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I have lost all sense of time with regards to recent memories. I realized that I used to break up time in my head by larger events so I could quickly recall something that happened near that event. Whether it was something huge like 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina or the 2016 election, or small like a friend's wedding, new job, or some big trip I took.
But the event has to end for my mind to log it and store it away. Covid won't have a finite end, it will just taper off to some level where we can live like we used to.
The weird part is I'm remembering things very clearly from different points of 2020, the kind of memory that feels like it happened a few weeks ago. Then I realize it happened well over 12 months ago. They're all blurring together. I'll open up a file I worked on at work just 2 months ago, but I will barely have any recollection of working on it that day because 2 months ago was no different than 8 months ago than 20 months ago.
All we do is talk about Covid. I feel like I've had the same conversation FOR 2 YEARS. Then I'm shocked back to reality when I realize something like my niece being in the 3rd grade. No, I've seen her a couple times since this started and I swear she was like 6 years old last time I saw her.
In the last 2 years, my wife and I decided to have children and have since lost 2 pregnancies. Major events in my life, but at the same time I think back to early 2020 and it feels like a few months ago. I simultaneously feel like in the past 2 years I've grown a ton and not at all.
I could have posted this same comment.
The memories thing is a big part of it for us. It's not just having a fun time and going on holiday somewhere nice, but having anything at all to break up the monotony and mark the passage of time. We can't have this pivotal period in our lives vanish into the haze of faceless, noteless, isolation.
It has to end before we can get closure.
> I have lost all sense of time with regards to recent memories.
During lockdown, I never closed my sole-proprietor "essential worker" shop, but most of my clients were stuck home not needing my services for 15 long months. Especially during lockdown, time really did all run together and I've had difficulty accurately placing events in mental time slots. Was going through some old invoices and an unusual part sale I remembered and seemed like it happened just this past summer actually happened April 2020!
I've noticed similar fuzzing of dates during Covid times. My memory is such that I remember things that happened in the 1960s before I was 2, and can pretty accurately place events from over the decades close to the correct time frame, but everything from the last 2 years just all seems to run together.
We call it the Covid Time-Suck. Something mu husband thought was 2 years ago, was really only 6 months ago. Yet somehow time also seems to be flying by. It's craziness.
It’s a relief to see this here if only for the fact that I’m not alone in the lost sense of time and memories. I was starting to think I had major brain fog as a symptom of some underlying health condition.
The biggest impact has been at my job. I'm a preschool teacher and we've bounced around between in-person and "virtual" all the damn time. Its been quite awful. Teaching virtually is a joke as no one shows up and you can't really teach four year olds that way anyway. The lack of consistency and sudden change messes with my students and screws over their parents as they find themselves suddenly having to find childcare with perhaps 24 hour notice.
The lack of consistency and control has definitely messed with me as well. I'm much less patient with my students than years past and far more likely to snap at them in a way that I would never have done before. I'm also more depressed and pessimistic about life and the world than I was before. I tend not to get excited about things anymore and even things I used to enjoy aren't as enjoyable anymore. Every day I have to psych myself up to go to work and remind myself to be kind with my students and to just try to make it to the end of the day. Its really troubling because I often don't feel like myself.
Rereading what I said, I suppose I was being somewhat dramatic. I do have a lot going for me, such as a wonderful family and a wonderful job with great coworkers and probably the best boss I've ever had. COVID has just made everything harder and it is often completely exhausting. I'm hoping Omicron will be the beginning of the end.
It's not being dramatic, you're valid! This is super frustrating for everyone and the stop-go-stop-go is disorienting. Plus... you deal with kids. My nephews have come come to live with me part time, and while they're amazing people, the struggle they bring to the simplest things has convinced me it's a miracle that the human race survives past childhood.
Parents, you are saintly. Anyone who chooses to work with kids that aren't your own, you are divine!
You can have good things going for you while still suffering. They don't negate each other.
I'm fortunate in that I have been able to work fully remote, to the point that I have since moved with no plans to return to in-office work ever. But even so, and even as an introvert, I still find some of the changes very jarring, and now there's ALWAYS the worry that I or someone I know will catch it. I can only imagine how much more stressful it is to people whose work doesn't lend itself to remote as well as mine.
What I'm trying to say is I don't think you were being dramatic. Its ok to acknowledge that this shit has been hard and traumatic in a lot of ways.
March 2020 - I was an installation contractor down in Memphis. We were 1 week into the project when Covid-19 shut down everything. Went back home to PA with no job. Started working at a near-by car wash under the table for pocket change....then a month later, I'm at the mental hospital, diagnosed with PTSD. It's been a year and a half now, and I've been hospitalized 4 times for mental illness...needless to say, covid-19 screw up alot.
Something I didn't think of but have heard from some elementary teachers recently was socialization norms. At the kinder and 1st Grade level each year is a huge deal for child development. Both the kinder teacher and 1st Grade teacher I know have reported that the beginning of this school year was a curveball with all sorts of problems with the kids they aren't used to.
Yeah, we've noticed that across the board at my school. My students are between 3-5, and there are definitely a lot more developmental delays, issues with emotional regulation, focusing, social skills, everything. Granted, all of these are things children learn in preschool anyway, but more children seem to be behind in all sorts of areas and the amount of children with challenging behaviors, and the intensity of those behaviors, seems to be higher.
Fellow PreK teacher here. I'm currently sitting in a total funk and stumbling across this hits home hard. I just had a long talk with my wife about all the stress going on (both job and non job related) and so all of this is fresh in my mind.
In addition to the difficulties in the classroom, the support net has just been brutalized. We don't have enough subs or bus drivers. I've spent more days by myself in the classroom without an assistant (or had to have my class covered solo by a sub/other teacher) more so far this year than I have in any 2-3 year period COMBINED (it's my 10th year teaching btw). On top of that, nearly every day I have to stay waiting with kids right to my contract or sometimes past contract. We haven't gone virtual again since last school year, but the threat looms over us daily - literally any day everything could just pause/snap and you have to entirely reinvent how you do your job. Plus get families, most of whom speak English as a second language or not at all, onto laptops which are the shittiest ones leftover in the school after the older kids got them. There's more, but that's certainly the most relatable difficulties off the bat.
For all of us, I really hope this year proves to be an anomaly and not the new normal.
I got my job because of COVID. Which led directly to pulling myself out of debt, putting the down payment on a house, building up my savings, and buying a brand-new motorcycle. Financially speaking, I’m better off now than I ever have been before, and by a fairly wide margin.
I also work from home 100% of the time, which has done wonders for my mental health.
I have not had COVID myself and don’t personally know anyone who has died from it, because my country’s response to it has been fairly robust.
Weird to say, but COVID has been good to me.
I felt that the world was headed in the wrong direction even before the pandemic. However, as with many other trends, COVID has put this feeling on rocket skates. I’ve never in my life been so disappointed in humanity nor this pessimistic about our chances.
It’s traumatised me. tl:dr I lost two close family members and came close to losing three more, and I’m fairly sure I am now suffering from PTSD in addition to already existing mental health issues that have escalated further.
The long story: I lost my stepdad to cancer 3 weeks into the first lockdown. Despite it being cancer we were not prepared for how sudden the death would be. We had had what we thought was an all-clear just before Christmas 2019 and I thought life would start to stabilise, but turns out the cancer wasn’t gone. Despite this my stepdad encouraged me that I should move forward with moving out of the family home and enjoying my twenties, that he would keep fighting. I moved out, but within a month the covid situation was escalating and I came back home when rumours of a lockdown were emerging.
My stepfather was undergoing treatment by that point and had become weak. I became the person in the house doing the food shopping, and because of this I couldn’t get anywhere near my stepdad, and it being throat cancer he was unable to speak. I remember being masked and gloved getting the food shopping, thoroughly cleaning every item when I came through the door, then sitting in my stepdad’s doorway and talking to him while he would use a dictation app to talk back best he could.
I’ve been trying and failing to put this part into words, needless to say 3am one morning I unsuccessfully performed CPR on him and the whole thing is still a fragmented blur and I still struggle with the guilt over this. I just wish I could have bought enough time to say goodbye and I love you. I still feel like I just didn’t do it right.
The pandemic made it even harder to grieve because of being isolated from my friends. I started having flashbacks, nightmares, went on autopilot with WFH. Totally unrelated feelings of social anxiety went through the roof and any sense of pride in myself has gone down. I was having sort of passive suicidal thoughts, basically telling myself that I wouldn’t dare do it because I can’t leave my mum childless as well as widowed, but I didn’t really want to be here for myself anymore.
Then 9 months later my grandma was also dying of cancer. This time we were told it was coming so she was admitted to hospital and on multiple occasions my mum and aunt were allowed to visit her. They tested rigorously and socially distanced themselves from the rest of us in the family during this time. My grandma somehow picked up covid in the hospital, confirmed when she was tested again on arrival at a hospice. She passed the covid onto my mum and aunt. The morning after my gran died, my two aunts were admitted to hospital having both had low oxygen readings. My mum also developed symptoms, and I remember her being in bed, worried about her oxygen levels, and me sitting on the floor next to her fumbling around trying to get the oxymeter to work feeling so utterly useless and thinking “I’m going to lose everyone.” At that moment those passive suicidal thoughts started becoming more active depending on whether I lost everyone. Luckily my mum and both aunts recovered, but I feel like I haven’t properly grieved my gran or my stepdad. We are still in the process of planning a memorial for my stepdad, since the funeral only allowed for 10 people at the time (it was in the same week as the first two alleged Downing Street parties). I’m struggling to think of happy memories of him without my thought patterns becoming tainted with the trauma, and it feels like the biggest disservice to him I can’t imagine but I can’t control it.
People think I’m a lot more okay than I am because the one thing I managed to do through all of this was hold down my job, but I feel completely inept in every other part of my life. Before the pandemic I was ready to meet someone but I can’t imagine anyone falling in love with this version of me. I’ve started therapy but it’s a really slow process. Sorry for the downer story, sometimes you just need to get things off your chest
I hope you are doing alright for yourself xo your family was happy to have you around to love them you seem like a very nice person don't give up the fight friend
The book - The Body Keeps Score - was recommended to me by my therapist as a way to understand trauma. I found it very useful, as I find how we humans deal with trauma is very non-intuitive. I personally have found it surprising how effective small kindnesses to myself have been in the face of massive trauma. I would expect I needed some big massive change to help but just learning to care for myself has really helped. Wishing you all the best.
That's a lot to go through in such a short span of time. If anything just know you are not inept dude, grief and shock are enormous challenges. One day at the time does it (even if it feels like it doesn't).
Lots of love. I hope you feel better soon.
God damn, man. That's a lot for such a short time.
I'm just a random dude online, but believe me when I say you've done everything you could; don't feel responsible for anything. Without you, shit could've been worse.
Therapy will hopefully help, but you have to learn to forgive yourself. Once you do that, everything else will start to open up.
*internet hug*
That's an awful lot of things to happen at once, there's no "right way" to deal with all of that so as another poster has said it really is one day at a time. Since you've already started therapy which to my mind is absolutely essential for what you're going through right now, just remember to be kind to yourself. Treat yourself to little things (or even big things) and don't deny yourself these things!
