Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Original poster

If covid never happened…

76 replies

Ehheheh · 29/01/2023 18:34

I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on where I am in my life and where my DC are and one thing that I don’t think is publicly talked about enough is the pandemic. Clearly, it was incredibly traumatic for a lot of people so it’s understandable many are keen to move on from it. However, I’ve been thinking how dramatically it changed the world and we rapidly pivoted away from a whole way of life. Some of the changes have definitely been for the better (personally and globally) but others not so much

My kids mental health would be much better

I wouldn’t be in my current job

Boris Johnson would likely still be PM
climate change would be a far bigger issue politically

My DC would have had a more normal teenage years of their life

A lot of the economic troubles we are having now wouldn’t be happening (granted Ukraine has caused a lot of it but covid has definitely contributed)
I would be far more social and probably have a lot more friendships I kept up with

So many other things I could list. So aibu to ask if covid never happened how would your life personally be different and how would the world be different in your opinion?

OP posts:

PAFMO · 29/01/2023 18:42

Various members of my family would still be alive.

I might not have had to watch my mother's funeral via webcam.

I'd still be in the same job. Our intake at school wouldn't be approximately 2 years behind in terms of knowing how to behave in school. That's the thing we comment on more than anything in the staffroom. The 11 year olds seem so much more immature than the 2019 intake.

Funnily, I think it's absolutely incredible how everyone and everything got back to normal so quickly.

Re: politics. Boris would still be there, groping women members of staff and promoting the blokes who knew he was doing it and they'd all be still pretending there was no magic money tree (when funnily enough, for furlough they suddenly found there was)

NewIdeasToday · 29/01/2023 18:49

Boris would have been booted out anyway at some point because he’s a grifter who cares nothing about the people that he’s elected to serve.

A lot of our economic problems are due to Brexit not covid.

EllaPaella · 29/01/2023 18:51

I could have attended my MIL funeral, in fact she would still be alive and my DC still had their Grandma.

xogossipgirlxo · 29/01/2023 18:52

husband’s grandma would still be alive (or maybe I am just assuming things, she was very bad health then and got covid on top of it 😢)

I wouldn’t realise how much I hate WFH

I would get married sooner

Blanketpolicy · 29/01/2023 18:53

Mum wouldnt have died the way she did in traumatic circumstances
Ds probably would have not got straight As in exams (lockdown encouraged studying) and be in his choice of uni/course
I wouldn't have the flexibility to WFH more and improve my work/life balance
Dh wouldnt have lost tens of thousands on pounds of self employed earning

So a couple of positives and one massive negative. Dont think I'll ever get over what my mum had to endure in her last weeks and we were helpless to do anything about.

Daleksatemyshed · 29/01/2023 18:53

@PAFMO I'm so sorry, hard enough to lose a parent but not to be able to go to their funeral must have been awful

Snackpolice · 29/01/2023 18:56

It all happened as I was about to get further education opportunities which would have certainly impacted on my current wages and job plan.
My dad would likely be in better health.

on the other hand I wouldn’t be a runner let alone a long distance one and I wouldn’t have my beloved dog so swings and round abouts really for me.

PurpleRaindancing · 29/01/2023 18:57

My friends mum works by have died.

My work life would be easier , I wouldn't be working late most nights (adult disability SA), I wouldn't have seen as many people die, and a number of my colleagues wouldn't have quit or changed jobs in the past year.

My teenage DCs mental health would be better. I wouldn't have seen my eldest boy broken after being in self isolation for best part of 7 weeks at uni

And I wouldn't have been stuck in shielding or protective for most of two years nor been blue lighted into hospital twice. We would have had normal Xmases. I wouldn't have worried about my older relatives and neighbours. I would have seen my friends more,

It was quite a life defining couple years and still is...

PurpleRaindancing · 29/01/2023 18:58

'Wouldn't have ' not works have , sorry mistype

DoesItMakeYouFeelBetter · 29/01/2023 18:59

I would no longer be a teacher if covid hadn’t happened.

PAFMO · 29/01/2023 19:01

Daleksatemyshed · 29/01/2023 18:53

@PAFMO I'm so sorry, hard enough to lose a parent but not to be able to go to their funeral must have been awful

Thank you. Strange days. to all those who lost loved ones.

I'll add WFH to my shitlist. Despite being an anti-social cow, and loving nothing more than spending time on my own, the teaching online was not what I signed up for. It was the easiest thing for us, get up, talk at kids, upload a worksheet. But that's not who I am.

pleaseletmesleeptonight · 29/01/2023 19:03

I wouldn't have almost died and have health anxiety and been medically gaslighted.

