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Original poster

Is life never going back to normal?

631 replies

JuneMoonstone · 20/03/2021 22:52

I feel incredibly lucky that I've lived 44 years of a normal life. I am heartbroken at the way life has become. Like so many others, I feel like I am existing, not living. I don't see any point in making plans, I don't feel any hope for the future. I was feeling quite positive about the progress made in the UK with vaccines and seeing the infection rates and death rates lower. However with the news about the rest of Europe going into lockdown due to escalating infection rates, I can't help but feel that we are never going to get out of this bloody mess. I cannot help but believe that we will have to live our lives under constant restrictions forever now because of this virus. Is life really going to be shit from now on? Will I ever be able to, for example, go into a busy pub on a Friday night and watch a live band and have a bloody good time again? Will we have to wear face masks permanently in public places from now on? I get a very strong feeling that this will be the case. It's my daughter I feel for the most. She's just 5 years old. What kind of a life is she going to have?

OP posts:
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BrintIg · 22/03/2021 19:57

I think you're being a bit over dramatic - in many countries it is perfectly normal to wear masks in flu season - good!

Also, it's totally optional. There's no way masks will be mandatory for much longer. Maybe more people will CHOOSE to wear them in public in certain circumstances in the long term, and that's fine.

I'm more worried about international mega-companies and the politicians in their pockets installing facial recognition software in public CCTV systems than the government forcing us to wear masks, so I think I'll keep using one in the future Grin

Thewiseoneincognito · 22/03/2021 20:08

@Ilovewatermelon please don’t take this the wrong way but you’re in way over your head. All I will say is keep wearing your mask and don’t let your guard down just because you naively believe it’s a conspiracy.

Original poster
JuneMoonstone · 22/03/2021 20:19

Thank you all for your replies, which have given me a lot to think about. I've been struggling a lot mentally with the whole situation. Most of the time I feel quite numb, weary, sad and apathetic. Other times I feel totally distraught at the situation and how different life is nowadays to what it used to be. I miss the old way of life, desperately. I didn't event lead a particularly exciting life but it feels like it was a million times better than the life I lead today and the life my child leads. Yes I know that life pre-covid wasn't perfect and a lot needed to change, especially when it came to the environment, but on the whole I just hate the way life is now. The lonliness is especially hard. I'm incredibly lucky to have my 5 year old daughter, but I miss being able to spend time with other adults. It wasn't so long ago that we were told how important spending time with others was to our wellbeing, about the power of a hug and touch in general. Speaking to someone on Teams or Zoom is a poor substitute. For a year now we've had it drummed into us repeatedly day in, day out, that physical contact with other human beings is dangerous, that we must stay away from others. It's horrible, it feels inhumane. I know that it has to be done but it doesn't make it feel any less painful. I could cope with it if it I knew it was for a limited time but according to Mary Ramsay at PHE, social distancing and masks could be here for years. I know that there are some who will no doubt be thrilled at this news. They would be happy to never touch another human being again and love the idea of us all wearing masks forever more.

OP posts:
dividedwefall · 22/03/2021 20:27

@Ilovewatermelon I followed the exact same trajectory! I was one of the first to know about it among my friends and family because I saw what we now know to be fake videos from china of people dropping dead in the street on Twitter. I was terrified, wanted my holidays to be cancelled etc. Couldn't believe government was still letting flights in and stocked up on masks, gloves and sanitiser before most people even knew what was going to hit them.

A couple of months later I realised the figures were being massively exaggerated and started to feel that if this was truly the pandemic we were being led to believe then they would be trying to massage the numbers down not up. Then came all the documents from the behavioural psychs advising the government on how to increase the sense of personal risk and fear in order to improve compliance with the rules. Things were not adding up and making sense.

I still don't know anyone that has had covid let alone been ill from it or died. I've no doubt people have caught this disease and have been ill or died from it but the response to it has been at best over the top and at worst very sinister indeed.

Whenspringcomes · 22/03/2021 20:37

@Ilovewatermelon What advertising?

Op, I feel the same, one minute I think this has to change soon and go back to ‘Normal’ and that of course it will. The next I’m scared and I really don’t understand reports of people saying we will have masks and social distancing for years..,why?! It doesn’t make sense! I want to be close to people

PrincessNutNuts · 22/03/2021 20:56

Life's pretty normal in New Zealand...

We have a family wedding there this year and there's no limit to the number of guests they can have so long as their area stays at alert level 1.

They can only have a hundred guests if it goes up to alert level 2.

But it's not expected to.

The U.K. family can't go of course.

Ilovewatermelon · 22/03/2021 21:14

@Whenspringcomes

What advertising?

www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/005534-2021?origin=SearchResults&p=1

Pliudev · 22/03/2021 21:18

OP I feel the same as you. I was beginning to get a bit more optimistic with the roll out of the vaccine going so well, then this week everything seems to have gone backwards. We're locked in feuding with the EU countries and now we're being told a third wave is almost inevitable here. None of my grown up DSs have had the vaccine yet and my youngest DS and my DIL are both in jobs that being them into contact with the public constantly. For the first time in my life I feel hopeless. I wish I was daft enough to believe this is some kind of conspiracy but even that option isn't available to me. I think it will be a very long time before we get back any normality. If ever.

