Anyone else feel like they should feel excited

[Lelophants]

But actually feel a bit nervous?

Of course there is good news! And well needed. But I also feel a bit sad because things will be very much back to normal and yet covid is still here, vaccines not offered to all adults until end of July (and that's only the first one) and there are the other variants etc. It won't be foolproof. A number of us will still get sick and die. And I don't want to get sick. I feel like I can't return to proper normal life even though a lot of the population will. It's all just a bit strange!

Not trying to be negative. Anyone else?

Also the data out today about both vaccines reducing hospital admissions by 90%+ after ONE dose is surely extremely positive! We can stop panicking about the two dose thing ..

I feel exactly the same OP. I thought I’d feel better but I feel so flat and sad.

I KNOW that it’s best for DCs to go back to school, they’re both struggling now and dd2’s mental health is spiralling which is so upsetting to watch BUT she doesn’t want to go which will make it so hard and I find the normal routine of nagging and school runs etc so exhausting. I’ve enjoyed being in our little bubble not rushing anywhere and the thought of doing it all fills me with dread.

And also I was so hoping that dd3 would get to have a little family party for her birthday, nothing major, just a picnic in the garden with her cousins but that won’t happen now as the rule of 6 will be in place.

Dd1 and I both have big birthdays coming up that will pass without much celebration which, again, isn’t the end of the world, just sad.

I feel like such a negative nelly and my worries dont even make sense because part of me is dreading going back to normal and the other part is wishing it was over!

I feel incredibly conflicted yet mostly just....pfffft!

It's refreshing to have my natural optomism fed. I've spent most of the time since November feeling numb. At least it's less painful than the tearful lonliness of last June before things opened up and getting the crushing blow and anger that my children had to face a further 3 months without access to school.

Spring is in the air which is uplifting, and even before the brilliant developments on the vaccines, from the trends of last year around the world, it looked strongly like Easter would be a turning point for natural declines and easier living conditions.

I did find in the autumn, that when I had events such as running races in the diary, it was very hard to feel the usual excitement and trust that they would happen, but sime of that was anxiety about changes to routines, and by October, trusting that they were going to happen as tiers changed by the week.

Wharever our opiniond have been about the virus and its management, it's been an emotional battering of a year without the usual support networks/ mechanisms. It is normal to not ping back to the usual emotional response and many will take time to adjust back and trust the situation.

I feel numb really, I don’t know if it’s from not socialising for so long but I seem to have lost the ability to feel anything.

It’s a natural feeling OP. It’s normal to feel nervous about change. Much as we all want to get back to the “old normal” it’s OK to still feel odd about the change and disruption to new routines that it will take to get there. Humans are creatures of habit.

@SingToTheSky

I think I just feel flat really. I’ve missed so much of normal life but can’t actually believe it could return in a way. I’m just exhausted.

I came on to say the same, practically word for word. The first lockdown was a rollercoaster of fear, worry and heartache. This time around it's almost like I'm unable to feel anything at all, about anything. Almost like I'm watching it all in a movie that doesn't really interest me.

Yes I am a little on edge. I got covid before first lockdown. So am lucky enough to know my body can cope with it. However I get very anxious about the daily figures. Have to make sure it is all going the right way. Now I am on very nervous about opening up over the next few months. I know it should all fall into place now. That doesn't stop me having a slight panic though.

I’m hopeful and positive. I’ve worked throughout so have no feelings of nervousness. It’s just bringing back the things in between work and housework that make life fun. Can’t wait.

Me as well. Normally not a fan of Boris and co at all but I feel this is a good plan.

@Nme8961

To be honest I'm shocked people are feeling so positive. Outwardly I feel like I will need to make positive comments when I see people face-to-face, but it's completely empty for me.

Boris has set dates for normalcy since this all began, presumably to give us hope, but every time it goes TU. Everything was going to be back to normal by the summer, by the time students went back to school in September, then by Christmas etc. Why should I think this is going to be any different?

My real feelings are that Boris has no real idea when things will get back to normal, anymore than I do. The problem isn't the restrictions, it's the virus and we have no idea how the virus will behave in real life. The vaccines might help, or they might not help as much as we are hoping. The virus might mutate to be more dangerous, or to escape the vaccines.

I want normalcy, more than anything. I have not seen my family in over a year -- sadly I just can't cling to hope anymore without clear evidence it's actually going to be different this time.

I completely agree with this.

Also - why not start back at (secondary) school with rotas? All back in one go just seems like repeating past mistakes.

Yes! I went from excitement at life getting better, to disappointment (not much mention of foreign travel. My parents live abroad), to worry that it will just be more disappointment, to anger that it will DEFINITELY be more disappointment and I fell for it, to sadness, back to panic, then a little more happiness as I talked myself around, and now I am at a cold cautious.

I think it's the past year, the emotional rollercoaster and one disappointment after another, that now I cant let myself believe that we may actually get through this and have some semblance of happiness. Also, I realised how isolated I have become. I was such a confident person. Now, I am quite nervous going out.

I am taking the kids out in the car today for the first time since my DD was born. She is nearly 4 months old. I am braving a playground in the next town. It shocked me to realise I have been nowhere bar the local park with her. I think a lot of us will have a lot of readjusting to do over the next 6 months

I felt excited yesterday for the first time in ages. But i understsnd why others feel nervous. Weve had lots of messages to stay home and save lives and people are fearful. The reality is tomorrow is guaranteed for no one. Death is a part of life- it could come at any time to any of us. It doesnt make sense to limit the life we have for something that might not happen. There's risks with everything we do- driving, flying on a plane, childbirth, injury from sports etc but we still do these things.

I felt very strange last night and similar to what the op describes.