Never even knew that phrase until covid infection early on triggered a massive endometriosis flare and cause a histamine reaction and I came to realise that the NHS is shocking at women's health or anything outside of a heart attack or broken arm.

I wouldn't have almost lost my business and been shafted by Rishi because I was a limited company director, which I set up so I could have maternity payments Rishi so I could be a working mother, not because I'm some kind of tax dodger.

My dad may still be alive.

I'm struggling to find good points at I sit here with my 5th lot of suspected covid.

Backstreets · 29/01/2023 19:05

I can go nuts thinking about this. Late 2019 I was in a pub with a friend ranting about how I was going to turn my whole life around in 2020.

I did, but not at all like I’d planned.

NameChangedForThissss · 29/01/2023 19:06

My DC wouldn’t be working hybrid which is giving them a brilliant work/life balance.

I wouldn’t have a permanent dodgy throat and seem to get every cough going around.

Georgyporky · 29/01/2023 19:08

I'd still be telling the JWs & Morons to fuck off every Saturday morning when they woke me up.
Definitely a change for the better.

NameChangedForThissss · 29/01/2023 19:08

Oh and we wouldn’t have done up our whole house as was always spending on holidays.

Duckduckgooseagain · 29/01/2023 19:08

I would have my baby, covid caused my body to shut down in early pregnancy and we had to choose not to go forward with the pregnancy I’m still heartbroken 💔

ThatsSubOptimal · 29/01/2023 19:09

My kids mental health wouldn't be wrecked.

I'd still be in a dead end job and not have The Best Job in the World (TM).

Humptydumptyfellapart · 29/01/2023 19:12

My career would be flying instead of me facing unemployment and I'd have almost finished my 2nd degree by now.

Flip side, I wouldn't be with my DH or have my beautiful unexpected baby girl.

rhowton · 29/01/2023 19:13

We genuinely took no notice of lockdowns. My children were at nursery and school as we are key workers. We saw my parents 3/4 times a week, and visited lots of friends for play dates in the garden. We both worked from home. My parents are in their 50s and said they would rather enjoy their lives than stop due to covid. The risk paid off, thankfully. We went for dinner on that last night before lockdown in March, and we were the first in the restaurants when they opened.

Business boomed, DH was able to wfh which he wouldn't have otherwise. He has only just gone back in to the office after 3 lovely years. My children were young enough but old enough that it didn't hugely affect them.

I'm thankful every day that this was our experience.

EmpressOfTheSofa · 29/01/2023 19:13

Ooh this is very thought provoking.

I would have been able to go to my best friend’s funeral instead of zoom.

I would probably still be working 16hrs a week in a min wage job. I lost it over Covid and picked up a few bar shifts instead, got rapidly promoted and now run my own place.

DD would likely have failed her GCSEs but benefitted hugely from the remote marking. She is now doing brilliantly in her (non academic) Uni choice.

DH would still be working in the office, WFH was such a success that it’s carried on.

We wouldn’t have a second dog.

AnyFucker · 29/01/2023 19:14

My mental and physical health wouldn’t be fucked

I would still have a full head of hair

Slowingdownagain · 29/01/2023 19:14

We would have had another baby. We were planning on but home working and kids at home and all the stress that came with that it was put on the back burner and now it feels to late. I think I’ll always have the “what if” remorse on that one 😞

NameChangedForThissss · 29/01/2023 19:15

We genuinely took no notice of lockdowns
Wow, that’s hard to read. The lockdowns were so difficult for all of us that complied.

NuffSaidSam · 29/01/2023 19:18

For me personally, life is mostly better than before.

I was made redundant, but tbh I'd been bored and not fulfilled in the role for a while, but too scared to take the plunge and leave. I now have another job that I enjoy and pays better (although the hours are too long so not all good).

My social life is much better than before. I think COVID really showed up what I was lacking in that area and made me take action to improve it and that's paid off massively.

It's made me much better at seizing opportunities when they arise and not thinking 'I'll do that next week/month/year'.

I think my mental health is better than before, mainly because of the improvement in work and social life.

The main downsides for me are:

I'm sure my immune system has been effected, I seem to be constantly ill with something now.

The general state of the world/the economy.

I think it really negatively effected my elderly parents in terms of what they were willing to do/their mental agility. I feel they aged massively during lockdown.

Flip

1 2 3 4

Swipe left for the next trending thread