be and, as a single parent, I can't afford to be out of work.

On top of that, the whole pandemic seems to have made me really question everything. I'm sick of working to feel no better off than if I didn't bother (and I'm pretty well paid). It just seems like I'm going to work for another 25 years at least and I just don't have the energy now. I'm burnt out, I'm sick of being in the squeezed middle, I'm sick of seeing friends manage on loads less cos they don't have kids or they have a husband who is also earning, I'm sick of the ex spending money like its going out of fashion because he's likely to inherit a lot so doesn't have to worry about it. I'm realising how bloody naive I was to think that people can work hard and get somewhere in life. Money only ever seems to go to people with money.

💐

It is scary and i think there will be civil unrest ( perhaps not in this country ).

@Imbroken I feel you with this. My Mental health has been the worst ever the past 6 months and it's so debilitating. I actually left my job in the end for loads of reasons. I'm not saying you should. I just think MH comes first. My partner works and I'm currently looking for another job probably in a supermarket as I can't deal with any major stress/responsibility right now. I'm having to force myself to get motivated though.
If you get really bad PM me, you're not alone.

I feel the same. The price increases really take the shine off my life, and I feel I'm in a state of inertia.
I'm on disability benefits anyway and used to a frugal life, but there's only so far I can stretch money
I now have to consider every £ I spend. I own my flat but pay service charges which are increasing.. but because I own I'm not entitled to any help( other than the £400 and £150)

I'm the same.

Constantly worrying about money (and we earn pretty well, so I dread to think how low incomes feel) and this constant knot in my stomach about being made redundant. Work just went through a restructure and my job was safe on this occasion, but social housing providers are well known for constant restructures so its stressful.

DH got posted into a new role (Police) so work life balance there has been tipped on its side.

I lost my sister suddenly early this year as well, from an illness we didnt even know she had. This has left me constantly worried that I have an "secret" illness & will die suddenly too.

I dunno, I just feel on edge and impossible to relax and enjoy life.

I would be a bit wary of going by how others are feeling.

Have you a lot going on recently/this year?

It feels like a general malaise at the moment, all aspects of life seem harder. I think it is a widespread feeling. This helps me in a way because I think it must be the context not just me, post-COVID, difficult global situation and something to try and ride out. I think (I didn't believe this would be the case two years ago) that COVID is going to impact on us for a long time in terms of mental health, expectations, the economy. But we just cannot see clearly yet what this will be. Sorry that's not very helpful - only to say that yes, individuals have ongoing personal difficulties and challenges which cannot be disregarded, but there are wider, global forces at work that are unprecedented in our generation(s) that add to these and make them seem even harder to surmount.

The past 2.5 years have made me start to re-evaluate my life...it hasn't resulted in any action yet (and probably won't) but it IS a change in perspective, I feel like I'm viewing my life and the world from a slightly different plane.

Same here. My business is on its backside and I'm really struggling to stay positive. I just watch my savings dwindling every week just to make ends meet and cry. It's catch 22, I've run my business for a long time, and I know things will get better, so do I try and push through, or do I commit to getting a job and put my business on hold. Certainly by September I will be prepping for Christmas and it will be worth running my business then. I can't do that and commit to an employer at the same time. Plus my husband was made redundant and has retrained but it has taken three months longer than it should have done due to a cock up at the training centre.
Then I get another notification about a price increase, school dinners this time. It's relentless.

Yep the cost of living is getting on top of me. I've had to increase my hours to make ends meet. Trying to clutch at some kind of token savings for those emergencies. It's pretty brutal right now for most people.

To get by I just tell myself to enjoy the little things, books, Netflix, sunny days. Simple stuff that gets you through. You need to find something small to be positive about to not let everything really knock you down but it's hard right now.

Me too, every day is a struggle and I really cannot sleep properly and I go off food. I feel weak.

Certainly not alone.

Same here. I feel very lonely; I don't have anyone to talk to and my family and DH are just looking inward. I feel like the few friends I did have have gone. My health is really poor as well and I can't seem to get well/on keel. The health thing is knocking on to preventing exercise and so on. I'm really bored as well! I feel like I've no right to feel this way either; I have a good job so the rising cost of living is hitting me less than others (I've been utterly poor and I don't like it one bit). I guess we just wait it out...

I think a lot of people lost confidence during COVID and lockdowns - including apparently very competent and confident people. A lot of people aren't over that yet.

I agree with you OP and everyone else. I think we went through the pandemic and we hadt got chance to process that and get ourselves back to normal an dbe able to breathe before we were slung into a cost of living crisis and the energy hikes. It just feels relentless. I feel genuinely like its too much to shoulder some days but we need to keep going. Nothing feels right,stable or normal to me,,its like some kind of weird limbo world we are in.

I think some people are depressed but universally people are languishing. Read this article from 2021 and I feel it still rings true now its certainly how I feel www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/well/mind/covid-mental-health-languishing.amp.html

Yes, it’s very much shit at the moment, worse than for a long time. You’re not alone.

You certainly not alone, it's very tough.