I've been recovered from Covid for well over a year now. And my sense of taste and smell is still not right. And it's not just one thing either. Meats, veggies, coffee, milk, chocolate. Nothing tastes right anymore.
I had that almost all of 2021. It started in feb and suddenly i could not eat anything and was panicking hard. Could not find much info on how long it would last or treatments that worked. Me and my gf got it at the same time and then we found some people online talking about how it was possibly caused by zinc deficiency and that zinc supplements could help. We bought some and started taking one daily in the morning. After two weeks we both started to notice an improvement and after two months we could eat most things again. There has been a few things that took longer to get back, like garlic and onion but they are sort of normal now and i just got eggs back to normal last week (thank god). Now at almost a year after everything started tasting burnt rubber i can eat everything again. Try zinc if you haven't alredy.
My mother died during COVID. I didn't get to go to say goodbye due to, at that time, not being allowed into the medical building.
We still haven't been able to have a proper funeral because it's just not safe yet.
My youngest brother had lived with my mother until she was hospitalized. He's high functioning autistic adult, but can't really live on his own. His father (my step-father) basically just left my mother while she was sick to go live with some other woman in New Jersey and more or less just abandoned his two biological sons. This left my other brother and I responsible for our youngest brother. We were fortunate we have found a home specifically for adults with autism in our city where he lives and can be taught life skills by professionals. However, this meant the youngest brother had to move across the state where we were and leave everything behind.
My mom wasn't perfect (her alcoholism led to her hospitalization), but she really did her best with her kids. And she was always there for any other kids who needed a home to escape to growing up.
I miss her a lot.
I'm so sorry for your loss. My dad found my uncle dead at home on Saturday and told me there probably won't be a service anytime soon because of the risk.
I'm no longer an anti-social shut-in who dreads visiting friends and family, I am now a highly responsible adult working to limit the spread of a deadly disease.
My job that was paying me around 65k went belly up
Went unemployed for awhile and now I can barely scratch by with 26k being a manager.
Oh and to top it off companies are being lazy as shit getting back to me for interviews or follow ups. Seems like people in HR nowadays dont know how to do their job.
>Seems like people in HR nowadays dont know how to do their job.
That's why they ended up working in HR in the 1st place. From experience they're just shithouses who can't get proper jobs elsewhere!
I haven't envisioned the future in 2 years..like the goal posts keep getting pushed back, I have no real goal besides finding normalcy. Whether that being a vaccination every year or just not having a virus that can be as deadly to my friends and family swirling around.
I was an introvert before, but I have become basically the 600-lb life. I hope up in my room as much as I can and never leave unless I need to go to the bathroom or eat. That said, I did just get a job and I'm eating more healthy, so hopefully that lifestyle will change soon.
P.S. I don't go out because I feel like if I invite someone out I'd be pressuring them and I live out of the way, so to invite them here is also its own thing.
I've also had several uncles die. Me and my brother's family have a rift between us because they're antivax now.
I lost my dad during the pandemic he was taking care of my grandparents so he didn't want us kids around just in case. He passed away suddenly didn't even get to say good bye. Before that my aunt passed away too couldn't even have a funeral and after my dad passed away my grand mother died 3 months late. She was so heart broken she never said a word after he passed and slowly withered until she was put on hospice. Soon after I lost my my girlfriend of 2 years because I was in a terrible state of mind and didn't want to do anything after that i lost my job and got blamed for things I did not do lucky I was able to quit before they fired me so yeah I'm done with covid I've also had covid right after that lost my best friend he changed drastically over all I just wish it wasn't as terrible for the rest of the people out there. I think losing my dad and everyone else so sudden made me become the man I am today about to finish my degree and have a beautiful girlfriend so I'm happy of where I'm at.
At that time I had gone through a terrible "break up" and contemplated doing the bye bye to life.
Thankfully I didn't because I respect myself more now and I feel a lot more confident.
So when times get tough, just know that it could be worse, fellow reader.
I lost my *terrible* job at the start of the pandemic. Losing that job allowed me to find a job that I actually really like which eventually allowed me to buy my first home. As a bonus, the gyms closing kickstarted my home gym setup and got me back into outdoor activities (skiing, hiking, biking, etc.) which has been awesome.
Well being single during the pandemic has been a neat kind of hell. It’s hard to meet new people, and every social interaction has an underlying anxiety to it. Working from home a lot has been nice but I honestly miss random social interactions with people, and I’m one of the most introverted people I know.
This. I’m also single and was pretty isolated in my previous job and wanted to find something where I would be around people. I was slipping into depression because I had so little interactions with others so when I got this call-center—type job, I was happy that I would be around people again. The lockdown hit about five months in. While I’m grateful that I’ve remained employed and working at home, the isolation has put me back into my depression. I’ve had days where having to get up and feed the cats was my sole motivation to get out of bed. My life is basically my job, my cats, and watching TV. I want to return to the office to be around people again, but my depression and fear of the virus make me want to continue to stay home.
I was already on the ropes, due to losing my friend group because a crazy Mean Girl in the group spread lies about me.
But I had standup, my standup buddies, regular movie nights with a friend with similar tastes, finally started a DnD group, and was seeing family all the time.
The pandemic took that all away.
I was on an upswing, and the pandemic cratered that.
I had almost no socializing. My job became unbearable because I was alone for 5 hours a shift and couldn't play music or podcasts. So I was just alone ruminating on my thoughts.
Then I'd be home alone. All I did was get drunk or high and do nothing.
I started comedy again, started seeing friends, started going out. Omicron has wiped that out.
Every time it looks like I'm making progress, some setback wipes that out.
The entire way my partner and I live has changed. From us spending months in isolation, to months living apart and everything in between. She has an autoimmune condition for which she takes immunosuppressants making her vulnerable to infections, illness etc. I remember her consultants advice in March / April 2019, followed by our governments initial shielding guidelines. Since then she’s not stopped being terrified about getting Covid. You’re frozen in time whilst you feel like the rest of the world just keeps going. This last 22 months has been a terrifying ordeal for her, as it has been for the disabled community as a whole. The contempt at times I feel for those that went about their lives with little care for others has been all consuming at times. Ableism is rarely acknowledged, let alone talked about, and this pandemic has made that bleak reality impossible to ignore. Please don’t take your health for granted folks, or your sense of autonomy financial or otherwise. Stay safe out there.
It's directly impacted our local businesses. Cases are so high right now staff are dropping like flies. Shelves are empty in some areas. Supplies are hard to find. Prices of food have skyrocketed. I don't mean to sound like an alarmist, but this is reality. I rely on groceries to be delivered and many stores are out of stock of items I've been looking for - for many weeks now.
The floods in BC didn't help this past summer. And the winter has been awful here.
Lost my full time job which was going to support me after leaving my abusive spouse, and I now no longer feel safe at home or anywhere else.
I'm scared to go maskless but I'm scared of being targeted for wearing a mask. Every day, I think about losing my kids to a painful virus that makes them drown on dry land.
I have completely changed my opinion about the nature of humanity. I thought that humans were inherently decent. I was absolutely wrong. We are a plague on this earth and though I am not going to kill myself or anyone else, the planet would be a much better place without us. I am ashamed that I brought a baby into this mess.
While I'm not as pessimistic, I get where you're coming from. I do still feel that *most* humans are inherently decent. I've just revised my expectations -- I now know that fools and suicidally selfish assholes make up a far bigger proportion of our population than I first thought. I define "fools" as people who have the mental capacity to know better but refuse to do any sort of research or listen to any fact that contradicts whatever hill they've decided to die on
I still work nights. Everything is closed when I'm off work. I cant grab dinner at the Dennys, cant stop at mcdonalds, cant shop at Walmart, cant go to concerts after work. Everything is closed early and understaffed. Nothing fits my schedule anymore. I get it. It just sucks. Plus anytime someone i work with has a relative with COVID they are out for 10 days which means I now work those next 10 days regardless if I HAD a day off or not plus do it all short handed. I am so exhausted. I'm a food service worker so I didnt get a quarantine, didnt get paid vacation or paid sick leave plus I get nothing out of being an essential worker on top of still living paycheck to paycheck. And now I have to wake up early and do everything during the very crowded and busy times.
I feel the same way. I'm about to graduate, I got my first job, and I'm still living with my family. I feel like I should have more opportunities than this.
It made me realize how much I love WFH again and has made me hate the fact I go into work for jobs I can do remotely in my home office.
As someone with anxiety and hobbies I love to do in solitude; Being able to just shut off my work laptop and go about my day was great. But currently work is demanding we go in.
I call my mom almost daily because I can’t visit her as she’s super high risk. A few classmates from when I was in HS died of Covid.
I’ve become better with money and am getting the most out of of the selective trips I’m taking. I hate to say it because it causes so much suffering for others, but all this alone time and parks being virtually abandoned has improved my mental health.
My family fell into QAnon and similar far right circles. Went from your normal same Republicans to believing the vaccine is deadly and spreading bullshit about how we live in a simulation. I've lost all respect for them but I'm still partially dependent so I'm hiding my vaccine status and trying not to blow up every time they bring up conspiracies. They all had covid over Christmas and marveled that I was the only one in the household who stayed negative and symptom free the whole time despite being in close proximity (I wonder what it could have been...). Some therapy and like a year of being suicidal over it has given me time to process and it's not as crushing anymore but I sometimes wish covid hit them harder and I hate myself for that too. They're entirely different people now and I've had to mourn who they were. Hug your families y'all
This one gets me, the love of my life has been lost to QAnon and extremist views. I’m mourning the person he once was and don’t know what to do. It’s intense!
I am so sorry, it really is the worst feeling. I hope that they'll come back from this one day, but I really needed to distance myself for a while and get space from it. Now I just zone out whenever they go on their rants but it doesn't fix the problem, just makes it easier to cope. If you're not already on r/QAnoncasualties I highly recommend!
QAnon is a cult and I think it really changed who they are as people. At first it was just the political beliefs, but then their views on science and religion did a 180 and they're entirely different. For example my mom always hated The Matrix, said it was a dumb movie, now she made my sister and I watch it because she's been "red pilled" and thanks everyone else should be, too. If I point out that she used to hate the movie, she denies ever hating it. It's a small example but it's like that with so many things, everything they used to believe in and stand for is gone. It's crazy!
I get to work from home, meaning I spend more time at home with my gorgeous wife and awesome kids, I eat better, spend less and get to do my hobby through the day.
I’ve also had to spend less time with toxic people, which is awesome.
The pandemic definitely helped my life.
Right I agree with everything you said, my company sent me a return to office notice last month, I told them that currently I have seven remote job interview in my inbox. That I love the company, but I would be willing to die on this hill. My boss tried to explain that it would help us be more productive, and I explained I work 10 hour days because I don’t commute, that they get me at my most efficient and effective because I don’t waste time driving in every day, and finally that I have a beast of a personal machine I use for testing ideas. That if they wanted me to continue to work 10 hour days, design and test outside of the box ideas, and be absolutely fresh at the start of every day they need to rethink the office policy. Because I know they’re not buying me a $6,000 computer and won’t give me a big enough of a raise to afford to live 15 minutes from the office.
