To think some people found lockdown really hard and it wasn't their fault

[elliejjtiny]

I don't normally think about this, it's something horrible that happened but it's over for us for the most part thank goodness (I appreciate there are people who are still struggling a lot).

It's that time of year so some people are saying 5 years ago we were doing xyz for the last time etc. Mil was going on about how great she found lockdown. Not a lot changed for her and FIL as they don't go out much and they are retired. Meanwhile I had 5 dc with SEN, one of whom licks everything and for us life changed dramatically for the worse. I was saying that it was nice that MIL enjoyed lockdown but for us it was extremely hard. She told me it was my fault and it would have been fun for us too if I had been more organised.

IMO for some people lockdown was awful.

We were lucky. Me and the kids actually enjoyed it as I was lucky and still paid normally even though I could not go into work as schools were closed (work in a school)
We did alot of olio as essential volunteers and delivered free food to care homes and charities which kept us busy as well

Now they are all older I suspect that although myself, dd2 and ds would enjoy it, dd1 at 18 would not

And people with few or difficult ties. I'm a huge introvert, but like the previous poster, I still need SOME contact. During lockdown I had very very little. I didn't see my parents for 6 months, although I talked to them regularly (but this involved a lot of me reassuring them, as they were isolated, elderly and struggling). My best friend I saw weekly, but from the end of her drive and again, involved me either being scared I'd infect her (she was shielding) or reassuring her. I have very few other local friends, and when I did talk to them, I was the calm reassuring sensible one, and found that actually, nobody thought to reassure me at all, because good old me, she's so calm and reassuring. Maybe that's my fault for never saying I wanted anything else, but it was really difficult for many.
I would go days and days without speaking to anyone outside of work, and that was entirely through screens.

This is a great analogy! Is it same storm different boats.

I was lucky in that me and the kids never caught Covid , I started helping out on a local area volunteer phone line to help people have their prescriptions collected and I think being "helpful " made me not think about what was happening.
But for so many people it was hell , and I think I was lucky I had a garden and let dogs to distract us , and thank god stayed healthy.
I don't think though I'll ever forgive myself for not initially believing it was going to be what it was , because I truly thought the way they kept the airports open and the flights coming in that it surely couldn't of been as bad as the scare stories at the beginning

Thankyou I knew it sounded wrong 🤣🤣

This opening sentence is how I feel too. It was an incredibly scary time with so much pain and suffering for so many. Absolutely not your fault OP.

Personally, my silver lining to lockdown was the time I was furloughed allowed me to develop a new hobby. I had been interested in it for a while but didn’t have the time to properly learn until lockdown, when I self-taught with online guides, progressed quickly and grew to love it, to the point that I now work in this field. I feel very conflicted reflecting on this time - in hindsight, I’m grateful for this reset in my life, but I had no plan leading to a career change at the time, I purely focused on the hobby as a distraction and escape from all the fear and pain lockdown inflicted.

The ''anti splatter'' screens many shops put up shows how much people ''spit'' when talking.

Idiots not wearing masks showering others with spit and not washing hands..Pathetic.

''You can't tell me wot to doooo''

First lockdown was horrendous. DD has SEN and I kept her home and I was ill with covid.
Second time I sent her in to school and she was much much happier. But I lost my father-in-law. So it was still horrendous.

I was against the lockdowns from daily one but was lucky enough to work in a supermarket so was out meeting people every day. Anyone who enjoyed the lockdowns must have a very small and limited life.

Parts of it were very hard including covid, which has had significant lasting health impacts. We bought a house in between lockdowns and moved in the January while still in lockdown. That was incredibly stressful. DH had surgery and was in hospital for 2 weeks, couldn't visit him obviously, which DD found hard.

Swapping Christmas presents in a service station park with my parents was a particular low point 😢 I missed them dreadfully, DH, mum, dad and I were all sobbing, but far too worried to hug each other. It was a five minute "here's your presents, see you when we see you" meeting.

Other parts of it weren't as bad as initially we thought they would be. DH and I were both key workers so DD still went to Nursery and later school.

