Does anyone else feel stressed at how busy/overcrowded everything is all the time?

[Walkyrie]

Just that really. Supermarkets, the roads, even what used to be fairly quiet dog walks. Pavements, beaches, bus stops, it just feels like everything is really busy and there are very few places you can go outside your home, even at off peak hours, that are peaceful and quiet. Even then our house is very overlooked with constant traffic and mopeds outside.

I totally appreciate I am also a person and therefore contributing to this by the way! It just feels like everything is so hectic. I’m having a tough time at the moment and just went out to what used to be a fairly quiet dog walking route, hoping for a bit of quiet, but nope - people everywhere. Just constant mental noise.

I moved from London to the countryside and although rural life isn't for us longterm, and I missed the hustle and bustle, when I visit a city now especially o on public transport, I LOATHE. the incessant phone noise, reel watching, music blaring etc. I don't mind people as I used to live near and work in a tourist spot so super busy it ugh, the noise
I'm.scared to move back to civilisation tbh as I've gotten used to the silence and thi gd are never crazy over full here even in the towns, I.keep applying my Surrey _London mentality to get there early before the crowds at kids stuff and its never heaving!

I think you need to move house. I live in a village in the south east. Perhaps I'm lucky but you just have to walk down the road to hit a footpath, and there are loads locally, where you are most unlikely to see/hear anyone.

Traffic drives me crazy ...add the road works and the delays the diversions ....I can't 😭😭

Sometimes I crave silence. I often think life never used to be this noisy and so busy. The roads are crazy here. I would HATE to live in the city where it's never quiet.

We used to have a caravan in the middle of Wales and I miss the quiet so much. No noise apart from sheep.
Honestly it used to make my heart happy.

Im currently on mat leave so tend to go out at random times for various baby groups etc. Let’s say 1:30pm on Tuesday. The roads are so busy, local Costa always have the longest queue ever etc. Where is everyone going ?! Is no one working full time anymore ?! Roads are absolutely packed in the middle of the day… I really don’t get it.

I absolutely hate it being busy everywhere. It makes everything stressful, time consuming and miserable.

I try to do errands at random times. Our Tesco is open until 11pm so I often go later on. I always avoid attractions/days out on bank holidays/half terms. Absolutely horrible and when I did do it, I wished I had never gone out.

The incessant sound of cars. It's relentless. I've only experienced a truly silent night once in my life, staying in rural Spain. I long to live somewhere away from roads. It's like a knawing unnatural soundtrack to everything. I just want a little peace.

I don't particularly like crowds OP. I live in north Hampshire so hardly remote, and manage to avoid them. I food shop early on a Saturday morning. Tesco is almost deserted at 7.30am. The same out running. Go early and it's quiet & beautiful. Choose lane swimming and the pool is quiet, Cycle on the common and there are no cars. Book a table for early supper and the same, no queues.

London is different, no peace anywhere which is why I moved out. Have you considered moving?

OP, it is because you drive. There are more people and noise in central London but it is mostly public transport. With public transport, you pop on your headphones and zone out in your small personal bubble. I also zone out automatically dodging slow walking tourists and doddlers on pavements whilst I speed past them. Yep, there are police sirens but I barely notice as they are part of the background noise.

That is central London and the City where I work. In my area of South East London, it is leafy and quiet and the roads generally only congested in small stretches.

I am not stressed in London.

Same here. I live in a village in South East.Busy high street with everything you need,amazing walks 2 mins away on foot with every imaginable choice of wild life ,45 mins on train to enjoy the buzz of life in Covent Garden .

I was waiting for someone to mention immigration. I live in a town where the ethnic minority population is like 4%. Some work at the hospital or are GO’s. Some own businesses or work in restaurants. The supported housing my son lives in would struggle to have enough staff without migrant carers and yes they speak good English.

Yes everywhere is busy but our town is the largest in the area. People come from neighbouring towns to shop in the retail parks or eat out. But it’s also down to contractors working at the biggest employer in our area with average of 60’000 working there. We have multiple HMO’s mainly to provide accommodation for contractors. A friend of mine works at the local travelodge they are fully booked Monday to Friday with contractors. It’s rare they have any rooms to accommodate walk in’s. We also have a recently opened university.

There are far too many people in this country for the infrastructure of a small island to support. There is pressure created by housing shortages, overcrowding and affordability problems. These are all getting worse and are strongly linked to stress, frustration, and social tension. People are turning against those who were not born here and any whom they see as outliers or non contributors.

To paraphrase..,

”Ugh, those awful people who don’t love immigration. I live in a place with nearly none and think immigrants are all just lovely.”

Where did you pluck that nonsense figure out of your head?? 😂

Try early morning for your dog walk. Only quiet people around then.

i hate the music in shops
i went into a shop with low lighting and classical music, a danish shop - Søstrene Grene

why can't they all be like that?

I find a mental note when driving and there are aggressive drivers needing to be in front, that if you are important, truly important, people wait for you. People having to drive dangerously because they can’t wait 15 seconds must be so low down the pecking order to have that urgency.

This can be applied to many situations.

You must all be very sensitive. I live on a post war estate in the suburbs of a large city, 2 mins walk from a very busy main road, and I don’t experience any of this at all. Trains and buses are busy between 8am and. 9am, and a bit more spread out in the afternoon but nothing noticeable. The city centre, beaches and attractions are busier in the sunshine but not in a way that makes me not enjoy it. I can hear birdsong outside my window the garden is full of bees and butterflies and my neighbours are rarely noisy.

I live in London so accept overcrowding as part of daily life.
But I rarely go in to central, other than to the theatre, and I go straight there and home again.

A few times recently had visitors, and so meals out and sightseeing needed, and the crowds were insane. Covent Garden could not move without pushing.

Agree heartily OP. I have hyperacusis and tinnitus. I would happily live away from most noise except for bird sounds. Railway station platforms are near unbearable these days, last time I went to Clapham Junction at rush hour I had to control my breathing, I was with my dad and he is getting on and needed help navigating a journey. He has hearing aids and he just switches them off...

Why is the music played loud by idiots in cars always crap music too? It's never Bach's violin concerto is it?

I work unusual hours and can tell you it’s because everyone’s free time is squeezed into weekends and evenings.

Everywhere is practically deserted at 11am on a weekday.

That was after going with DH to his oncology appointment last week, where we had to stand for 90 minutes in the waiting room

That's disgraceful

I don't suppose you have the energy to make a complaint!

I absolutely loathe how crowded it is now. I loathe lime bikes littering the pavements. I loathe lime bikes whizzing through what used to be a park for pedestrians and is now just a cut through for fast cyclists. I loathe the amount of cars going down my residential street nowadays, blasting crap ‘music’. I loathe crap music in shops. I ragingly hate that even on an out of the way quiet walk there are always, but always, men blasting away into their phones. I loathe it, I really really do. I’d love to go back in time, for respite, it has escalated phenomenally in the last few years.

We moved overseas for this reason and can't believe how busy the UK is now when we return. We don't have to add on extra time for travelling in rush hour, never think about whether will be able to park and don't add on extra time 'in case'.

Here, we have birds nesting that I've never seen in the UK, people have time for each other and everything just feels under less pressure. Where we lived in the UK, there are now plans for hundreds of houses. It's a small town with a full school and no parking for the shops. There's so much traffic that is really only safe to cross the road at traffic lights. I can't imagine what it'll be like if those houses are built, nor what will happen to the animals living on that land.

The noise is the main difference though, the UK is so noisy now.

Obviously it depends where you live. Do you live in a town/city centre?