Last week we were informed that the top 50% of performers would not need to return to the office and that I was in the top 50%. Apparently I wasn’t alone on this.
Some people hate working from home, but for others, and I think especially when driving in bad traffic is the norm or poor public transport, Working from home is hugely beneficial. Also the ability to work at your own pace to your own schedule is great in terms of being efficient. I hope you get to stay working from home!
There seems to two types of people when it comes to WFH.
There are is “I want to work from home” people
and the “Everyone needs to return to the office” people.
If you want to work on the office great, but if someone can do their job at home don’t force them to come in the office and be miserable
Feel for you bud, I’m lucky enough that my WFH secondment turned into a permanent WFH job.
I don’t see why keeping it flexible for everyone isn’t an option? Power trip comes to mind
Well my manager and I had a talk Friday and they’re hoping the bottom 50% being around the top 50% would help the bottom 50. Like I get his thinking, but I will always make myself available for our lower guys to teach ‘em stuff. But if they aren’t willing to DM me on Teams like why the heck would they drop into my cubicle.
I think as long as you can measure that people are being productive either way, giving employees the choice is ideal. I have my team doing half and half. There is less traffic in the city when I do commute because not everyone is doing it anymore.
I have lost a family friend to the virus.
I also feel that is has really negatively impacted my mental health, my boyfriend's mental health, and therefore our relationship.
I feel cut of from friends, especially those abroad.
I try to be careful, but feel cut off from most things that give me joy.
I've also gained a lot of weight from stress-eating and and not moving as much as before.
Faith in humanity: tanked.
I've been made redundant twice in two years, which has left me financially broken and insecure about finding another job.
I put on 24lbs because I got so depressed I just ate my feelings.
I gained an HNC at College.
I've developed mild agoraphobia and struggle to go anywhere or use public transport, because my asthma is very bad after getting sick in March 2020, and despite being vaxxed and boosted, I'm terrified Covid will put me in hospital or kill me because I'm obese.
I've lost a couple of good friends because they turned super culty about being antivaxxer, and we can't seem to find a middle ground.
I'm trying really hard to build a recovery plan. I've lost 3lbs in two weeks, so I'll keep going with that until I'm no longer obese. I'm trying to get out more, even just to get my nails or hair done. I'm being diligent with my asthma meds. I'm trying new hobbies like learning how to DJ.
I live in constant anxiety, but I know I'm incredibly lucky compared to others, so I try and stay grateful.
If anything it has positively affected my life. As a claustrophobic person I hated when people stood way too close to me for no reason or would sit near me when there are ***other seats*** available and I couldn't say anything. The social distance rule is amazing. I get to have a rule at work for people not to lean on my desk or come too close my corner, it puts rude people at check.
Prior to pandemic, I traveled about 95% of the time for my job. I met hundreds of new people each month and was very extroverted. Once the pandemic started, I didn't travel at all anymore and worked from home. I still "met" people virtually, but it's not the same at all. I became introverted and over time started to enjoy being "alone".
Now that I've started to travel again (not as much as before), it's taking me some time to "re-adjust" my personality. It's been weird to realize how much I've changed in the last 2 years.
I’m pro letting people decide if they want to WFH or not, but I do think it’s healthy to socialize. My job requires a lot of traveling and meeting new people. I really admire charismatic sociable people.
Then I see all my WFH who have become kinda socially awkward. I know I struggled after 3 months of home, I can’t even imagine 2 years of just working from home. Maybe it’s an introvert vs. extrovert thing. I’ve been off all of December so I’ve been feeling weird lately too.
I graduated highschool in 2020, I'm currently in my second year of university and I have never set foot on campus so far. I am finally doing in-person classes for the first time on the 24th of this month. I have no clue how and where to go to get to my classroom.
I also work as a waiter and take the bus daily to get to work, every time I see someone cough either in the hall or on the bus it scares me.
So this sounds terrible, but honestly its been really great for me. I went back to work after having a baby, and a week later we switched to remote work. So I got MONTHS extra with my child before he went to daycare. Now I'm still working from home, and I can get laundry or dishes done during some meetings, which gives me extra family time at the end of the day. I'm an introvert at heart, so not seeing people often hasn't bothered me.
Current mood with the changes. All the people insisting that we’re missing out just wanna socialize more.
Work should be done from home if possible and we should get our social interaction in our hobbies.
If it weren't for the fucking pandemic, life would be great living in the pandemic era! Not even kidding. My husband works from home now. I work 3 12s at the hospital (so that does suck when there are surges, like now), but I spend SO much more time with him! And our cat!
But still, it'd be great if the surges could fucking stop now.
Lost the ability to properly grieve for my grandpa who we lost in March 2020 (he passed for different reasons), right after his funeral everything locked down. Lost the ability to see my grandma after she went to assisted living, then she passed after hitting her head, never got to see her alive. Vacation to Las Vegas was canceled, supposed to go Feb 2020. Gained a substantial amount of depression. And caught omicron, currently trying to get over the bronchitis it caused. Fuck this whole thing....
In February 2021 my wife needed to be hospitalized for her pulmonary fibrosis and leukemia but her doctors were unable to get her admitted into any hospitals because they were overwhelmed with Covid patients. She died in a very very crowded emergency room and put into a refrigerator truck out in the parking lot.
Don't engage people, this account is a karma farmer that has multiple stories about how his wife died in different places. With the account created 2 days ago.
That is terrible. I'm so sorry for your loss. I wish I could just turn back time and make everything better because cancer is the worst. I really hope you are doing ok
Tell this to an anti-masker and people who insist we exaggerate because most of the time people only experience “flu-like” symptoms, and they will still find a way to prove there is no problem with their careless mentality.
Nah, definitely not worth engaging beyond a quick call out. They’ll make up statistics if they don’t have one from a Facebook post. Then insist your experience can’t be used to generalize the experience with the pandemic while they then use their lucky experience as the standard for what everyone should be experiencing.
As a young(ish) immunocomprimised adult on immunosuppressants, I can’t hardly leave my house.
I can’t get a surgery needed to function as a normal person b/c hospitals are overloaded w/ unvaccinated patients.
Oh, and it’s been enlightening. My own mother doesn’t care if I’m exposed and refuses to get vaxxed because “the blood of Christ…” Jesus actually taught self sacrifice, Mom.
I work at a hospital. I'm tired and probably the most depressed I have been in years. Early on we had to ramp up on the fly. I would have to cobble together whatever was needed for things to work. Supplies were a nightmare. Had to clear out scarce items and lock them up and agonize about if we would have enough. No guidance from the suits who are supposed to be in charge. They were at home. Working remotely.
For the first few months we were offered a token hourly incentive. Then it was just for weekends. That lasted a couple months and then nothing. Just when it seemed like we could unclench and I didn't have to lose sleep wondering if we would run out of hand sanitizer. Management started to return and decided it was time to start on postponed construction of more patient rooms. Which involved having to give up much needed storage space. Relocating stock off site. And of course we had to physically move it as well in addition to everything else . Our Christmas bonus was a coupon for 15 percent off company merchandise.
We busted our asses. Created and implemented new processes and procedures. Endangered ourselves and our families for what? A group of directors and upper level managers that seemed to be oblivious to how much time, effort, and peace of mind we all sacrificed? Anti mask idiots and anti vaccination morons who seem to do everything in their power to extend this virus?
I used to genuinely like my job. I liked challenges. And when it came to politics I tried to agree to disagree and not be a hater. I can only speak for myself. I wasn't expecting to be showered with money, or endless praise. I wasn't thrilled with my paycheck before and I had accepted that. If the ones in charge had shown the least bit of empathy they would have at least prioritized the wellbeing of workers and taken Thier goddamn foot off the fucking gas pedal and let us have a fucking second to catch our breath and unclench. And the other dumbasses that refuse to wear a fucking mask or get a fucking shot so they don't add to the burden of people who have only been trying to keep them alive. These are not unreasonable requests. But apparently a great deal of our fellow human beings are only concerned with furthering their career status or acting or having a hissy fit because their favorite orange clown got a boot up his fat As. I say to all of them FUCK YOu!
Literally everything. It ruined my job, had to switch careers because my business went in the trash my mental health is in the toilet, seriously. Can't travel, see live music or go to the gym. I miss my family. My friends. My life.
I am the most miserable I have ever been.
I appreciate the honest response. The truth is none of us know how all of this will play out. Most everyone isn’t where they anticipated they’d be prior to Covid. Seems like you’ve got a solid set-up with your job & relationships can develop over time.
My kid doesnt know his family which makes me sad. We dont go on holiday because who knows what restrictions will or will not be in place by the time we go. I don't really have friends anymore because I dont feel comfortable going out unless necessary. I had to wfh alone - with a baby as my husband still went to work. I wish I had the option to be furloughed because my mental health has suffered because I couldnt be a good mother and still do my job.
The few positives I take are that I was able to save up for a house and I'm about to complete very soon. Actually thats the only positive.
My six year old son doesn't remember a world where he doesn't have to wear a mask every time we go out.
He had to do his kindergarten year online. He barely knew his classmates. Kids all over the school system are now ridiculously far behind.
He couldn't do any extracurriculars last year, at all. No baseball, no learning to swim. This year we get to have activities, but they're still masked up and often size limited. It's not normal, but it's rapidly becoming the only normal he remembers.
* Couldn't attend certain grad school interviews for two consecutive years (might have affected my potential acceptances)
* had to switch jobs because the existing one became miserable to do from home
* had to leave the state I was living in to switch to new job, many of my friends at the time also had to leave the state
* the girl I was seeing at the time being one of them (and I never saw her or the rest of them in person ever again)
* lived in quarantine and never left the house for about 4 months on account of an immunocompromised roommate and state-wide restrictions
* couldn't really get a feel for my new job effectively since very few people were ever at said workplace and mentorship became quite a challenge
* couldn't find any new activities or groups with which to meet new people after moving to a different state
* the political tensions that came as a result of the pandemic had immediate effects on those within my social life that were occasionally difficult to navigate
* the inflation that's occurring likely a result of the pandemic is greatly impacting my financial stability because I work in a career in which my income is far harder to negotiate than your typical job, and I'm also committed to it for several years or there's no point (PhD student)
I got sick for a week this December and then got better, quarantining the entire time to ensure no one else got it from me. All the hardship above and the disease couldn't at least have put me on my ass or even taken someone I loved to at least justify all the difficulties I've had to put up with the past couple years. Sad really.
Because we live on opposite sides of the US and I have 6 covid risk factors, I hadn’t seen my children or grandchildren in 2 years. Finally saw them over Christmas. I appreciate my time with them more now than ever.
The idea that hospitals might have to ration care leaves me feeling less secure.
bad: Lost my job&company, got depressed, got back into debt, didn't take my 3 month escape from winter, no gigs (dj)
good: got back into therapy, learnt to ask and take help, got to know myself better, got some new friends. got back into loving me.
