To think that life just hasn’t been the same ever since covid

[Youcantbeseriousmate]

Does anyone feel the same?

It feels like something changed. Life carries on and there are sometimes good times, but it doesn’t feel the same, people don’t seem genuinely happy anymore.
When I think back to before covid, it seems like a different world

Rubbish. Neither going to work or school is optional.

I think I feel much as I did before, however, I do think there have been some social changes that aren't that positive. COVID exacerbated or revealed some unfortunate undercurrents in society. I don't think those will resolve easily.

I also know people who are still very affected. I don't really mean health wise - of course there are people like that or ones who died - but that isn't so unusual in itself, it's always been the case that people fall to illnesses, so that isn't new.

But there are still some people who seem never to have recovered from the effects of the lockdowns and other measures. People like my MIL, who still will not go out and became extremely frail at home, a young cousin who was sucked into gender ideology on the internet, or another woman I know who seemed to fully succumb to her alcohol addiction.

It was in lockdown..and now people are not willing to go back to what was expected before. Just see all the school refusals and people not wanting to go back to the office

People are treating it as if it was, which is the point. School absences in many places are through the roof.

I see this with my own kids, even though I make them go. But they really believe they should stay home for even a mild cold, and they have learned that actually, the authorities don't really believe that school attendance is that important.

Not school but going into work is often optional. Many still work from home.

I think I was happier (more relaxed) before experiencing lockdowns ect knowing that could happen again does put me on edge a little for sure x

People on my circles are a bit more insular. We used to visit friends very regularly before COVID and all that stopped for lockdown and never really resumed in the same way.

Hard to separate things though as DD was born at the end of 2019 so some things might just be due to Parenthood.

DH has a severe health issue that was triggered by COVID though, so that's something that will never be the same.

@Iheartmysmart "The area I live in used to be clean and tidy and people took pride in it. It’s now dirty and getting run down. The road outside is used as a race track by boy racers at all hours."

I noticed this and went through google maps of various places I'd been/lived and used the function to see photos taken further back in time, and in those areas atleast the tidying of verges and the state of roads looks much worse, everything just looks a bit shit

@LoveItaly I don't want to give up on them but sometimes it's just so hard. I don't want to be there one always asking for the meet ups, usually getting a no, on the rare occasion they agree to meet up, 9 times out of 10 one of them will flake and cancel at the last minute.

Also, no one dresses up/wears make up anymore? At least where I live (Surrey).
I haven't used handbag for years, shops are closing everywhere. Sold all my designer clothes as there aren't occasions to wear them, i.e even going out in nice places is dressed down thing?

I think that's a huge part of it definitely

Personally it's definitely changed for me. I love working from home now but it has totally dented my 'going out' confidence. I've lost my confidence driving, especially in the dark, hardly make the effort to go out now because i dont actually want to.

Super fit gym going me is now frumpy unfit me. I don't need to buy work clothes anymore so my wardrobe has no nice clothes, next time I go to a funeral I will have to buy a new outfit.

Positives though, much more life admin time, no commute, less expenses so more money left at the end of the month, more time for crafting hobbies. Planning to give up my car and just share with DH etc.

There was less than a week, between Covid restrictions being lifted, and most people heaving a sigh of relief, and the war with Russia starting. I remember it being like some sort of weird stress dream. So we ricocheted from lockdown, to the fuel shortage and COL crisis without a breather in between (not to mention how emotionally upsetting it all was / is). Such a wild (and bad) period, historically.

Sure life is better or much the same for many. On the whole, though, I think we're collectively traumatised and not dealing with it.

A lot of people were bereaved unexpectedly. The social norms around grieving couldn't be observed. I know this was made even harder by the constant noise of denial that the bloody disease could be fatal; people were even denying that mortality rates had risen.

Most health and care workers lived through a time of incredible stress, non-stop emergencies, risking their own lives and many losing theirs, while being lied to about the support and even the PPE they needed. They were horribly exploited.

Nearly 2 million people in the UK are disabled by Long Covid. The worst-off people are the most heavily affected. They are the same people who suffered the highest mortality rates during the pandemic. They're also the worst affected by the rise in cost of living, pay stagnation and worsening job security.

It's hardly surprising there's an undercurrent of anger and depression.

Customer service is far, far worse than before. Customer behaviour is also worse, in a self-feeding cycle. I believe we have become less sociable, partly due to cost of living but we also trust each other less.

