Ah, this thread is so lovely. I just caught up. One week ago and there was so much doom around and I was spiralling very badly. I really couldn't cope with everything kicking off again, the last year has been so impossible for lots of reasons. I was in a really bad way, not helped by certain posters on this board being extremely negative. It has an impact and honestly, you could say don't read those threads but if you're dealing with anxiety sometimes part of that involves hunting for lots of information to try and assess risk so I do get drawn towards reading things I shouldn't. I had my usual doom plopper friends on FB too spreading every negative news story they could find. It's hard not to see them as getting some satisfaction from doing that, somehow.
I feel much lighter now with the news being more positive. I had to go to London for a work thing and I took a day just to be a tourist and pretend I was on holiday afterwards. I did 2 museums - one was extremely eery and quiet and then the other felt packed. It was hard to adjust but also brilliant. The tube was dead at one stage but I did 2 journeys where it felt more normal again and I really didn't worry much about being around people. I sat with a friend in a cafe for a bit and we put the world to rights and again, just to do something so simple was lovely. I've come home and done a lateral flow test and it's all ok. I will be getting out more when my 2nd jab is done, too.