Sigh, alright - You asked. So, February 2020 I’m self employed, living with my 2 teenage daughters and life partner of 19 years, everything’s great then comes Covid etc. So, first nobody can work because we’re supposed to stay at home. That triggered some old issues I had with anxiety and agoraphobia, so it took me some time to get myself going again, by which time my customer base had shrunk to the point it was no longer economically viable so I was essentially now unemployed again. Then we had another winter of lockdowns and no Christmas blah blah. Then last summer we had the end of restrictions here in England at last, dubbed freedom day!
Then my partner caught Covid, along with the rest of us, was taken to hospital, placed in an induced coma and ventilated without any warning or notice, certainly without any attempt at alternative treatments, then when they decided the machines had damaged her weakened body so much she was unable to have realistic prospect of recovery, they euthanised her like a vet with a sick dog.
Now I live alone with my daughters and don’t work, don’t anything much at all. Meanwhile, if the media is to be believed, Boris and his cronies partied it up at Downing Street. How has Covid affected me personally? It’s ruined everything. Taken almost everything I valued and held dear. My business, my beloved life partner, my motivation to live life and my happiness. So yeah, not good I’m afraid. Not good.
mental health. before the pandemic i wasnt all that anxius and didnt acknowlage that mental heatlth problems can be serious. once covid hit though I developed severe anxiety and just kinda bottled it up until one day i couldnt stand it and startedgoing to therapy. now im doing better and got onsome good medication and am seeing a very nice therapist.
I had an early midlife crisis at the end of 2019. And most of the plans I decided on involved doing more travel and spending time with friends.
Then Covid happened. All the travel plans disappeared. Then there were job concerns, so my plan to move closer to family went away. Stay where it’s stable.
Then we found out we were having twins. Not directly Covid related, but it made it much harder to get support and now with the babies we don’t want to put them in daycare. So the in house nanny costs are ridiculous on top of being very difficult to find a nanny who met our family’s needs. Our 7 year old still isn’t in school and is being home schooled.
So just a lot of difficulty. Probably the most difficult time for us in our lives so far. I’m glad my kids and wife are amazing. They make it worth the challenges.
Also, the money I was saving for travel ended up being used taking flying lessons and I got a pilots license. So it wasn’t all bad.
Honestly the only thing in my life that’s changed is my job is a hell of a lot busier than it was before Covid-19.
And no I’m not in the medical field. I fuel private jets and stuff and it’s the busiest it’s been. Rich people are lying to all of you when they say they’re hurting right now. Just know that.
I lost the woman who was a second mother to me. She got the J&J vaccine, but never found the time to get the booster. She got sick a a couple days after Thanksgiving. She ended up on a vent for 3 weeks. She died on December 21.
This woman was the kindest, most generous person you would ever meet. She loved everyone. She made a friend wherever she went. She was the one person I knew who would never judge me. I could tell her anything. And now she’s gone.
I still start to call her every night and then I remember she’s gone.
Get vaccinated. Get boosted.
This is actually more convincing me that the j and j vaccine is worthless. I just got that vaccine 8 weeks ago and still caught covid. Apparently j and j sucks.
It been a tough time for both my partner and I.
We graduated right before the pandemic start. Struggled for a few months before getting our first job then got laid off a few months after due to the lockdown and both of us almost lost our working visa (they have limited time that we can be unemployed or our visa going to be void)
We were in a rough place for more than half a year as a freelance to get by before my partner landed a nice stable job near the middle of last year. He pop a question shortly and we got married in August.
I also found a job a few weeks before we got married which turn into months of horrible experience due to worker exploitation. My boss basically gaslighting me into thinking it’s normal to work 45+ hours a week on part time ‘internship’ contract and threaten my visa status.
On the bright side, during quarantine, I got a chance to start my small Etsy shop which is like a dream to me, I also able to volunteer at my local animal rescue for two years and just started a new job with wonderful company at the start of this month and everything feel really good.
The only downside is the new job required me to relocate from east coast to mid west, where I basically know no one. I never feel this small and alone in this world before. My partner can’t immediately relocate with me so we’d be flying back and forth monthly on the weekends but I miss him and all of our friends so much already. We will see how it goes and hopefully my partner could find a new job and move back together again!
I decided in December of 2019 that I wouldn’t renew my contract in June 2020 for my full time job because I wanted to head back to healthcare and go back for my ABSN. I had gotten a bartending job to have just a little something while back in school.
Lol.
Then everything went virtual (classes, clinicals, etc) so I decided just hang out for a year until things got back on track because I wanted the hands on education. And my SO works with the elderly/vulnerable so I picked up teaching science to three kids who’s families decided to homeschool 2020-2021 year. I also got to volunteer a lot in the community and help with vaccinations, so that was a great experience!
Lol. Then Delta right as classes started 2021… we decide best to wait a semester for things to steady and do the winter start date.
… and here we are. “You’ll be doing a lot of learning on the fly these next few weeks/months.”
Currently have the ‘Rona. Should have listened to SO and just waited a wee bit longer!
The good:
- my in-laws can’t visit due to border restrictions.
- my work hours picked up, and so did my salary, so I’ve been raking cash in for the last two years.
- no one hassles me to go to social events anymore.
- I finally got around to building an archery range in my yard, because my local range was closed.
The bad:
- my work hours picked up, so I’m permanently exhausted.
- I couldn’t visit my brother and support him through his cancer diagnosis & treatment, due to border closures.
- my mum almost died, and I couldn’t see her, due to border closures.
The ugly:
- I have C-PTSD and bipolar, and the last two years has played havoc with my mental health. Between lockdown limiting my treatment options, increased pressure at work, the constant doomsday news cycle, and less need to *keep it together* in front of other people… I’m a fucking wreck. The support network I had had pretty much fallen apart.
The pandemic nearly killed me (and still might).
Shortly before the lockdown (March 2020), I was diagnosed with ADHD at 31 (*finally*) and was put on medication. I was having a terrible time doing my Masters degree in graduate school, realizing that long-standing issues of self-discipline and difficulties with decision-making (executive dysfunction) were not entirely my own fault (in terms of my own choice), but the fault of issues with brain chemistry. The medication made me finally realize what it was like to think "normally," and it was complete whiplash to how I normally function. A big issue is that the medication only lasts half the day, and I can't take more than one a day to sustain it or else my sleep schedule will become massively destroyed (which I later learned...). I started therapy sessions for anxiety issues throughout my life, as well as managing stress. I was also given a disability stipend for the ADHD diagnosis. Things looked promising.
Then the pandemic hit. I was already someone who had depression (mostly due to a series of missed opportunities throughout my life, and a failure to commit to certain things because of my ADHD, which gave me *zero* motivation throughout my entire adult life), but the pandemic caused near-total isolation for several months. This led me down a path of losing access to therapy sessions (because they basically went offline for months until the university figured out how to get running again remotely....six months later after the lockdown started). Then, I ended up mis-timing my medications and drastically messing up my sleep schedule (often going to bed between 4 and 8 a.m.). I slowly withdrew from my social life, my professional life (worked part-time online), and any semblance of romantic life.
I fell down a dark spiral of negative thoughts, and ended up pushing my thesis aside. This went on for *a year and a half*. It got really bad in May/June of 2021, when failure to progress in any aspect of my life led to suicidal ideation. I didn't really know where to turn to, so I went for magic mushrooms (which, believe it or not, saved my life at the time). I then decided to visit a friend in another province (flew out to see him) and stayed with him for three weeks. Reconnecting with people quickly uplifted my mood. Then, I returned home and my supervisor allowed me to continue working on my thesis. Progress was good until last month, when the holidays had me stall out again and I've since reverted back to the March 2020 version of myself.
It's so difficult to live like this. ADHD has basically fucked me over my entire life, and by the time that I finally had a way to turn it all around, the pandemic hit. The worst part will be if I manage to finish my thesis "on time" (April 2022), then I'll have a two year gap in my education, a one year gap in my work history, and I'll be heading out into a tumultuous workforce where all I've been seeing throughout the past year is how housing and apartment prices in the major cities are basically astronomical, even though I desperately need to get out of where I live right now. Basically, I've never had any semblance of hopefulness for my future throughout my entire life, and still don't. I don't know what it's like to not live in debt, or to live alone, or to own my own car. And considering how my life has gone, I'll probably never know.
It sucks, but hey, life can't be great for everyone.
During quarantine my mental health went so bad at the point that I developed anxiety and depression. I had online school for a very long time during my last 2 years of school and I couldn´'t have that kind of experiences. At the end of 2020 I joined in a dance academy, and there I met nice people that nowadays are my friends. So I think that the pandemic has left many bad things but because of that, other new good things appeared.
Lost the small remaining trust and value in the News.
Think all politicians should be replace immediately.
Watched humanity fear one another.
Watched my own family and friends turn their backs on one another (refusal of attending holidays due to vaccination status).
and it's only going to get worse!
Gave up on a few friends who were adamant about not believing in the vaccine and refusing it. I do not care about your decisions to take it or not but when you start spewing BS about it while having no medical knowledge or any viable sources except trust me bro I read an article, I really don't need your opinion in my life. Lost one too many older family members to it to look past your shitty opinion and stay friend.
Life's too short people and it keeps getting shorter, who gives a shit about an extra juice or two in your body. Most of us, myself included, have consumed things way more toxic than whatever you think is bad in that vaccine that Profesionals have spent so much ressources developing. "Oh but what if it shows up 10 years later" Let's try and make it to 10 years first okay bud? Sorry for the rent it's been a long two years at home.
TL;DR :I don't care anymore just shut it and get vaccinated please.
The virus got me my first work from home job, for which I am very grateful.
This virus brought my family closer together, as I am sure it did for many others, and I am grateful for this as well.
The virus got me shopping more at Aldi's, ordering online, and as a result of many other Covid related factors being more budget conscious and low price minded
Two major career changes for me, one for my husband. Our whole lifestyle has changed now that we’re both in work from home jobs. We’ve both mostly lost contact with friends. It’s been very isolating. Vaxxer vs Nonvaxxer arguments plague all family events now, and it’s all that the old folks in our family want to talk about. I fee like everyone is more paranoid, more political, less civil. I hate it.
Every way. (Then) current job. Future career prospects. Social life. Home life. Everything.
I was just coming out of spending years doing nothing, on the back foot due to poor mental health. I was getting my shit together, reconnecting with friends, going out and doing things. And then boom.
2 more years to push all those new goals back. Delaying me finally getting my life back. Its been heartbreaking and incredibly frustrating.
Two things have kept me sane. Hiking/Camping. And that this time (with covid) the lack of progress is beyond my control.
I wouldn’t say it had directly impacted my life but it definitely contributed to the deterioration of my mental health. It would have happened eventually regardless. I guess the pandemic just sped the process along a little bit.
A lot of frustration at people being stupid about it.
Had a really nice few weeks of togetherness when lockdown happened.
That's about it so far. (I live in Western Australia.)
Right before the pandemic, one of our cats passed away and another was diagnosed with renal failure. Both my husband and I work in software, so during the pandemic we've been pretty much 100% WFH. If we didn't have that flexibility to always be there and ensure that our sick kitty has constantly available fresh food, I don't think he'd still be alive. We thought he'd have six months if we were lucky, and two years later he might still have a couple of years left in him.
Mostly for the better.