Ilovewatermelon · 22/03/2021 21:19

@dividedwefall

I've no doubt people have caught this disease and have been ill or died from it but the response to it has been at best over the top and at worst very sinister indeed.

Exactly! Flowers

Wildswim · 22/03/2021 21:35

[quote dividedwefall]@Ilovewatermelon I followed the exact same trajectory! I was one of the first to know about it among my friends and family because I saw what we now know to be fake videos from china of people dropping dead in the street on Twitter. I was terrified, wanted my holidays to be cancelled etc. Couldn't believe government was still letting flights in and stocked up on masks, gloves and sanitiser before most people even knew what was going to hit them.

A couple of months later I realised the figures were being massively exaggerated and started to feel that if this was truly the pandemic we were being led to believe then they would be trying to massage the numbers down not up. Then came all the documents from the behavioural psychs advising the government on how to increase the sense of personal risk and fear in order to improve compliance with the rules. Things were not adding up and making sense.

I still don't know anyone that has had covid let alone been ill from it or died. I've no doubt people have caught this disease and have been ill or died from it but the response to it has been at best over the top and at worst very sinister indeed.[/quote]
@dividedwefall that's exactly how I feel and felt. I did have Covid and now have Long Covid. It's real and it's not nice. But the government response and the lockdowns have been way OTT.

PrincessNutNuts · 22/03/2021 21:42

Who could have predicted that the “Lockdown Sceptics” would end up spreading anti-vaccine bullshit, given vaccines are a way to end lockdown.

Against Lockdowns and also against doing things that help keep us out of lockdowns is a bold position. Grin

dividedwefall · 22/03/2021 21:46

@PrincessNutNuts

Who could have predicted that the “Lockdown Sceptics” would end up spreading anti-vaccine bullshit, given vaccines are a way to end lockdown.

Against Lockdowns and also against doing things that help keep us out of lockdowns is a bold position. Grin

I think you need to think through what you just said.

People who don't think the disease warrants the horrendous lockdowns and loss of liberty also don't think it warrants the mass use of a brand new vaccine technology in an emergency situation. Seems like one is a logical progression of the other, no?

Ilovewatermelon · 22/03/2021 21:48

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PrincessNutNuts · 22/03/2021 21:56

So what are you in favour of to deal with the pandemic and save British lives?

Masks perhaps?

@dividedwefall

Lifetheuniverseandeverything · 22/03/2021 21:57

Or we could have massive funding and investment into covid wards, ICU’s and staffing and lockdowns wouldn’t be necessary in the future ... 🤣🤣🤣🤣 imagine!!! Investing in the nhs 🤣🤣🤣🤣 let’s clap and it might happen.

Ilovewatermelon · 22/03/2021 21:58

@PrincessNutNuts

So what are you in favour of to deal with the pandemic and save British lives?

Masks perhaps?

I think you're missing the point

PrincessNutNuts · 22/03/2021 22:30

[quote Ilovewatermelon]@PrincessNutNuts

So what are you in favour of to deal with the pandemic and save British lives?

Masks perhaps?

I think you're missing the point[/quote]
What do you mean?

Ilovewatermelon · 22/03/2021 22:42

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Mamanyt · 22/03/2021 22:53

No. It is never going back to the "normal" that we think of, or at least, not for a long time. But I do believe that it will get much, much better. It is moving that way now, slowly.

Young children are adaptable, and will adapt to this "new normal" much faster than we will, especially if we can refrain from reminding them constantly about what they cannot do that they used to do. Focus, instead, on small steps forward, for their sakes.

Teens, on the other hand, are hormone-driven, angst-ridden creatures who are never happy with anything, anyway, so there you are. They are "dying" because of the restrictions, but if the virus suddenly went POOF, they'd be "dying" over something else.

riotlady · 22/03/2021 23:00

@Ilovewatermelon I'm no scientist

Never would have guessed Hmm

PrincessNutNuts · 22/03/2021 23:16

[quote Ilovewatermelon]@PrincessNutNuts

I'm no scientist but even if this was a pandemic it doesn't feel like what they're currently doing is working.

Build heard immunity, vulnerable tale precautions as they would most likely do in flu season anyway and everyone else carry on as normal.

If it wasn't on the news I bet no one would even know about this 'pandemic'[/quote]
Ah I see...

cryh · 23/03/2021 06:32

If it wasn't on the news I bet no one would even know about this 'pandemic' yes sure, like in Brazil? Where people are dying sat outside hospitals and at home? Where vets are having to send over horse medicine?

Yes, I am sure when 500,000 grandparents had died, no one would have noticed...

Walkaround · 23/03/2021 06:48

Well, it’s easy to complain lockdowns have been excessive and vaccination is unnecessary when you haven’t actually had to live through the consequences of that. You can claim anything in theory, including that you are wiser than the majority of the world.

Walkaround · 23/03/2021 06:55

*live through the consequences of not locking anything down and not vaccinating anybody.

BonnieDundee · 23/03/2021 07:49

It's also easy to say lockdowns are the answer when you're sitting in a comfortable house with a non-abusive partner, with a boss who is understanding about your contribution to work while home educating and not about to lose your job and become potentially homeless