To those who find this lockdown not much different to their normal lives

[Sometimenever100]

I’m asking because I’m curious- no judgements here! To those who say they find lockdown not much different to their normal lives (except DC being at home and aside from work arrangements) In normal times didn’t you even chat to friends, see family, go shopping (not food) enjoy a national trust or park, eat out, go for coffee, invite friends or other children over, visit friends where a longer drive was involved, or take your children anywhere other than local walks?
Again no judgements as everyone lives life differently, I am just so surprised that lots of people on other threads are saying lockdown is not really different to normal for them.

[VivLevy]

Both still working F/T
One DS at his uni flat but working his part time job in retail.
Other DS off school but would have been doing A levels at this time so he is doing a bit more round the house.
One supermarket shop a week thats the normal
Phone elderly parents - normally see once every 3 months as live some distance away.
Other shopping on line
See friends less and less due to busy lives probably get together 5 or 6 times a year so no major miss there either,
Usual exercise is walking so nothing new there.
Live rurally so generally quiet.
Only stuff I am not doing is gigs weekends away and of course the hairdresser.
Loving the time to focus on house - lots of tidying and planning for a bit of work which we had been planning before covid.
Enjoy cooking so doing a bit more
Garden looking fab DH is frontline NHS so enjoying down time in garden he is missing fishing his biggest hobby.
So work life very busy and scary
Home live very chilled ,

[Greenmarmalade]

I do go out but it’s all family oriented and fairly dull, really. Playgrounds, parks, etc. do a walk to a park once a day is pretty similar to my normal life.

[myohmywhatawonderfulday]

I was very lonely before lockdown. I always seemed to be doing things on my own. Off to exercise on my own. Going for a coffee on my own. My work is quite solitary - so off I would go on my own.

I have been much happier with my children around, my DH around, finding a routine and rhythm that suits us. Going for a daily walk and seeing people and saying hello to neighbours, not having to rush. I have also been able to focus on some creative projects, finish an online course and so had the 'achievement' urge in me filled.

[1300cakes]

Can't say my life is very different right now, it's a little embarrassing. Some of that is because of work situation - both DH and I are nhs so aren't wfh. Aside from that though, the few friends I have I only see around 3 times a year, so we haven't yet missed a get together. I don't eat out, except take away which we can still get. I only rarely go out to the cinema and basically never go to any other show or event. My children are babies but I've never gone to baby groups or playgroups. I used to go random shopping/browsing quite a bit but I quit as I think it is a bad habit.

[WomanIsTaken]

I'm an extrovert, loving my friends, family and colleagues. But also insanely busy with work, so would often connect socially over phone / skype or similar by necessity anyway before lockdown, prioritising spending time with DC and DP. We live a slow, frugal low-maintenance life style anyway, so have both remarked on how little we are impacted; we go for walks in our neighbourhood anyway, don't go to shops if we can help it, don't tend to go out for meals or coffee, never go to the hairdresser / barber, always cook from scratch. Lots of these things are part of a loose effort to reduce our carbon footprint, but it seems it has served us well in terms of having fairly low expectations of what life day to day entails.
I also appear to be immune to feeling bored.

[Bargebill19]

Go to work, come home and sleep. No family. No extended family. No friends. Shop online. Detest shopping and crowds of people in any form.

The only thing different between lockdown and normal life are 2 things 1) can’t visit the garden centre 2) can’t go for a swim.

Lockdown is better as a lot less traffic.

[EdInjury]

No real difference for me.
Disabled, on my second brain tumour which is a watch and wait situation.
Uncontrolled epilepsy despite various meds.
DH in recovery from cancer.
No friends, I used to work about 40 miles away, professional job, lost touch with friends. They tried their best, but I could not bear the pity in their eyes.
I used to get shopping delivered, and that's been a struggle, but now got it sorted, thanks to local farm shop and milkman who delivers lots of things besides milk. Getting my prescription is a problem as I can't drive. Adult children in another town.
Not much change. I only post under this name, when talking about my disability. I did try to join local groups pre lockdown, but very cliquey and some days I struggle with my speech, so I gave up.

[ekidmxcl]

I’m an introvert.
I am happy to have a break from going places.
The only thing I really miss is food outlets (sandwich shop, McD, cafe, restaurant etc). Everyone in my house grabs food in a hurry from the above places so as a result we have had to massively up our supermarket shopping.
I can’t say that I miss anything else!
I’m happy messaging friends, no need to see them.

[NotTerfNorCis]

I'm not seeing a massive difference.

Obviously all trips to pubs and restaurants have stopped, but I've worked from home before, and it's the same job with the same people. I can carry on all my hobbies because they mainly involve books. That, and gardening. I'm finding I can buy things I need (like books and garden bulbs) online.

[sunflowerheart]

I'm a sahm with a toddler (who doesn't go to any kind of daycare) so it's not too different for me. I don't have friends, I only really socialise with DH and occasionally my siblings/parents. But I only see them once a month or so, so it's still not that much longer than the length of time I'd go without seeing them. I haven't enjoyed non-food shopping since DD was born, as she doesn't like being confined to the buggy, so I do most of that online now.

I am taking her to parks every day for a daily walk (although I'm having to stick to places within walking distance now, which is a change for us). We never go to national trust places are they're too awkward to travel to without a car. But we did used to go to musems, theatres and galleries a lot, which obviously we can't now. We're in London and weekends used to be spent doing day trips around London. We're still sort of doing that, but structured as a walk (we're very central so can walk to landmarks and the river). We've only eaten out occasionally since DD was born, mainly because of the timing of her naps. And I've never gone to coffee shops much at all, I find them poor value for money.

