Can someone give me some positivity and hope please?

[Aberforthsgoat]

I know I should stay off the internet but the weather is shit and I can’t seem to focus on anything I used to like doing.

I keep seeing threads where quite a few posters are saying things like this is the beginning of the end (in a negative way), this is never going to end, life will never return to normal and we will be under restrictions for years.
Posters are saying that they think we won’t recover from this ever, that we will always be chasing our tails with coronavirus, that the vaccine isn’t the answer because of the new mutations.

Also lots of talk on some freelance groups I’m on (I used to be a journalist, I’m not anymore but still on the groups) about the change in language from the PM - lots of ifs and maybes, with the conclusion being he knows we are fucked and they’ve fucked up and there’s nothing they can do now apart from save face with stricter measures that it’s too late for anyway.

It’s making me feel like there’s no point in anything.

I look at baby DS and think wtf have I done bringing you into this mess? What is your life going to look like?

I’m not trying to be goady or melodramatic, I’m genuinely down and feeling hopeless.

And before the get a grip brigade comes out, I’m generally a resilient person. I’ve dealt with a lot of things including late pregnancy loss among other things and I have always coped and got on with things. But for whatever reason I feel like I’ve reached my limit now.

The vaccines will help won’t they? We aren’t completely fucked?

Not got any positivity for you OP but just to let you know I feel the same, it's so tough right now. The only thing I am holding onto is that time passes and usually things change eventually. Just trying to keep my head down and get through another year of this, hoping things will change.

Yes the vaccines will help. This is going to look considerably brighter by spring. Look what vaccines have done for other, nastier, more infectious diseases - when was tha last time we in this country had to worry about polio outbreaks or measles or smallpox?

But even if we did t have any vaccines, we wouldn’t be living like this forever. The flu virus that caused the 1918 flu pandemic was still around for decades afterwards, as just another seasonal flu strain. There’s some evidence that a flu pandemic in the 19th century was actually caused by another coronavirus, OC43 - it now causes a cold.

I really need some positivity too. I'm so down and feel like there is no hope any more of a brighter future. I feel devastated for my 5 year old daughter at what world I've brought her into. She's such a happy little soul and has so many hopes and dreams for the future. It breaks my heart to think what kind of future she might have.

Pop over to the Good News thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/4121527-Good-News-Thread-Number-4-Because-that-positivity-just-keeps-on-coming

I completely understand feeling low. I am a natural worrier!

I think a good philosophy is to live in the moment and try to focus on ‘now’ and not overthink things. Actually if you read up about cognitive behaviour therapy and apply it to current anxiety about the covid situation then that’s helpful.

Agree that t could be helpful to look at other pandemics in the past. The 1918 flu pandemic finished without the use of vaccines.

I’ve found that the university websites where they publish research helpful as it gives facts and it’s really interesting to understand how the virus works. It may help you to sift through the scaremongering too.

As for Boris, I expect his advisors have told him to tone things down!

Hope that’s helpful - your thinking won’t change the general situation but helping yourself to feel better will help you and those around you.

Sorry - this feels like a sermon in the mount!!

Thank you to those who posted. I don’t want to seem like I’m being all drama and woe when I’m very lucky in the grand scheme of things but it’s a LOT isn’t it.
And the relentlessness is hard.

Some good suggestions here though.

I’ve ordered DS a swing for the garden as I haven’t been taking him to play areas as he leans over and bites the bars (in that in the mouth everything goes phase at the moment!) and we are getting our deck replaced so that’s a project I can think about and plan.

I might look for some audiobooks and podcasts I can listen to when doing the drudge work of housework as well, something to take my mind off things.