To miss the first lockdown?

[TidyOchreReader]

I know it was a tough time for many but I genuinely loved that first lockdown. I think about it all the time. There was something strangely blissful about slowing down, having fewer obligations and just focusing on connecting with people - even though we couldn’t physically see them. And when you did see someone, the gratitude was immense. AIBU to feel nostalgic for that time?

No one is saying it didnt. But individual people are allowed to look back at how their life was back then and miss it.

You are definitely BU then. You sound very self-indulgent.

I also enjoyed it hugely @TidyOchreReader
I spent the time doing DIY and for the first time in my whole life, felt like I actually had time to do these things and I very much enjoyed the slower pace of life. I found it very calming to think the world had sort of all slowed down

I can only think of 2 positives - you could hear the birds as there was no traffic and people on furlough had time to paint their houses and do their gardens so everything looked nice, briefly.
Not seeing my family and friends was hell. I won't be doing that again.

It was awful, queuing to get in the supermarket, people turning their backs on you in the street in case they caught something from looking at you, people turning on each other, posting photos of perceived lockdown flouters online (putting children at risk, even after they were told to take them down for the children's safety). People losing their livelihoods.

Being told you could kill someone just by hugging them, daily death tolls and Boris every bloody day. Not being able to go into the vet with a poorly cat, watching people pass their beloved pet over in a car park and saying goodbye in a car park when all they wanted to do was be in there for their final breath.

Only good thing was we had nice weather!

No. It was fucking awful. I wasn't furloughed but had to work from home, which was fine, but I work for a trade union and it was absolutely fucking relentless.

DD suffered, some of which repercussions still linger.

DH has literally just started a new job but was furloughed. So was in the house all day whilst I was trying to work and daughter was having online school shite.

It was horrible, and absolutely unnecessary.

And people were profiting out of it all eg Michelle Mone whilst her friends in Parliament were quaffing champagne or shagging their mistress.

Haven’t rtft but can I suggest freelancing? Every day is like lockdown

It was fucking awful, and my DD is still suffering the repercussions on her education.

Yanbu to feel how you feel, but please keep it to yourself.

why would it be ok for people to have a negative feeling about the lockdown, but not the OP to have a positive one? Of course both sides will disagree.

No need to call everyone selfish, dim and self-absorbed because they have a different experience. Yours is not the centre of the world. Plenty of people loved the first lockdown, weather was glorious too.

I thought it was utter shit, I can't stand being on house arrest and I am one of the lucky ones, with big garden, country on the doorstep and no restriction for going outside, not limited to 1 hour or the other shit. Still thought it was vile. Others still entitled to have an opinion!

I wouldn't go back for the utilitarian reason that it was miserable and terrifying for many, even though personally I had a lovely lock down even though my husband lost his job, we had just got married and got by living on my 80% furlough for 4 months spending time together, having time for creativity etc. However it was dreadful and damaging for so many I'd never want to go back to that time.

I was also sad that lessons learned in lockdown like reconnection, appreciation of natural spaces and being able to freely explore and shop, eat out etc lasted such a short amount of time. I worked in a heritage site and the behaviour of the visiting public was the most entitled, destructive and downright rude that I'd ever seen.

My mum died suddenly during the start of lockdown. Couldn’t see her.10 at the funeral. All in masks. No one allowed to hug us. My poor dad. No one back to the house. I am still not over it. Unless you’ve lost a loved one during lockdown you have no idea of the horror. It was inhumane and one day I think I’m going to have to get some therapy as I still haven’t made any sort of peace with it.

I liked lockdown too. My son told me he felt he was living the life he was meant to live during lockdown, he loved working from home and not having to dash around all over the place. I thought that was a bit odd and he is back to normal now but, for me, it was bliss.

I knew a young couple who had a very young child (6 now so was very small during lockdown). They said the amount of individual attention they were able to give, time spent together, was invaluable and gave her a head start. That certainly seems to have been the case and she adjusted to school really well, with confidence.

If you want to slow down the pace of your life it is achievable. I think a lot of people feel guilty if they are not constantly doing things or filling Insta feeds with outings and holidays etc.

I see children's sports clubs being mentioned as something people were glad not to deal with. I work in this sector and reguarly see children who are bored or upset attending clubs. If your children genuinely love attending that is different but often the children are going so that their parents can tick off the 'must attend at least one club' list.

The government shut down my business and my partners business and the lockdowns destroyed our livelihoods and following on from that destroyed our relationship and huge knock on effects for our children. I still feel very angry by people who weren’t affected saying they had a lovely time.

I miss the endless sunny days and the time (kind of) to sit in it. I was reminded the other day of the family walks we would do local to home and realised we should try do them more often even if it's just for half an hour.

Ultimately I hated it. Not being able to see people, take the kids out, only going out for either the food shop or a walk because I thought that was the rules. I did relax that and went to the supermarket and for a run or a walk 😱

It's a completely unnatural way to live and life just can't go on like that even if we wanted it to. I have to suck up not being born to a billionaire and not being able to spend my days on a yacht so those who want a life like lockdown have to suck up the fact they can't or try and live a life as close to it as possible which is doable I think if you try.

I absolutely LOVED it. So nice to see more of the kids, to take things slower, to not be forced to go places. Good times !

Half the posters agree with OP, so maybe the consensus of the room isn't what you think

Haha fair! I’ve definitely thought about it - that slower pace and autonomy is very tempting.

What is interesting to me is that almost all of my friends (and you op) said they loved the lack of clubs, the endless over scheduled days and weekends, the rat run etc etc and all of them have gone back to it! Some have taken on even more. It makes me wonder whether any actual lessons were learnt? Or were they lost almost immediately?

Some have made changes, but most haven’t. If anything I feel like my own life now is on steroids with someone pressing the go faster button. I stripped back my life only for it to clutter up again with new things. Maybe we need to focus collectively how to slow down, connect, quieten down?

If you liked it, you liked it. Just make sure you're not using your positive experience to try and invalidate the different views of others.

I miss it. But to be fair I lived rurally, I had horses I had to look after twice a day that were 10 miles away on a nature reserve. And I was an experienced home educator. My partner worked already remotely a lot of yhd time in a front line sector.

The silence was welcome. The M1 being deserted was an experience.

It was heaven.

I was very fortunate.

why angry against people who had no more choice than you? They were more lucky, or lived differently, but they were just as "victims" as you were. It wasn't a referendum was it?

You are wasting your energy on the wrong people.

Your experience is probably 10 times better than people in China who were barely allowed to live for 1 hour a week. How does it help if they're angry by your lucky situation?

Consider myself and my family extremely lucky because I spent the lockdowns with my 2yo and had another baby. I have a husband who was at home and we have a house with a garden.

A few years earlier and I would have been in my 30s keen to meet someone and settle down and having that put on pause. I would have lived in a flat all by myself and been very isolated.

A few years later (now) and my kids would be missing precious school days, missing their sports, hobbies and friends. I would be trying to work and home school them.

I know it was so so so horrific for so many people but thanks for starting this thread OP. It was a time that will be remembered by history.

kindly.... it might be slow and chilled.
It might also be a lot busier and a hell of a lot more stressful!

Self-employed or free-lance often work a lot more than employees (not always). Deadlines are worst.