How much longer are we meant to do this?

[Creamteaincornwall]

I have so many friends who are at the end of their tether. Some suicidal, many almost.
I attend a zoom support group for my mental health and emotional well being as I have BPD and ASD. The last few weeks have been horrendous, every person is at the lowest they’ve been since the beginning of all this.
The amount of posts I’ve read on various Facebook groups of people saying they don’t want to get up in the morning anymore, they just stay in bed. Surely this isn’t doing anyone any good physically or mentally?
Surely this will put most in a weaker position if they were to catch covid?

How much more are we all suppose to take of this? With no end in sight?

Buzzinwithbez

Thank you for your kind words. I'll get there I always do.

Goodness knows how many have had it and have immunity,
.... which current they only believe to last for 5 months.

@ElliFAntspoo

Goodness knows how many have had it and have immunity, .... which current they only believe to last for 5 months.

That is not true. The evidence shows it lasts at least 5 months because that’s what’s been tested.

"There is no decent opposition. People will keep on voting Tory because "at least they aren't Corbyn"

Eh?
Have I accidentally travelled back in time?

I have been doing not bad but last week I was really struggling. I started a new job in August and it’s been my absolute saviour. I love it. But last week I had to sit in my conservatory to work, the rain was constant, the noise of it was like torture. My 14 year old was close to suffering a breakdown, so he had to get priority for the kitchen for his school work. It was just awful last week. But as others have said nothing lasts forever good or bad. I have to believe this week won’t be like last week or I will crumble.

@Creamteaincornwall: it’s been hard, but the end IS in sight. It’s pretty clear we will have relaxations of various measures from March /April as more UK adults get vaccinated, and we are fortunate that’s happening faster here than some other countries like Italy or Spain

What helps me is:

• focusing on 1 day at a time
• talking to friends (sometimes about fun things we will do when we can)
• a really structured daily routine
• self care: nutrition, gentle exercise, getting enough sunlight and sleep, laying off the bike

Are you getting the support you need from your group? Staying off news and social media can help... believe me, if there is big news, someone will phone and tell you!

• laying off the BOOZE, not bike

Neither the USA nor Britain have ever had full, total lockdowns, nor full, total enforced compliance with even the partial lockdowns. You guys have done FAR better than we have, honestly, but neither has been rigidly adhering to anything. SO...we do it until. And with the new variants, some of which appear to be vaccine-tolerant to some extent, "until" has been pushed back. I have left my house precisely once a month to grocery shop since last March. I have gone to two doctor's appointments since last March. I will continue to do that...until. I will not risk myself, or others around me. I do not like it. It is not fun. It is horrible. But it is what it is, and I will do it. Until.

It's so hard to know what to say, I've worked, and am working through it, busy with that and young ones, so I don't perhaps get the time to think too much about it! I can imagine if I was alone and at home for whatever reason it'd be different.
I'd just say look around you, reach out to others any way you can (like here), and be grateful for every day. There are many working humbly and steadily to deal with this 'thing'. From your name you clearly have some connection to a beautiful place, think of that, if you're there, get out when and where you can, experience it, live from day to day and enjoy the small things. I'm sorry, it's so easy to just lurch into cliche and say obvious things, but really look around you.

I love listening to the birds in the morning in the grim city dawn I endure before work, the way light reflects off things, trees, the sky, thinking of funny things I've seen, said or heard from friends.
Do something creative; anything, make, draw, paint, colour, rearrange a room, change a picture, look at photos, display them, make a shrine and change things about it every week, write, make a list, sing along to songs...
I hope you find solace in something and hope for the future, there is one, it's just a bit delayed. there's lots that's good about the world and I personally believe it's in the small things. something I find inspiring is the epitaph of Mervyn Peake, poet, writer and artist..."To live is miracle enough." Sometimes, it's that simple. Oh, and avoid the news! Best wishes to you and all the posters here.

People seem to be pinning a lot of hope on vaccines but vaccines dont stop you catching covid or passing covid on, it only stops you getting seriously ill. And that's the percentage it work on. So this recent vaccine 60% of people who have it wont get seriously ill and need hospital treatment. 40% will. 100% of people will pass it on if all restrictions are eased. I dont agree with lockdown and I think we need to focus on mental health and the economy. Unfortunately I think we have another year of this as people will still be hospitalised in huge numbers if social distancing measures are eased, even with a vaccine

@Creamteaincornwall: re your question about Easter: I’m no Pollyanna and have known from the start we’d be looking at a year or more of disruption, restrictions and sadly deaths

I genuinely believe we will be in a better position as a country by Easter, not least because this virus is clearly seasonal

Re coping strategies: do you have a bubble (if eligible), or could you meet 1 friend for walks which is allowed: those things help me a lot mentally/mood wise

It won't be long now until everyone will be posting about friends who annoy them, how to avoid the in-laws, how to get out of the work Christmas party. This will be a distant memory eventually and although there will be social changes, not all of them will be negative.

