To ask what the last 5 years has done to your mental health?

[Wouldloveanother]

Mines ruined to be honest.

I feel like a lot of my naivety about life has been stripped away and I’ve been left with a feeling of exhaustion and dread. My life is basically unrecognisable since March 2020.

I thought I would be ‘over it now’ but I’m not.

not looking for anything in particular, just a solidarity moan.

I do think it's sad how lockdowns have convinced us we don't need or want friends anymore. That's exactly what they wanted. A divide and conquer approach.

Your situation is not dissimilar to my own. Just wanted to send you 💐and to say I did feel teary reading your post. Thinking of you x

I got through covid by 'bubbling' with another single mum, which probably saved our sanity. The recent heatwave has really depressed me, bringing home how impossible life is without clean water. Then the news starts talking about 'forever' chemicals in the rain. Now I am hearing that we are in imminent danger because of fighting at the Ukrainian power plant. I don't read the news too much, since I am at the point where I feel all security could be gone in a moment and there is only the moment to enjoy and be with loved ones. But I can't quite leave it alone because a part of me still wants to know. We all face such challenges on a global scale. And what is our government doing to mitigate any of these worries on climate change, a nuclear emergency, toxic rain?

I've always struggled with depression and my mental health but it's worse than it's ever been in the last couple of years, hence my username really. I worry about the state of the world, not for me, but for my DD. I just plod on day after day but I find no joy in much anymore and just have a what's the point mindset to most things

For me - not in the UK - things are a lot better since COVID. No way we would have been working from home, not even partially. We would have had to come in if WFH was not imposed by the central government. WFH has made my life much less stressful because I can work more while skipping the horrible commute.
On another level, I used to be out and about with people all the time. Since that was not possible during COVID, I went through a bout of depression. But on the other hand I've learned to be happy with my own company - which I see as a form of personal growth.
Not being able to travel - my passion - was not as bad as I thought it would be.
So all in all, I'm glad we have had the pandemic - even if I feel bad for all the people who died and people who lost loved ones.

Actually I think you’re right. The curtain has definitely been lifted and no ones pretending to be professional anymore. Even the politicians are sticking their fingers up and calling each other pricks.

I can’t believe how different the world felt just six years ago.

The last year or so has brought to my attention exactly how f’d up our situation is currently.

if you’re lucky enough not to have experienced the fact there is no basic backup on any level anymore please do count your blessings. There is no ‘just call an ambulance’ or ‘just call the police’ when things are really bad never mind any action that could be considered preventative.

Covid vastly improved my mental and physical health. It gave me more time (not commuting) so I was doing a workout every day. More time to cook and eat well. Time to decorate and get the house nice. It also showed me a life which was a slower pace.

Covid/lockdowns I was fine with. I have never thankfully had any MH issues but I know they can come at any time.

What is making me feel sad & hopeless now is the state of the world now… technology/screens/SM - I hate it. Not being able to get good or even basic healthcare, worried that if I or my DD need an ambulance, we might not get 1. The fact we’re destroying nature & animals at a rapid rate….That I am the only 1 out climbing trees with my DD. The sad choice I have of either making her different to her friends by giving her the childhood I had(outdoors/no screens/ not being obsessed by image) or letting her have screens (which then opens her up to what I personally think contributes to what is now a teenage emergency for MH) the amount of vacuous people about that ALL look the same, the people that are easily offended, climate change that we just can’t seem to stop now.

I am shocked & saddened that the world is getting worse, surely time means progression & it just feels so awful. I can see it in people, young people mainly.

and I can't believe I used to believe we were one of those lucky countries that put the people first.

As someone sick and disabled, I have been horrified at the 3 governments we have had since 2010, the Condem Coalition and then 2 Conservative govt. Austerity was a choice that a fair few economists said would not help the economy to grow after the 2008 crash. However, Cameron and Osborne saw it as an opportunity to shrink the state under the smokescreen of (supposed and false) necessary austerity aided and abetted by much of the media (85% of U.K. newspapers are owned by right wing, non dom billionaires). The 2012 Welfare Act reduced financial support for many sick and disabled through various ways. It was clear to me these governments had no care for many. I also think the reduction of local housing allowance caused hardship for those on low incomes in London and the south east.

We then had Brexit which was clearly going to have a negative economic effect but again was dismissed as project fear by many leading Conservative MPs. Those fears are now happening with our trade exports shrinking and as other European countries economics are starting to come back to life after Covid even with the negative effects of the Ukraine war the U.K. is forecast to have the lowest economic growth amongst major economies other than Russia. At the start of the pandemic Johnson’s govt were too slow in heeding the voices of countries like Italy where Covid had taken root a little earlier to take measures sooner than later. Then we had the PPE scandal with billions being wasted and enriching Conservative ministers mates.

Now Truss and her colleagues are pushing the narrative that productivity in the U.K. is low because U.K. workers are not working hard enough. Productivity is low because businesses are not investing profits enough in capital spending and giving it out as dividends to shareholders instead. This narrative of lazy workers I suspect is because legislation is probably coming our way to reduce workers rights. Many of the main leaders of Brexit were libertarians who wanted the U.K. to leave EU so they would be free to slash workers rights such as working hours, length of holidays. Now they can.

Since the first lockdown started, I went into cardiac arrest and thankfully survived but my heart was damaged for all time. My brother died a little over a year later and 4 months after his death (a year ago actually), I discovered that my then-husband had been sexually abusing our daughter for years. It's like a Rightmoved into Pandora's Box!
Throw in my favourite stories: Brexit/Covid in 3 Acts and Tories Get Jacked... and, well... the wheels have pretty much come off this whole life experience thing I'm doing.
But I'm still here. So are you. This thread is testimony to our ability to endure the unimaginable and still want to be alive for the sake of being loved and giving love. That's really what it all comes down to, I think. I think that's all that really matters in the end, love. I could be wrong but it's all I've got at the moment.

Vanguard I am glad you are better.

love is what I feel I lost in my friends. This thread has thrown me actually, I thought I was doing okay.

That’s a very touching post @TheVanguardSix. I can only aspire to come through life’s tribulations with your perspective

I saved this in 2016, it’s aged well.