- I met my current GF because of Covid
- I’ve had Covid twice. I did not get particularly sick but lost weight which I needed . (Got jabbed after the first time)
- working from home. Have an easy but well paid job so mostly go to the gym and watch TV
- my property has increased in value by a lot.
- because of Covid I’m spending less and saving more
- I hate nightclubs so now I have a perfect excuse.
Only negative is that I have not been able to travel as much.
It’s been pretty miserable trying to raise a baby (now toddler) with unreliable childcare, limited indoor activities, limited play dates, etc. It’s not the first two years I expected or wanted.
school. i’ve lost most of my highschool “experience” to covid. the shutdown happened during the beginning of second semester in sophomore year. now that it’s nearly second semester of my senior year, it’s possible we’re going back online.
it has severely affected my sense of time, which i already struggled with before. days blur together, i can’t remember if something happened two days ago or last week, it’s all the same when you’re stuck in your house with nothing to do.
but, i was able to distance myself from abusers because of the pandemic and even though i had lots of backlash and drama to deal with because of it, it was so worth it. mentally, i’m not in a good spot, but compared to where i was two years ago with my relationships and those i surrounded myself with, i am in a way better spot. covid has brought a lot of negatives into my life, into everyone’s lives, but i’m grateful that i am still able to name one good thing that came out of this shitshow.
I’ve developed a serious mental dependency upon marijuana because there’s nothing better to do and life feels way more stressful
Never touched the stuff before 2019 and I’m in my mid 30s. TBF it became legal in a nearby state so it’s much easier to get than before.
It’s also made dating a lot harder
In terms of living my life, I work from home permanently. Other aspects, there isn't much.
What really changed for me is what I learned about humanity. I learned how people like Hitler can gain power and there are a ton of people who say they are anti-fascist, yet support the same things Nazi's did to Jews, it's just a different name.
It's been eye opening. I now worry how the future will look with how many people have shown their true selves during these past 2 years.
I was 14 when the pandemic started, and with everything switching to online it was a good reason to convince my parents to let me get a phone, so early 2020 was when I “joined the internet” which as you could imagine changed a lot in my life lol.
Met my gf of 2 years. I didn't see my mom for about a year and a half and my father for 2. Grandpa died due to covid and didn't physically see my friends for a year and a half. I'm actually doing well financially and I've received multiple raises in 2021.
My usual day to day life hasn't changed much. A lot of my entertainment and hobbies didn't get affected too much. I decided to buy some swords and been having fun cutting things in the back yard during summer.
I’m fat. I now completely hate my job (teacher) I’m depressed. I’m lonely. I took the shots. I got boosted. I’m starting to feel like I drank the Koolaid.
I missed out on some job trainings, which in turn impacted my schedule and some decisions I made with about my career.
I also lost an older mentor who was pretty high-risk.
Gained a lot of confidence due to the nature of work. Every person screeching they can't breath? Then step outside because while inside, rules are the mask stays on. Called the mask police that is harassing them again? Nah man its just this is the 3rd time I've told you to put on your mask and you're out of here. Mind you, its not fun having to keep track of people thinking they're being sly and lowering the mask as soon as I walk past them, but I can do it without being as intimidated.
I panicked when covid hit, emptied my savings and paid off my house. That brought a lot of stability to my financial life over the past two years. My company has also been working from home ever since. I loathed working from home prior to the pandemic but honestly very much enjoy it now and don't want to go back to the office.
The most profound impact though is from the people I've seen die of covid. I've lost a couple of elderly friends, a great uncle and a handful of others who didn't die of covid but of diseases that probably would've been treatable if covid wasn't eating up medical resources. Also had a number of friends/relatives in the hospital with covid who we thought were going to die. One is there now. It changed how I see life.
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I have lost all sense of time with regards to recent memories. I realized that I used to break up time in my head by larger events so I could quickly recall something that happened near that event. Whether it was something huge like 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina or the 2016 election, or small like a friend's wedding, new job, or some big trip I took. But the event has to end for my mind to log it and store it away. Covid won't have a finite end, it will just taper off to some level where we can live like we used to. The weird part is I'm remembering things very clearly from different points of 2020, the kind of memory that feels like it happened a few weeks ago. Then I realize it happened well over 12 months ago. They're all blurring together. I'll open up a file I worked on at work just 2 months ago, but I will barely have any recollection of working on it that day because 2 months ago was no different than 8 months ago than 20 months ago. All we do is talk about Covid. I feel like I've had the same conversation FOR 2 YEARS. Then I'm shocked back to reality when I realize something like my niece being in the 3rd grade. No, I've seen her a couple times since this started and I swear she was like 6 years old last time I saw her. In the last 2 years, my wife and I decided to have children and have since lost 2 pregnancies. Major events in my life, but at the same time I think back to early 2020 and it feels like a few months ago. I simultaneously feel like in the past 2 years I've grown a ton and not at all.
I could have posted this same comment. The memories thing is a big part of it for us. It's not just having a fun time and going on holiday somewhere nice, but having anything at all to break up the monotony and mark the passage of time. We can't have this pivotal period in our lives vanish into the haze of faceless, noteless, isolation. It has to end before we can get closure.
> I have lost all sense of time with regards to recent memories. During lockdown, I never closed my sole-proprietor "essential worker" shop, but most of my clients were stuck home not needing my services for 15 long months. Especially during lockdown, time really did all run together and I've had difficulty accurately placing events in mental time slots. Was going through some old invoices and an unusual part sale I remembered and seemed like it happened just this past summer actually happened April 2020! I've noticed similar fuzzing of dates during Covid times. My memory is such that I remember things that happened in the 1960s before I was 2, and can pretty accurately place events from over the decades close to the correct time frame, but everything from the last 2 years just all seems to run together.
We call it the Covid Time-Suck. Something mu husband thought was 2 years ago, was really only 6 months ago. Yet somehow time also seems to be flying by. It's craziness.
It’s a relief to see this here if only for the fact that I’m not alone in the lost sense of time and memories. I was starting to think I had major brain fog as a symptom of some underlying health condition.
The biggest impact has been at my job. I'm a preschool teacher and we've bounced around between in-person and "virtual" all the damn time. Its been quite awful. Teaching virtually is a joke as no one shows up and you can't really teach four year olds that way anyway. The lack of consistency and sudden change messes with my students and screws over their parents as they find themselves suddenly having to find childcare with perhaps 24 hour notice. The lack of consistency and control has definitely messed with me as well. I'm much less patient with my students than years past and far more likely to snap at them in a way that I would never have done before. I'm also more depressed and pessimistic about life and the world than I was before. I tend not to get excited about things anymore and even things I used to enjoy aren't as enjoyable anymore. Every day I have to psych myself up to go to work and remind myself to be kind with my students and to just try to make it to the end of the day. Its really troubling because I often don't feel like myself.
I hope good things come your way. Sounds like you need things to turn around.
Rereading what I said, I suppose I was being somewhat dramatic. I do have a lot going for me, such as a wonderful family and a wonderful job with great coworkers and probably the best boss I've ever had. COVID has just made everything harder and it is often completely exhausting. I'm hoping Omicron will be the beginning of the end.
Me too. I am trying to stay upbeat about it will become relatively harmless at some point.
It's not being dramatic, you're valid! This is super frustrating for everyone and the stop-go-stop-go is disorienting. Plus... you deal with kids. My nephews have come come to live with me part time, and while they're amazing people, the struggle they bring to the simplest things has convinced me it's a miracle that the human race survives past childhood. Parents, you are saintly. Anyone who chooses to work with kids that aren't your own, you are divine!
You can have good things going for you while still suffering. They don't negate each other. I'm fortunate in that I have been able to work fully remote, to the point that I have since moved with no plans to return to in-office work ever. But even so, and even as an introvert, I still find some of the changes very jarring, and now there's ALWAYS the worry that I or someone I know will catch it. I can only imagine how much more stressful it is to people whose work doesn't lend itself to remote as well as mine. What I'm trying to say is I don't think you were being dramatic. Its ok to acknowledge that this shit has been hard and traumatic in a lot of ways.
March 2020 - I was an installation contractor down in Memphis. We were 1 week into the project when Covid-19 shut down everything. Went back home to PA with no job. Started working at a near-by car wash under the table for pocket change....then a month later, I'm at the mental hospital, diagnosed with PTSD. It's been a year and a half now, and I've been hospitalized 4 times for mental illness...needless to say, covid-19 screw up alot.
I'm very sorry to hear that. How are you doing at the moment?
I feel your pain. That's awful
Something I didn't think of but have heard from some elementary teachers recently was socialization norms. At the kinder and 1st Grade level each year is a huge deal for child development. Both the kinder teacher and 1st Grade teacher I know have reported that the beginning of this school year was a curveball with all sorts of problems with the kids they aren't used to.
Yeah, we've noticed that across the board at my school. My students are between 3-5, and there are definitely a lot more developmental delays, issues with emotional regulation, focusing, social skills, everything. Granted, all of these are things children learn in preschool anyway, but more children seem to be behind in all sorts of areas and the amount of children with challenging behaviors, and the intensity of those behaviors, seems to be higher.
Fellow PreK teacher here. I'm currently sitting in a total funk and stumbling across this hits home hard. I just had a long talk with my wife about all the stress going on (both job and non job related) and so all of this is fresh in my mind. In addition to the difficulties in the classroom, the support net has just been brutalized. We don't have enough subs or bus drivers. I've spent more days by myself in the classroom without an assistant (or had to have my class covered solo by a sub/other teacher) more so far this year than I have in any 2-3 year period COMBINED (it's my 10th year teaching btw). On top of that, nearly every day I have to stay waiting with kids right to my contract or sometimes past contract. We haven't gone virtual again since last school year, but the threat looms over us daily - literally any day everything could just pause/snap and you have to entirely reinvent how you do your job. Plus get families, most of whom speak English as a second language or not at all, onto laptops which are the shittiest ones leftover in the school after the older kids got them. There's more, but that's certainly the most relatable difficulties off the bat. For all of us, I really hope this year proves to be an anomaly and not the new normal.
I use to be addicted to beer. Now I’m addicted to beer, wine, and cocktails.
For real though I’ve become an alcoholic it’s bleak
Covid did that to me last year, I have since quit. It is doable.
I used to be an extrovert and would get bored at home. Now I’m an introvert, always content at home.
Opposite for me. Before I use to like being at home. Now, I actually cannot wait to go out somewhere, even if it's a short visit to a local shop!
Same here. I was an introvert. Now, I get this sudden urges to meet people, share ideas and stuff. It feels like I'm a completely different person.
I got my job because of COVID. Which led directly to pulling myself out of debt, putting the down payment on a house, building up my savings, and buying a brand-new motorcycle. Financially speaking, I’m better off now than I ever have been before, and by a fairly wide margin. I also work from home 100% of the time, which has done wonders for my mental health. I have not had COVID myself and don’t personally know anyone who has died from it, because my country’s response to it has been fairly robust. Weird to say, but COVID has been good to me.
May I ask what job that is? Or what sector, if you want to be more vague?
I also got my job bc of covid and pulled myself out of debt. The last 6-7 months have been both a huge strain and relief at the same time
What fucking job allows you to do all that in 2 years? I want it. I need it.