The impacts of Brexit are hitting home now, alongside the last government's absurd mismanagement, so I think this would have been a difficult time anyway. But we are collectively traumatised and, therefore, less resilient than we might have been.

I think this should be acknowledged and, somehow, addressed.

There was so much navel gazing as people were in lockdown it changed the world. It’s always been a bit of a cess pit but many people lost the plot with weird ideologies and conspiracy theories, politics polarised further, it was a further nail in the coffin for The High Street. Then there were the lives, lost, long covid and the further rise of MH issues, plus the babies born in covid who are apparently way behind developmentally overall as a group.

I agree customer service is much worse.
I think the biggest impact though is of Brexit and covid and cost of living. Some councils have gone bankrupt, they all have a lot less money to spend in their areas, and it shows. People are poorer. Shops have closed and people are going out less.

I’m just as happy as pre Covid and life is completely back to normal for us. Covid is a distant memory now. We were fortunate not to lose any loved ones, we worked at home throughout so not impacted financially and our kids came out of it fine. I can’t say I’ve noticed any difference in friends, we’re all happy and just getting on with life.

I feel different now.

I think our experiences of lockdown were so diverse. For some people it was a lovely break and a welcome chance to slow down, for others it was genuinely traumatic, and for many it was somewhere in between. As someone whose experience was towards the bad end of that (though definitely not the worst) I find it jarring and painful when others talk about that time positively. Not that I wish them ill, just that I can’t make sense of the disconnect. It’s a bit like how gaslighting makes you doubt your own memory and reality.

The current cost of living crisis is partly due to the long term economic effects of covid. Plus brexit. And increasing inequality. And climate related pressures. The general shift to the right was happening already but I suspect was exacerbated by economic stuff and the sense of the world being fundamentally unsafe, especially other people being a major source of danger, which was such a key message of the pandemic.

It does appear to me that society is more individualist than ever, somehow harsher, more lonely. Who knows how much of that is covid related? What I can say for sure is that I was deeply affected in ways that have not yet worked themselves out and possibly never will. In addition, my ability to concentrate and my intelligence have remained diminished since infection and lockdown (both, I think, are to blame), and my anxiety is higher. Even as we try to go back to our old patterns, the ripples are definitely still there.

The two absolute lunatics running America (the elected one and the unelected one) are pretty fucking scary too.

Well with the cost of living having doubled for some and wages the same I absolutely feel it is showing everyone’s worst sides if you ask me.
That and the fact that we have lost hope in those running the country. Not knowing who to vote for because they are all just as bad. No faith in getting treatment if you are sick, no help if you need the police etc. The things which made the country great aren’t so great anymore.
I also agree that people seem to socialise less. Everything is online post-covid. Everything needs to be booked etc.

Like many people, I saw lockdown as a chance to completely reset. Since lockdown I have changed careers, moved to a different country and lost a lot of weight and now really take care of myself. I have honestly never been happier.

I think it's so many things, COL among them. One thing I would add though is, I have depression and GAD and have since my late teens. It will never be gone for good. One thing I've always noticed is that even when I'm not in a depressed state, in between times, it's very easy to keep on living like a depressed person. Self-protective, saying no to things a lot, being very careful of what I do, very solitary.

Covid forced many of us to live "like depressed people" for a while (generalisation I know but maybe has some merit.) To me it was not very difficult, aside from missing my family (we were over the border in Scotland from them and not supposed to cross, and they were in a Northern English city that basically never came out of lockdown for long) because I was so used to living that way.

For some people I feel like it may have acted like a trauma like depression does, pushing them (subtly) into mental patterns from which it's really hard to emerge.

Covid
Brexit
Successively bad governments (in the UK and Scotland)
Rise of parties like the AfD
Narcissists in power
Men trying to erase women's rights
Immigration issues (not allowed to even discuss without being calked racist)
Realisation of how much we've destroyed this planet
Underinvestment in schools, health, housing
Ageing population and the pension burden (no you've most likely not 'paid your dues') and young folk struggling to survive

Need I go on?

I have a similar situation (Eastern European family too) and agree re: stagnation compared to where we visit abroad where you see new developments and progress, more disposable income etc. I believe it's a direct result of Brexit though with a decade of underfunding of infrastructure, education, health rather than Covid which just speeded it all up.

Life is NEVER 'the same'! COVID changed things, different governments change things, war changes things, the weather changes things, we get older... Sometimes the changes are for the better. I think it's unreasonable to say people seemed happier. That's just normal but misleading nostalgia.