I don't have any 'mum friends' so we never had play dates, but I used to take DD to toddler groups and classes, so that's one aspect of life which is very different. But our daily walk has filled that gap (we spend 2-3 hours outside in parks and gardens), and we do some bits of the classes online now.

[Twattergy]

It's weird, life is quite different but I don't feel different. I think it is because I'm an introvert so the things that truly sustain me - peace, rest, time at home, meaningful interaction (not light social chat), nature, immersion in work- are more abundant then before. So although I miss occasional social events, gigs, the gym, seeing family and friends a little bit, I'm not desperate for that. Feeling at peace is more important to be than being busy and endlessly diverted. Come summer I will really miss opportunity to travel or go camping though. That feels very restricting.

[GrolliffetheDragon]

My family came to me, don't have friends really.

We would go out places in the school holidays, so I guess that has changed, but overall, though I miss my parents, I don't really miss anyone else.

[Poetryinaction]

chat to friends - yes I still do on the phone
See family - rarely, we live a long way apart
go shopping (not food) - no, I have 3 small children
enjoy a national trust or park - occasionally, but it's only been 6 weeks
eat out - no
Go for coffee -no
invite friends or other children over -yes, but not often
visit friends where a longer drive was involved - yes but not often
or take your children anywhere other than local walks - yes but I don't miss it

I went out to work, and rushed about with the school and nursery run. I miss neither. By the time we were all home, we were busy with dinner, bath, bed, housework, life admin. Then we were tired. I used to go out to choir buy had to stop as I couldn't commit. Now I am in an online choir.
If I left the house on my own it was for work or exercise. Same now.
I am just as busy with work and the kids. Life really isn't that different.

[FishOnPillows]

I’m still working (although 2 days from home now, still going out the other 3). I don’t really have any friends, the few people I would say might be friends live hundreds of miles away so I rarely see them anyway. All my hobbies are ones I do alone (or occasionally with DP). I live on the edge of the countryside so am still going for walks. I loathe going to shops or cities at the best of times.
Family-wise I’ve seen my parents and sister occasionally from the end of driveways as we/they have done odd bits of shopping. We’ve had family group chats for years though as none of us are overly sociable.
I guess the only thing I’m not doing is going to gigs - but I had been dialling those back over the last year for both financial and health reasons anyway.

Tbh, I’m loving not having the weird pressure to have to want to go out and do things and see people. And I’m loving the enforced 2m personal space. I probably feel more at peace now than I have done in a long time.

[QuimJongUn]

Hardly any difference for me. We have no friends or family so missing people isn't a thing - for years I felt so sad that we have nobody else in our lives, now I'm grateful that we have nobody else to be worried about. DH is wfh and I have to queue to go into supermarkets, that's about it. I miss being able to hop on a bus to do my shopping but I don't miss bars/pubs/restaurants as much as I thought I would. At the start of this the thought of going months without a pint was torturous! Now me and DH are perfectly happy to make cocktails at home. We're saving a fortune in fares, going out and top up shops too.

[onlyreadingneverposting8]

Very very little difference for me. I have children who are him Ed due to failure of the education system to properly support them and I have children who go to school so having them at home full time is a little different but not much. DH usually works form home 1 or 2 days a week so having him wfh 5 days isn't that different. Don't speak to siblings or see them. Have a poor relationship with my parents and they live 350miles away. Don't have close friends as I've moved around a lot due to DHs job.
Only real difference is not being able to take the kids to places at the weekend.

[Grandmi]

As a family we are sticking to the rules but all getting stir crazy. Daughter has a young baby and she is desperate to socialise with her friends so they bond with baby and to make memories. Four other adults who all have outside hobbies that they cannot do and spending time with friends. Am not complaining because there are no choices but will be glad to get back to some normality when it is safe to do so. So yes lockdown has definitely changed how we live.

[RapunzelinQuarantine]

My life hasn’t changed that much but the lack of those tiny things is honestly killing me.

Like many on this thread I’m disabled with a chronic illness and can’t go outside much. Live alone in a small flat. Prior to lockdown seeing friends or occasional outings to the local cinema or to get a coffee and sit on a bench genuinely were all that was keeping me going and giving me something to live for.

I’ve not spoken to another person in two months, facing not speaking to another person for more months. Life now is just an endless drudge of keeping myself alive and waiting for the days to pass.

[EdInjury]

Well, this is a bit rubbish isn't it?
for us all.

[NaviSprite]

Apart from family coming around as and when they please (which I actually don’t miss ) life isn’t much different for me apart from DH working from home now.

Mostly because I don’t have friends after three years of bad experiences where those I considered to be friends opted out of interacting with me and because we’re rather broke! The only thing my DC are missing is being able to go to the local park.

We were building up to going back to toddler groups before lockdown but as my twins are developmentally behind they didn’t really bother with other toddlers or want to join in the activities, they also got pushed around a lot by more robust toddlers and didn’t enjoy it at all .

I do miss seeing my mum and PIL by the way, just glad they’re not dropping by at random times at the moment because I don’t do well with small talk unless I’m prepared and dislike my space being invaded when I don’t have the mental or physical energy to engage with people.

[Electrical]

The only places I would go to are work (twice a week), supermarket, and gym-type place. No friends, no relatives except a parent who I visit a couple of times a month out of obligation. Not interested in restaurants or cafes or being around the general public, and am childfree.

[cologne4711]

I came across this article this morning - some of you may relate!

www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/being-alone-better-than-spending-time-with-most-people-2014081389526

[whatisforteamum]

Ha ha.Yes I agree.Normally I don't have spare time to socialise and I am exhausted when I am off work.I don't get the obsession with how many friends people have.Like your own company first.

[EdInjury]

@cologne4711
Great! Thanks, hadn't read that one.
The Daily Mash keeps me sane.