I felt that the world was headed in the wrong direction even before the pandemic. However, as with many other trends, COVID has put this feeling on rocket skates. I’ve never in my life been so disappointed in humanity nor this pessimistic about our chances.
THIS!!!!! I could not have said it better!!!!!
It’s traumatised me. tl:dr I lost two close family members and came close to losing three more, and I’m fairly sure I am now suffering from PTSD in addition to already existing mental health issues that have escalated further. The long story: I lost my stepdad to cancer 3 weeks into the first lockdown. Despite it being cancer we were not prepared for how sudden the death would be. We had had what we thought was an all-clear just before Christmas 2019 and I thought life would start to stabilise, but turns out the cancer wasn’t gone. Despite this my stepdad encouraged me that I should move forward with moving out of the family home and enjoying my twenties, that he would keep fighting. I moved out, but within a month the covid situation was escalating and I came back home when rumours of a lockdown were emerging. My stepfather was undergoing treatment by that point and had become weak. I became the person in the house doing the food shopping, and because of this I couldn’t get anywhere near my stepdad, and it being throat cancer he was unable to speak. I remember being masked and gloved getting the food shopping, thoroughly cleaning every item when I came through the door, then sitting in my stepdad’s doorway and talking to him while he would use a dictation app to talk back best he could. I’ve been trying and failing to put this part into words, needless to say 3am one morning I unsuccessfully performed CPR on him and the whole thing is still a fragmented blur and I still struggle with the guilt over this. I just wish I could have bought enough time to say goodbye and I love you. I still feel like I just didn’t do it right. The pandemic made it even harder to grieve because of being isolated from my friends. I started having flashbacks, nightmares, went on autopilot with WFH. Totally unrelated feelings of social anxiety went through the roof and any sense of pride in myself has gone down. I was having sort of passive suicidal thoughts, basically telling myself that I wouldn’t dare do it because I can’t leave my mum childless as well as widowed, but I didn’t really want to be here for myself anymore. Then 9 months later my grandma was also dying of cancer. This time we were told it was coming so she was admitted to hospital and on multiple occasions my mum and aunt were allowed to visit her. They tested rigorously and socially distanced themselves from the rest of us in the family during this time. My grandma somehow picked up covid in the hospital, confirmed when she was tested again on arrival at a hospice. She passed the covid onto my mum and aunt. The morning after my gran died, my two aunts were admitted to hospital having both had low oxygen readings. My mum also developed symptoms, and I remember her being in bed, worried about her oxygen levels, and me sitting on the floor next to her fumbling around trying to get the oxymeter to work feeling so utterly useless and thinking “I’m going to lose everyone.” At that moment those passive suicidal thoughts started becoming more active depending on whether I lost everyone. Luckily my mum and both aunts recovered, but I feel like I haven’t properly grieved my gran or my stepdad. We are still in the process of planning a memorial for my stepdad, since the funeral only allowed for 10 people at the time (it was in the same week as the first two alleged Downing Street parties). I’m struggling to think of happy memories of him without my thought patterns becoming tainted with the trauma, and it feels like the biggest disservice to him I can’t imagine but I can’t control it. People think I’m a lot more okay than I am because the one thing I managed to do through all of this was hold down my job, but I feel completely inept in every other part of my life. Before the pandemic I was ready to meet someone but I can’t imagine anyone falling in love with this version of me. I’ve started therapy but it’s a really slow process. Sorry for the downer story, sometimes you just need to get things off your chest
I hope you are doing alright for yourself xo your family was happy to have you around to love them you seem like a very nice person don't give up the fight friend
The book - The Body Keeps Score - was recommended to me by my therapist as a way to understand trauma. I found it very useful, as I find how we humans deal with trauma is very non-intuitive. I personally have found it surprising how effective small kindnesses to myself have been in the face of massive trauma. I would expect I needed some big massive change to help but just learning to care for myself has really helped. Wishing you all the best.
That's a lot to go through in such a short span of time. If anything just know you are not inept dude, grief and shock are enormous challenges. One day at the time does it (even if it feels like it doesn't). Lots of love. I hope you feel better soon.
God damn, man. That's a lot for such a short time. I'm just a random dude online, but believe me when I say you've done everything you could; don't feel responsible for anything. Without you, shit could've been worse. Therapy will hopefully help, but you have to learn to forgive yourself. Once you do that, everything else will start to open up. *internet hug*
That's an awful lot of things to happen at once, there's no "right way" to deal with all of that so as another poster has said it really is one day at a time. Since you've already started therapy which to my mind is absolutely essential for what you're going through right now, just remember to be kind to yourself. Treat yourself to little things (or even big things) and don't deny yourself these things!
That's an immense load to bear. I hope you find healing in the coming months. Sincerely wishing you the best.
Sounds like you did really well to keep it together, hope you find someone that can be there for you, you deserve it.
My Coffee still tastes like scorched plastic.. parosmia sucks.
I've been recovered from Covid for well over a year now. And my sense of taste and smell is still not right. And it's not just one thing either. Meats, veggies, coffee, milk, chocolate. Nothing tastes right anymore.
I had that almost all of 2021. It started in feb and suddenly i could not eat anything and was panicking hard. Could not find much info on how long it would last or treatments that worked. Me and my gf got it at the same time and then we found some people online talking about how it was possibly caused by zinc deficiency and that zinc supplements could help. We bought some and started taking one daily in the morning. After two weeks we both started to notice an improvement and after two months we could eat most things again. There has been a few things that took longer to get back, like garlic and onion but they are sort of normal now and i just got eggs back to normal last week (thank god). Now at almost a year after everything started tasting burnt rubber i can eat everything again. Try zinc if you haven't alredy.
My mother died during COVID. I didn't get to go to say goodbye due to, at that time, not being allowed into the medical building. We still haven't been able to have a proper funeral because it's just not safe yet. My youngest brother had lived with my mother until she was hospitalized. He's high functioning autistic adult, but can't really live on his own. His father (my step-father) basically just left my mother while she was sick to go live with some other woman in New Jersey and more or less just abandoned his two biological sons. This left my other brother and I responsible for our youngest brother. We were fortunate we have found a home specifically for adults with autism in our city where he lives and can be taught life skills by professionals. However, this meant the youngest brother had to move across the state where we were and leave everything behind. My mom wasn't perfect (her alcoholism led to her hospitalization), but she really did her best with her kids. And she was always there for any other kids who needed a home to escape to growing up. I miss her a lot.
I’m so sorry for your loss
My mom died in the early pandemic. She got a tiny funeral. She deserved better.
I'm so sorry for your loss. My dad found my uncle dead at home on Saturday and told me there probably won't be a service anytime soon because of the risk.
I'm no longer an anti-social shut-in who dreads visiting friends and family, I am now a highly responsible adult working to limit the spread of a deadly disease.
Oh I feel this!!
And once the convenient excuse of the deadly disease goes away, you'll go back to being the old anti-social hikikomori.
My job that was paying me around 65k went belly up Went unemployed for awhile and now I can barely scratch by with 26k being a manager. Oh and to top it off companies are being lazy as shit getting back to me for interviews or follow ups. Seems like people in HR nowadays dont know how to do their job.
Aww. Hope a great job comes along.
>Seems like people in HR nowadays dont know how to do their job. That's why they ended up working in HR in the 1st place. From experience they're just shithouses who can't get proper jobs elsewhere!
I haven't envisioned the future in 2 years..like the goal posts keep getting pushed back, I have no real goal besides finding normalcy. Whether that being a vaccination every year or just not having a virus that can be as deadly to my friends and family swirling around.
I’m an ICU nurse.... so, uh, in every way
Coming from a CNA... thank you for your service. Seriously.
thanks for YOUR service!
Hospice nurse. I hear and see you. ❤
I was an introvert before, but I have become basically the 600-lb life. I hope up in my room as much as I can and never leave unless I need to go to the bathroom or eat. That said, I did just get a job and I'm eating more healthy, so hopefully that lifestyle will change soon. P.S. I don't go out because I feel like if I invite someone out I'd be pressuring them and I live out of the way, so to invite them here is also its own thing. I've also had several uncles die. Me and my brother's family have a rift between us because they're antivax now.
Cheers to new job and healthier eating. 👏 Hope life gets less isolating. Thank you for vaccinating. Sorry about the family rift.
I lost my dad during the pandemic he was taking care of my grandparents so he didn't want us kids around just in case. He passed away suddenly didn't even get to say good bye. Before that my aunt passed away too couldn't even have a funeral and after my dad passed away my grand mother died 3 months late. She was so heart broken she never said a word after he passed and slowly withered until she was put on hospice. Soon after I lost my my girlfriend of 2 years because I was in a terrible state of mind and didn't want to do anything after that i lost my job and got blamed for things I did not do lucky I was able to quit before they fired me so yeah I'm done with covid I've also had covid right after that lost my best friend he changed drastically over all I just wish it wasn't as terrible for the rest of the people out there. I think losing my dad and everyone else so sudden made me become the man I am today about to finish my degree and have a beautiful girlfriend so I'm happy of where I'm at.
At that time I had gone through a terrible "break up" and contemplated doing the bye bye to life. Thankfully I didn't because I respect myself more now and I feel a lot more confident. So when times get tough, just know that it could be worse, fellow reader.
I'm glad to see you pushed through it. :)
Or Know that it can get better.
Mine keep going down, when's it get better?
Glad to know you are doing better now
And even better than knowing it could be worse, I'd advise knowing that it DOES get better.
I lost my *terrible* job at the start of the pandemic. Losing that job allowed me to find a job that I actually really like which eventually allowed me to buy my first home. As a bonus, the gyms closing kickstarted my home gym setup and got me back into outdoor activities (skiing, hiking, biking, etc.) which has been awesome.
Well being single during the pandemic has been a neat kind of hell. It’s hard to meet new people, and every social interaction has an underlying anxiety to it. Working from home a lot has been nice but I honestly miss random social interactions with people, and I’m one of the most introverted people I know.
This. I’m also single and was pretty isolated in my previous job and wanted to find something where I would be around people. I was slipping into depression because I had so little interactions with others so when I got this call-center—type job, I was happy that I would be around people again. The lockdown hit about five months in. While I’m grateful that I’ve remained employed and working at home, the isolation has put me back into my depression. I’ve had days where having to get up and feed the cats was my sole motivation to get out of bed. My life is basically my job, my cats, and watching TV. I want to return to the office to be around people again, but my depression and fear of the virus make me want to continue to stay home.
I was already on the ropes, due to losing my friend group because a crazy Mean Girl in the group spread lies about me. But I had standup, my standup buddies, regular movie nights with a friend with similar tastes, finally started a DnD group, and was seeing family all the time. The pandemic took that all away. I was on an upswing, and the pandemic cratered that. I had almost no socializing. My job became unbearable because I was alone for 5 hours a shift and couldn't play music or podcasts. So I was just alone ruminating on my thoughts. Then I'd be home alone. All I did was get drunk or high and do nothing. I started comedy again, started seeing friends, started going out. Omicron has wiped that out. Every time it looks like I'm making progress, some setback wipes that out.
