Everyone is stressed and miserable.

[liloandtitch]

Rewind five years and I would say that my friends and family were a happy group. We had our problems of course, but a good chat putting the world to rights over a bottle of red usually seemed to help.

Right now though my best friend is pregnant, has huge health anxiety and rarely leaves the house.

Another good friend is stressed and burnt out at work, thinking of leaving her partner but has no energy to do anything.

A third I barely hear from, never reads her messages or picks up the phone, she lives the other end of the country so we can’t just pop in to see how she is. I know money was tight for her before cost of living crisis, so I’m guessing she is stressed out.

My sister is off work with stress, she is also gutted house purchase fell through as can no longer afford a mortgage and feels really bleak right now.

My 80year old aunt who used to be such a great giggle went downhill massively during covid and now I think she is probably depressed.

My boss’s son has developed OCD and all sorts of emotional problems so we hear all about that at work.

Nobody is in the mood for celebrating and the Christmas parties, coffees and catch ups that used to happen just aren’t on the cards this year because nobody seems to have the energy, the money or frankly the cheer. I confess, I can’t be bothered either a lot of the time.

Just looking at my own circle, seems like almost everyone is just feeling really down right now. Are others seeing the same?

Thank you to those who commented, the next few weeks are going to be the worst as the kids upstairs are now off school for the holidays, they don't get taken out at all and just spend their time running up and down screaming till after midnight while the father beats up the mother, and i hear all the arguing and fighting, we used to call the police but not any more as the mum just denies anything happened and i get shouted and sworn at by the dad when i leave my flat, social services know all about it, even sent them a video of the noise of the fighting and screaming, got back to me saying there's not enough evidence, i just despair of living any more like this, dreading going through the first anniversary of my husband's death coming up on 1st january because of these neighbours, and nothing has changed

Love this post.

So do I

People don't seem to realise it's not just the stress of the pandemic and lockdowns,and the after effects resulting in the current financial crisis, don't even get me started on Brexit. The fact of the matter is that repeated COVID infections cause neuroinflammation and a host of other health issues, one in 4 to 5 people who have depression or anxiety, have these issues as a result of neuroinflammation, and these studies were done before COVID reared its ugly head. Would be interested to know what the numbers are now. I work in public health, have read a myriad of papers and I have long COVID, and every day is a struggle. I'm back to working full time after 1.5 years off with long COVID early 2020, I was getting better til I got COVID again this summer, just 2 weeks before going back to work Many people don't realise that health issues in themselves be they mental, physical or both, are actually related to the virus itself. Everyone blames lockdowns which didn't happen for all that long in retrospect. Government no longer care. The economy is what matters, then there is the stress of having to pay out for Xmas presents if you're financially struggling as so many are right now. We are really on our own as regards health in general. I'm struggling so much with work, I have to continue to do so over Xmas, and I just don't have the energy for this Xmas malarchy.

It is hard. i had covid back in July but have had chronic fatigue since. i get home from a day work at about 5 and sleep until 7pm. I would sleep longer if I could ! there is no energy left for anything other than work and doing the basics around the house.

I feel so seen, thank you lovely. I very much empathise. People just think it's tiredness, if you know what fatigue is, you know. It's like wading through molasses, both mentally and physically. I've done a lot of research and found various supplements that have helped if you need some tips, feel free to pm me. Also, the Reddit long COVID forums are fantastic if you've not been on there. Keep going. X