@IndiaMay

People seem to be pinning a lot of hope on vaccines but vaccines dont stop you catching covid or passing covid on, it only stops you getting seriously ill. And that's the percentage it work on. So this recent vaccine 60% of people who have it wont get seriously ill and need hospital treatment. 40% will. 100% of people will pass it on if all restrictions are eased. I dont agree with lockdown and I think we need to focus on mental health and the economy. Unfortunately I think we have another year of this as people will still be hospitalised in huge numbers if social distancing measures are eased, even with a vaccine

I think you might want to check your percentages there @IndiaMay .

@IndiaMay

People seem to be pinning a lot of hope on vaccines but vaccines dont stop you catching covid or passing covid on, it only stops you getting seriously ill. And that's the percentage it work on. So this recent vaccine 60% of people who have it wont get seriously ill and need hospital treatment. 40% will. 100% of people will pass it on if all restrictions are eased. I dont agree with lockdown and I think we need to focus on mental health and the economy. Unfortunately I think we have another year of this as people will still be hospitalised in huge numbers if social distancing measures are eased, even with a vaccine

Oxford/AZ vaccine 76% protected from infection 100% protection from hospitalisation and death They now have evidence that transmission is cut by 67%. So slows the spread of the virus.

I think the good news is that though the Oxford vaccine may not fully protect against the SA variant it stops serious illness and hospitalisation. Which is surely all we need? Who cares if we get a “cold”.

With the exception of maybe foreign travel and massive sporting events and concerts I’d like to think we’ll be back to normal by summer. And with a lot of easing of restrictions between March and then.

@IndiaMay

Not even 40% of people who are unvaccinated need hospital treatment. Think you have you facts wrong there.

@ElliFAntspoo

I suspect we will have a bit of freedom in the summer, a firebreak lockdown over the October break, another firebreak lockdown at the end of November, freedom for more than just one day at Christmas, and then really harsh lockdown from 30th November through to mid March 2022.

We can't keep stopping children from accessing schools for 1/3 of the year at a time.

@ElliFAntspoo

I suspect we will have a bit of freedom in the summer, a firebreak lockdown over the October break, another firebreak lockdown at the end of November, freedom for more than just one day at Christmas, and then really harsh lockdown from 30th November through to mid March 2022.

And how to expect the nhs to cope when there is no money to fund it as everyone had lost their jobs !!

I have penciled in three weeks to the end of my lockdown, once the schools are back I will be inviting my friends for firepit drinks and dinner and I am getting my life back.

If the gov agrees with me, great, if not - well thats too bad.
I am not staying in this living hell any longer once the vulnerable are vaccinated and the hospital admissions are steady. The hospitals are already past the worst now, and by next week the vaccination of 15 million of the most vulnerable will be complete. I will give it to March and thats it for us.

It is one of the reasons I woke up feeling much happier than I have done in ages - this is nearly over.

I dont think most people are suicidal op..theres a difference between feeling utterly fed up with the situation and actually being suicidal and wanting your life to end.

But yes I am willing this to be over, sick of being stuck in the house with two toddlers, it's making me miserable.

Lots of people are suicidal. In my small village 2 people I know of have committed suicide in the last 3 months. One drowned herself in the local lake and one hung herself. Prior to this year I have not known of any in our local area and these are just the succesful ones, not the attempts that you don't hear of.

What makes it worse is the false hopes given. Johnson pretending it would be normalise by September why we are where we are now.

It won't be as it was for a long time and they should be honest about it. Yes it is awful but there is no alternative. Slow relaxation will happen but if it happens too soon we'll be right back here. I worry that Johnson is stupid enough to listen to his donors and backbenchers rather than the people who know what they are talking about.

For an Oxford graduate he isn't very bright. Maybe the scientists should talk to him in Latin.

@IndiaMay

People seem to be pinning a lot of hope on vaccines but vaccines dont stop you catching covid or passing covid on, it only stops you getting seriously ill. And that's the percentage it work on. So this recent vaccine 60% of people who have it wont get seriously ill and need hospital treatment. 40% will. 100% of people will pass it on if all restrictions are eased. I dont agree with lockdown and I think we need to focus on mental health and the economy. Unfortunately I think we have another year of this as people will still be hospitalised in huge numbers if social distancing measures are eased, even with a vaccine

You really need to check your facts before you start spouting misinformation over the Internet. Literally everything you have written is BS and you've written it as though it is factual which might make people think that you know what you're talking about.

@IndiaMay
If the vaccine prevents serious illness and hospitalisation then there’s no pressure on the NHS and no need for restrictions.
It becomes like any other respiratory virus in circulation.