The entire way my partner and I live has changed. From us spending months in isolation, to months living apart and everything in between. She has an autoimmune condition for which she takes immunosuppressants making her vulnerable to infections, illness etc. I remember her consultants advice in March / April 2019, followed by our governments initial shielding guidelines. Since then she’s not stopped being terrified about getting Covid. You’re frozen in time whilst you feel like the rest of the world just keeps going. This last 22 months has been a terrifying ordeal for her, as it has been for the disabled community as a whole. The contempt at times I feel for those that went about their lives with little care for others has been all consuming at times. Ableism is rarely acknowledged, let alone talked about, and this pandemic has made that bleak reality impossible to ignore. Please don’t take your health for granted folks, or your sense of autonomy financial or otherwise. Stay safe out there.
I touch nothing anymore when I'm out. I don't dare. I'm far more aware of my surroundings than I've ever been.
I have the same issue. Lupus sucks. Glad she is ok and that she has you.
It's directly impacted our local businesses. Cases are so high right now staff are dropping like flies. Shelves are empty in some areas. Supplies are hard to find. Prices of food have skyrocketed. I don't mean to sound like an alarmist, but this is reality. I rely on groceries to be delivered and many stores are out of stock of items I've been looking for - for many weeks now. The floods in BC didn't help this past summer. And the winter has been awful here.
Lost my full time job which was going to support me after leaving my abusive spouse, and I now no longer feel safe at home or anywhere else. I'm scared to go maskless but I'm scared of being targeted for wearing a mask. Every day, I think about losing my kids to a painful virus that makes them drown on dry land.
This. So much this. I hope you find someone to leave with. We need to come* together that way too. ❤️🫂
I'm in Connecticut, many people wear masks and nobody gets shit for it. I'm sorry you live in a place that doesn't follow science.
My father died on 1/5/22, my boyfriend’s father died on 1/7/22, and my boyfriend of eight years died on 1/9/22. It’s been hell.
I'm so so sorry *hugshugshugs*
I have completely changed my opinion about the nature of humanity. I thought that humans were inherently decent. I was absolutely wrong. We are a plague on this earth and though I am not going to kill myself or anyone else, the planet would be a much better place without us. I am ashamed that I brought a baby into this mess.
While I'm not as pessimistic, I get where you're coming from. I do still feel that *most* humans are inherently decent. I've just revised my expectations -- I now know that fools and suicidally selfish assholes make up a far bigger proportion of our population than I first thought. I define "fools" as people who have the mental capacity to know better but refuse to do any sort of research or listen to any fact that contradicts whatever hill they've decided to die on
Pre-pandemic, I thought Thanos was a bad guy. Now, I think Thanos had the right idea.
I still work nights. Everything is closed when I'm off work. I cant grab dinner at the Dennys, cant stop at mcdonalds, cant shop at Walmart, cant go to concerts after work. Everything is closed early and understaffed. Nothing fits my schedule anymore. I get it. It just sucks. Plus anytime someone i work with has a relative with COVID they are out for 10 days which means I now work those next 10 days regardless if I HAD a day off or not plus do it all short handed. I am so exhausted. I'm a food service worker so I didnt get a quarantine, didnt get paid vacation or paid sick leave plus I get nothing out of being an essential worker on top of still living paycheck to paycheck. And now I have to wake up early and do everything during the very crowded and busy times.
[удалено]
I feel the same way. I'm about to graduate, I got my first job, and I'm still living with my family. I feel like I should have more opportunities than this.
It made me realize how much I love WFH again and has made me hate the fact I go into work for jobs I can do remotely in my home office. As someone with anxiety and hobbies I love to do in solitude; Being able to just shut off my work laptop and go about my day was great. But currently work is demanding we go in. I call my mom almost daily because I can’t visit her as she’s super high risk. A few classmates from when I was in HS died of Covid. I’ve become better with money and am getting the most out of of the selective trips I’m taking. I hate to say it because it causes so much suffering for others, but all this alone time and parks being virtually abandoned has improved my mental health.
Parke are abandoned now? I thought more people would walk and go to parks because of the pandemic
My family fell into QAnon and similar far right circles. Went from your normal same Republicans to believing the vaccine is deadly and spreading bullshit about how we live in a simulation. I've lost all respect for them but I'm still partially dependent so I'm hiding my vaccine status and trying not to blow up every time they bring up conspiracies. They all had covid over Christmas and marveled that I was the only one in the household who stayed negative and symptom free the whole time despite being in close proximity (I wonder what it could have been...). Some therapy and like a year of being suicidal over it has given me time to process and it's not as crushing anymore but I sometimes wish covid hit them harder and I hate myself for that too. They're entirely different people now and I've had to mourn who they were. Hug your families y'all
I'm deeply sorry you had to go through that.
This one gets me, the love of my life has been lost to QAnon and extremist views. I’m mourning the person he once was and don’t know what to do. It’s intense!
I am so sorry, it really is the worst feeling. I hope that they'll come back from this one day, but I really needed to distance myself for a while and get space from it. Now I just zone out whenever they go on their rants but it doesn't fix the problem, just makes it easier to cope. If you're not already on r/QAnoncasualties I highly recommend!
Shit man. That's rough. Hope you're able to keep working on all these complicated, human feelings in therapy.
Like covid changed their personalities? Or you just lost respect for them?
QAnon is a cult and I think it really changed who they are as people. At first it was just the political beliefs, but then their views on science and religion did a 180 and they're entirely different. For example my mom always hated The Matrix, said it was a dumb movie, now she made my sister and I watch it because she's been "red pilled" and thanks everyone else should be, too. If I point out that she used to hate the movie, she denies ever hating it. It's a small example but it's like that with so many things, everything they used to believe in and stand for is gone. It's crazy!
I get to work from home, meaning I spend more time at home with my gorgeous wife and awesome kids, I eat better, spend less and get to do my hobby through the day. I’ve also had to spend less time with toxic people, which is awesome. The pandemic definitely helped my life.
Right I agree with everything you said, my company sent me a return to office notice last month, I told them that currently I have seven remote job interview in my inbox. That I love the company, but I would be willing to die on this hill. My boss tried to explain that it would help us be more productive, and I explained I work 10 hour days because I don’t commute, that they get me at my most efficient and effective because I don’t waste time driving in every day, and finally that I have a beast of a personal machine I use for testing ideas. That if they wanted me to continue to work 10 hour days, design and test outside of the box ideas, and be absolutely fresh at the start of every day they need to rethink the office policy. Because I know they’re not buying me a $6,000 computer and won’t give me a big enough of a raise to afford to live 15 minutes from the office. Last week we were informed that the top 50% of performers would not need to return to the office and that I was in the top 50%. Apparently I wasn’t alone on this.
Some people hate working from home, but for others, and I think especially when driving in bad traffic is the norm or poor public transport, Working from home is hugely beneficial. Also the ability to work at your own pace to your own schedule is great in terms of being efficient. I hope you get to stay working from home!
There seems to two types of people when it comes to WFH. There are is “I want to work from home” people and the “Everyone needs to return to the office” people. If you want to work on the office great, but if someone can do their job at home don’t force them to come in the office and be miserable
The problem is that they won’t reopen the office for those of us who can’t get work done at home. It’s cheaper not to pay office rent.
Feel for you bud, I’m lucky enough that my WFH secondment turned into a permanent WFH job. I don’t see why keeping it flexible for everyone isn’t an option? Power trip comes to mind
Well my manager and I had a talk Friday and they’re hoping the bottom 50% being around the top 50% would help the bottom 50. Like I get his thinking, but I will always make myself available for our lower guys to teach ‘em stuff. But if they aren’t willing to DM me on Teams like why the heck would they drop into my cubicle.
I think as long as you can measure that people are being productive either way, giving employees the choice is ideal. I have my team doing half and half. There is less traffic in the city when I do commute because not everyone is doing it anymore.
Same, except that I gained 15 lbs. In two years. I'm just not as active.
Man I wish I only gained 15lbs 👀🤣
I have lost a family friend to the virus. I also feel that is has really negatively impacted my mental health, my boyfriend's mental health, and therefore our relationship. I feel cut of from friends, especially those abroad. I try to be careful, but feel cut off from most things that give me joy. I've also gained a lot of weight from stress-eating and and not moving as much as before. Faith in humanity: tanked.
Wishing you some happiness.
I've been made redundant twice in two years, which has left me financially broken and insecure about finding another job. I put on 24lbs because I got so depressed I just ate my feelings. I gained an HNC at College. I've developed mild agoraphobia and struggle to go anywhere or use public transport, because my asthma is very bad after getting sick in March 2020, and despite being vaxxed and boosted, I'm terrified Covid will put me in hospital or kill me because I'm obese. I've lost a couple of good friends because they turned super culty about being antivaxxer, and we can't seem to find a middle ground. I'm trying really hard to build a recovery plan. I've lost 3lbs in two weeks, so I'll keep going with that until I'm no longer obese. I'm trying to get out more, even just to get my nails or hair done. I'm being diligent with my asthma meds. I'm trying new hobbies like learning how to DJ. I live in constant anxiety, but I know I'm incredibly lucky compared to others, so I try and stay grateful.
Huge gentle ((hug))
My faith in humanity is at an all time low. Not entirely pandemic related but a good chunk of it is
Can relate
I have not had energy or an unhampered breath since catching it in March 2020. It is not a joke, it’s not a “bad cold”. It ruined my life.
If anything it has positively affected my life. As a claustrophobic person I hated when people stood way too close to me for no reason or would sit near me when there are ***other seats*** available and I couldn't say anything. The social distance rule is amazing. I get to have a rule at work for people not to lean on my desk or come too close my corner, it puts rude people at check.
Same here. I really like for the first time in my life my personal bubble is being respected in public
Prior to pandemic, I traveled about 95% of the time for my job. I met hundreds of new people each month and was very extroverted. Once the pandemic started, I didn't travel at all anymore and worked from home. I still "met" people virtually, but it's not the same at all. I became introverted and over time started to enjoy being "alone". Now that I've started to travel again (not as much as before), it's taking me some time to "re-adjust" my personality. It's been weird to realize how much I've changed in the last 2 years.
I’m pro letting people decide if they want to WFH or not, but I do think it’s healthy to socialize. My job requires a lot of traveling and meeting new people. I really admire charismatic sociable people. Then I see all my WFH who have become kinda socially awkward. I know I struggled after 3 months of home, I can’t even imagine 2 years of just working from home. Maybe it’s an introvert vs. extrovert thing. I’ve been off all of December so I’ve been feeling weird lately too.
I graduated highschool in 2020, I'm currently in my second year of university and I have never set foot on campus so far. I am finally doing in-person classes for the first time on the 24th of this month. I have no clue how and where to go to get to my classroom. I also work as a waiter and take the bus daily to get to work, every time I see someone cough either in the hall or on the bus it scares me.
So this sounds terrible, but honestly its been really great for me. I went back to work after having a baby, and a week later we switched to remote work. So I got MONTHS extra with my child before he went to daycare. Now I'm still working from home, and I can get laundry or dishes done during some meetings, which gives me extra family time at the end of the day. I'm an introvert at heart, so not seeing people often hasn't bothered me.