We aren't "going out" people so we carried on much as we always did, and the slower pace of life suited us.

I hope we never face that again.

You see, I had no problems about this aspect. A pandemic had been predicted for years, it was inevitable, only the timing was unknown. Clearly there will be another. Could be a month, a year, a decade, 50 years, but will happen. Then what do you do? You restrict movement to prevent the spread. This is exactly what you want a government to do. Impose restrictions for the greater good.

It was hell on earth and I never ever want a repeat. My mental health was shot to pieces from being stuck in a flat with no outside space and when we went to the local park for our daily walk you couldn't even sit down. That coupled with a toddler and a neighbour from hell who blasted drum and bass 24/7 for 9 days straight at one point we were in pieces over it. We complained to environmental health but they wouldn't come out due to covid etc....

Now we have moved, have a lovely garden, but I still wouldn't want another lockdown. The world has changed from the one we had and not for the better.

It really was incredibly hard for the staff working through Pandemic.
The Covid deniers are a bit like ''flat earthers'' - Pointless even engaging with them.

I find it astonishing that anyone can’t understand how and why so many found lockdown challenging and hugely damaging to their mental health.

I was a key worker throughout, rather than furloughed. It was absolutely horrendous.

I can fully understand why those who were furloughed or working from home also found it challenging, though.

A truly horrible time, fear did not bring out the “blitz spirit” we so often hear about when the war is spoken of. It brought, and has kept, out a very different, unpleasant, side,to the general public.

Five years ago, so I couldn't give a toss and don't give them a seconds thought any more.

What I find fascinating is post lockdown behaviours depending on the country.

For example I find in the UK we kind of pretend it never happened. It was a major thing for at least 3 years and it’s mentioned now and again but it’s almost like there’s been an unwritten agreement to not ‘go on’ about it.

Whereas I was in Australia, last year and people talk about loads.

It’s like the cultural trauma response of the British is to not talk about it and be annoyed if people ‘go on’ about it. And in Australia they confront the trauma head on.

I expect many of us realise where we were when we heard the news of a ''Global pandemic'' being announced...and then the first UK death.

Yes of course. I just meant, I did not object to government actions to control the spread

I've often thought if I was to have grandchildren and they were to ask me about what that time was like I'm not sure what I'd tell them. I don't have a clear timeline in my head, it all blurs.

People talk about breaks between the lockdowns when things got better but I don't remember that, maybe because nothing changed for us.

She's talking out of her arse.

I hated it, confined to practically a square mile, kids were fine with homeschool but we were still working at home so no, I didn't repaint my house and revamp the garden - but not being allowed to see my parents was the absolute worst and I'm still upset about that even though they're thankfully still with us.

I personally don't know if anyone that enjoyed that time, the lack of social interaction (and we're not mad social people) and lack of routine affected us all badly.

We found the first lockdown so hard, both DH and I felt close to a breakdown. 2yo and (not yet diagnosed SEN) 6yo who found school work impossible and struggled massively out of routine, both working for local government so no scope for furlough. After that both girls were allowed into school as key worker children/vulnerable and it became more manageable.

I remember when my ds who was 12 at the time was finally able to go back to school. He came home afterwards and told me he was so happy just to hang out with kids his own age again.

I don't know if it's my memory softening things but it really wasn't very long that we were properly "locked down". The last week of March - May at most? I started a new job full time in the office, at the end of May, business as usual. Pubs were open for take out drinks by June, me and DP spent my June birthday in a "closed" beer garden in Manchester city centre, buying takeaway drinks from the bars. Barbecues in July. We went abroad in August. After that there was the madness of the stupid rules about only drinking if you are eating in a pub 🤨 etc. till new year then they closed the pubs and salons again till March I think? From May 2020 onwards we socialised as normal at friends and families houses, we never went back into "isolation" from that point.

Most of my memories of lockdown are queuing outside the shops to buy food and also crying in the loo whilst watching YouTube videos about bus stop divisions. Then I would gather whatever patience I had left and try to teach my children, for the fifth time, f* bus stop divisions. I also remember we had a lovely weather. And I did drink a lot ( mainly due to homeschooling)