Collectively the nation wants to move on and this psychological response is a godsend for Johnson who caused - yes, I genuinely mean to use the word caused - a great number of deaths. He has responsibility for so much of the UK response and will be let off.

I'm very sad we have no option but to expose ourselves to excessively high levels of virus in England. England has been so let down by this government. I hope Scotland, Wales and NI do better, they are so lucky to have another chance.

I feel the same OP. I have lost more loved ones in the last year than in any other year of my life so I can't see it as just another illness people die from. To me it's been more like a fire that suddenly killed several of my family.

I feel nervous as I'm not going to be able to get the vaccine for some time. I would definitely feel excited if I and all my loved ones had had their second dose though!

So I'm hoping that by the time the summer comes many more of us will have had both doses and therefore I'll be able to look forward to restrictions easing instead of dreading it.

I think it's difficult for some of us, who took the warnings extremely seriously from the start, to stop thinking of how "extremely dangerous, extremely contagious" covid is. Of course we know there are other illnesses around, but we've not spent a year being told to hide from them, so this feels so much bigger than flu or other illnesses.

It also feels like, now that the higher priority groups have (for the most part) been vaccinated, we've got to the "doesn't matter so much" group - which I know statistically is true, and younger people don't die or need hospitalising at the same rate as the more vulnerable groups, but it feels slightly like now we'll open up and chances of more parents getting it will increase, some of whom will die, leaving their kids behind, and some of whom will just get exhaustingly sick and have to struggle on with entertaining toddlers etc. So I'm not looking forward to that potential.

Though I do understand that remaining locked down until everyone was vaccinated is also not an easy or economically wise option. It just feels a bit like I've gone from being terrified I'll pass on covid unknowingly to an older person in the street, to being scared that now I'll get it from my kids being at school...! I'm a natural worrier! I can go from worrying about one thing to worrying about another pretty seamlessly

I totally agree @PracticingPerson.

I also can’t believe Johnson will be let off but it appears that he will. I take consolation from the fact that history books will tell the truth about him.

Boris has set dates for normalcy since this all began, presumably to give us hope, but every time it goes TU. Everything was going to be back to normal by the summer, by the time students went back to school in September, then by Christmas etc. Why should I think this is going to be any different?

I do understand and I knew the last few times he started saying things would be back to normal that they wouldn’t be. But this difference those time is we have vaccines which are giving encouraging results and a decent chunk of the population who have got a few months natural immunity from having it recently so are in a very different position to before.

Think it would be unwise to think it will all go entirely to the plan and I am a bit worried about the effects of the schools all going back at once whilst we haven’t got all groups 1 to 9 plus 21 days but I think it will be better than before and hope I am worrying unnecessarily about the schools.

I feel nervous, but I work in a school. I do want children back, but I wish they would vaccinate school staff given that it is so important that children are there. I wish a more gradual approach to opening was being taken. I’m struggling to get excited about the other stuff because of this.

I do think I'd feel more excited if we were opening up with cases in the hundreds, rather than in the multiple thousands...

But given we botched up every step of the way, it would be a long time till our numbers got that low.

Of course, now that we're opening up, it will be even longer till our numbers are that low...

now that the higher priority groups have (for the most part) been vaccinated

It’s worse than that - millions of over 50s have not had their first jab yet.

@Didiusfalco

I feel nervous, but I work in a school. I do want children back, but I wish they would vaccinate school staff given that it is so important that children are there. I wish a more gradual approach to opening was being taken. I’m struggling to get excited about the other stuff because of this.

I also work in a school and feel the same.

@SingToTheSky

I think I just feel flat really. I’ve missed so much of normal life but can’t actually believe it could return in a way. I’m just exhausted.

I think I feel a bit of this too.

@recluse

I totally agree *@PracticingPerson*.

I also can’t believe Johnson will be let off but it appears that he will. I take consolation from the fact that history books will tell the truth about him.

I console myself with the thought the public are fickle and could turn on the lying toerag at any time

@MsOgyny

I think it's difficult for some of us, who took the warnings extremely seriously from the start, to stop thinking of how "extremely dangerous, extremely contagious" covid is. Of course we know there are other illnesses around, but we've not spent a year being told to hide from them, so this feels so much bigger than flu or other illnesses.

It also feels like, now that the higher priority groups have (for the most part) been vaccinated, we've got to the "doesn't matter so much" group - which I know statistically is true, and younger people don't die or need hospitalising at the same rate as the more vulnerable groups, but it feels slightly like now we'll open up and chances of more parents getting it will increase, some of whom will die, leaving their kids behind, and some of whom will just get exhaustingly sick and have to struggle on with entertaining toddlers etc. So I'm not looking forward to that potential.

Though I do understand that remaining locked down until everyone was vaccinated is also not an easy or economically wise option. It just feels a bit like I've gone from being terrified I'll pass on covid unknowingly to an older person in the street, to being scared that now I'll get it from my kids being at school...! I'm a natural worrier! I can go from worrying about one thing to worrying about another pretty seamlessly

Exactly this! And I know a number of people my age (30s) who have really struggled with covid so of course in no way do I want to get it. I hope it is cautious like he says and slowly down, backing down if numbers start to rise again.

It does feel very "thrown to the wolves". Let's see I suppose. Travel is also a big thing for me and I don't think I'm going to be able to do that properly for a long time.

"I feel similar, would have been better if the changes where when vaccinations were all done in the first round and most of the second."

I understand your point but my first vaccination will not be till July and second in September so school children would have missed most of another year and many businesses would have been closed for a year and some closed for 18 months. Remember a large portion of people don't actually need the vaccine to avoid hospitalisation and death if they catch covid.

@PracticingPerson - yes well that too .