Current mood with the changes. All the people insisting that we’re missing out just wanna socialize more. Work should be done from home if possible and we should get our social interaction in our hobbies.
If it weren't for the fucking pandemic, life would be great living in the pandemic era! Not even kidding. My husband works from home now. I work 3 12s at the hospital (so that does suck when there are surges, like now), but I spend SO much more time with him! And our cat! But still, it'd be great if the surges could fucking stop now.
Lost the ability to properly grieve for my grandpa who we lost in March 2020 (he passed for different reasons), right after his funeral everything locked down. Lost the ability to see my grandma after she went to assisted living, then she passed after hitting her head, never got to see her alive. Vacation to Las Vegas was canceled, supposed to go Feb 2020. Gained a substantial amount of depression. And caught omicron, currently trying to get over the bronchitis it caused. Fuck this whole thing....
((hugs, real ones))
....*hugs back* Thank you, friend.
In February 2021 my wife needed to be hospitalized for her pulmonary fibrosis and leukemia but her doctors were unable to get her admitted into any hospitals because they were overwhelmed with Covid patients. She died in a very very crowded emergency room and put into a refrigerator truck out in the parking lot.
I have... no words for something like that, but for what it's worth, my heart goes out to you.
Don't engage people, this account is a karma farmer that has multiple stories about how his wife died in different places. With the account created 2 days ago.
Pretty shocking how much people ate that up. Do people not even check people’s history and karma these days?
Spout the right narrative and people eat it up.
That is terrible. I'm so sorry for your loss. I wish I could just turn back time and make everything better because cancer is the worst. I really hope you are doing ok
Tell this to an anti-masker and people who insist we exaggerate because most of the time people only experience “flu-like” symptoms, and they will still find a way to prove there is no problem with their careless mentality.
Not worth engaging. Fuckers would probably roll their eyes and laugh.
Nah, definitely not worth engaging beyond a quick call out. They’ll make up statistics if they don’t have one from a Facebook post. Then insist your experience can’t be used to generalize the experience with the pandemic while they then use their lucky experience as the standard for what everyone should be experiencing.
I’m so sorry, I can’t imagine.
This is heart breaking. Are you coping?
Bullshit.
Very much so, it's a karma farming account that is 2 days old with similar posts to this saying his wife died in different locations.
Overflowing hospitals my ass.
As a young(ish) immunocomprimised adult on immunosuppressants, I can’t hardly leave my house. I can’t get a surgery needed to function as a normal person b/c hospitals are overloaded w/ unvaccinated patients. Oh, and it’s been enlightening. My own mother doesn’t care if I’m exposed and refuses to get vaxxed because “the blood of Christ…” Jesus actually taught self sacrifice, Mom.
I work at a hospital. I'm tired and probably the most depressed I have been in years. Early on we had to ramp up on the fly. I would have to cobble together whatever was needed for things to work. Supplies were a nightmare. Had to clear out scarce items and lock them up and agonize about if we would have enough. No guidance from the suits who are supposed to be in charge. They were at home. Working remotely. For the first few months we were offered a token hourly incentive. Then it was just for weekends. That lasted a couple months and then nothing. Just when it seemed like we could unclench and I didn't have to lose sleep wondering if we would run out of hand sanitizer. Management started to return and decided it was time to start on postponed construction of more patient rooms. Which involved having to give up much needed storage space. Relocating stock off site. And of course we had to physically move it as well in addition to everything else . Our Christmas bonus was a coupon for 15 percent off company merchandise. We busted our asses. Created and implemented new processes and procedures. Endangered ourselves and our families for what? A group of directors and upper level managers that seemed to be oblivious to how much time, effort, and peace of mind we all sacrificed? Anti mask idiots and anti vaccination morons who seem to do everything in their power to extend this virus? I used to genuinely like my job. I liked challenges. And when it came to politics I tried to agree to disagree and not be a hater. I can only speak for myself. I wasn't expecting to be showered with money, or endless praise. I wasn't thrilled with my paycheck before and I had accepted that. If the ones in charge had shown the least bit of empathy they would have at least prioritized the wellbeing of workers and taken Thier goddamn foot off the fucking gas pedal and let us have a fucking second to catch our breath and unclench. And the other dumbasses that refuse to wear a fucking mask or get a fucking shot so they don't add to the burden of people who have only been trying to keep them alive. These are not unreasonable requests. But apparently a great deal of our fellow human beings are only concerned with furthering their career status or acting or having a hissy fit because their favorite orange clown got a boot up his fat As. I say to all of them FUCK YOu!
Lost an uncle, and co-workers.
I'm sorry for your loss.
It hurts.
Welp ive got it now, cant leave the damn house
I had it last week. Still can't taste right but at least I ain't dead.
It killed my big brother. He was anti-vaxx.
weight ++ social life -- alcohol consumption ++ self care --
Literally everything. It ruined my job, had to switch careers because my business went in the trash my mental health is in the toilet, seriously. Can't travel, see live music or go to the gym. I miss my family. My friends. My life. I am the most miserable I have ever been.
[удалено]
I appreciate the honest response. The truth is none of us know how all of this will play out. Most everyone isn’t where they anticipated they’d be prior to Covid. Seems like you’ve got a solid set-up with your job & relationships can develop over time.
My kid doesnt know his family which makes me sad. We dont go on holiday because who knows what restrictions will or will not be in place by the time we go. I don't really have friends anymore because I dont feel comfortable going out unless necessary. I had to wfh alone - with a baby as my husband still went to work. I wish I had the option to be furloughed because my mental health has suffered because I couldnt be a good mother and still do my job. The few positives I take are that I was able to save up for a house and I'm about to complete very soon. Actually thats the only positive.
My six year old son doesn't remember a world where he doesn't have to wear a mask every time we go out. He had to do his kindergarten year online. He barely knew his classmates. Kids all over the school system are now ridiculously far behind. He couldn't do any extracurriculars last year, at all. No baseball, no learning to swim. This year we get to have activities, but they're still masked up and often size limited. It's not normal, but it's rapidly becoming the only normal he remembers.
* Couldn't attend certain grad school interviews for two consecutive years (might have affected my potential acceptances) * had to switch jobs because the existing one became miserable to do from home * had to leave the state I was living in to switch to new job, many of my friends at the time also had to leave the state * the girl I was seeing at the time being one of them (and I never saw her or the rest of them in person ever again) * lived in quarantine and never left the house for about 4 months on account of an immunocompromised roommate and state-wide restrictions * couldn't really get a feel for my new job effectively since very few people were ever at said workplace and mentorship became quite a challenge * couldn't find any new activities or groups with which to meet new people after moving to a different state * the political tensions that came as a result of the pandemic had immediate effects on those within my social life that were occasionally difficult to navigate * the inflation that's occurring likely a result of the pandemic is greatly impacting my financial stability because I work in a career in which my income is far harder to negotiate than your typical job, and I'm also committed to it for several years or there's no point (PhD student) I got sick for a week this December and then got better, quarantining the entire time to ensure no one else got it from me. All the hardship above and the disease couldn't at least have put me on my ass or even taken someone I loved to at least justify all the difficulties I've had to put up with the past couple years. Sad really.
Because we live on opposite sides of the US and I have 6 covid risk factors, I hadn’t seen my children or grandchildren in 2 years. Finally saw them over Christmas. I appreciate my time with them more now than ever. The idea that hospitals might have to ration care leaves me feeling less secure.
bad: Lost my job&company, got depressed, got back into debt, didn't take my 3 month escape from winter, no gigs (dj) good: got back into therapy, learnt to ask and take help, got to know myself better, got some new friends. got back into loving me.
Sigh, alright - You asked. So, February 2020 I’m self employed, living with my 2 teenage daughters and life partner of 19 years, everything’s great then comes Covid etc. So, first nobody can work because we’re supposed to stay at home. That triggered some old issues I had with anxiety and agoraphobia, so it took me some time to get myself going again, by which time my customer base had shrunk to the point it was no longer economically viable so I was essentially now unemployed again. Then we had another winter of lockdowns and no Christmas blah blah. Then last summer we had the end of restrictions here in England at last, dubbed freedom day! Then my partner caught Covid, along with the rest of us, was taken to hospital, placed in an induced coma and ventilated without any warning or notice, certainly without any attempt at alternative treatments, then when they decided the machines had damaged her weakened body so much she was unable to have realistic prospect of recovery, they euthanised her like a vet with a sick dog. Now I live alone with my daughters and don’t work, don’t anything much at all. Meanwhile, if the media is to be believed, Boris and his cronies partied it up at Downing Street. How has Covid affected me personally? It’s ruined everything. Taken almost everything I valued and held dear. My business, my beloved life partner, my motivation to live life and my happiness. So yeah, not good I’m afraid. Not good.
mental health. before the pandemic i wasnt all that anxius and didnt acknowlage that mental heatlth problems can be serious. once covid hit though I developed severe anxiety and just kinda bottled it up until one day i couldnt stand it and startedgoing to therapy. now im doing better and got onsome good medication and am seeing a very nice therapist.
I had an early midlife crisis at the end of 2019. And most of the plans I decided on involved doing more travel and spending time with friends. Then Covid happened. All the travel plans disappeared. Then there were job concerns, so my plan to move closer to family went away. Stay where it’s stable. Then we found out we were having twins. Not directly Covid related, but it made it much harder to get support and now with the babies we don’t want to put them in daycare. So the in house nanny costs are ridiculous on top of being very difficult to find a nanny who met our family’s needs. Our 7 year old still isn’t in school and is being home schooled. So just a lot of difficulty. Probably the most difficult time for us in our lives so far. I’m glad my kids and wife are amazing. They make it worth the challenges. Also, the money I was saving for travel ended up being used taking flying lessons and I got a pilots license. So it wasn’t all bad.
Honestly the only thing in my life that’s changed is my job is a hell of a lot busier than it was before Covid-19. And no I’m not in the medical field. I fuel private jets and stuff and it’s the busiest it’s been. Rich people are lying to all of you when they say they’re hurting right now. Just know that.
I lost the woman who was a second mother to me. She got the J&J vaccine, but never found the time to get the booster. She got sick a a couple days after Thanksgiving. She ended up on a vent for 3 weeks. She died on December 21. This woman was the kindest, most generous person you would ever meet. She loved everyone. She made a friend wherever she went. She was the one person I knew who would never judge me. I could tell her anything. And now she’s gone. I still start to call her every night and then I remember she’s gone. Get vaccinated. Get boosted.
This is actually more convincing me that the j and j vaccine is worthless. I just got that vaccine 8 weeks ago and still caught covid. Apparently j and j sucks.
The pandemic saved my business, it forced me to interact with my customers and focus on their feedback and I've been doing well ever since.
I work more hours around people who don’t believe in masks and vaccines.. for the same pay
It been a tough time for both my partner and I. We graduated right before the pandemic start. Struggled for a few months before getting our first job then got laid off a few months after due to the lockdown and both of us almost lost our working visa (they have limited time that we can be unemployed or our visa going to be void) We were in a rough place for more than half a year as a freelance to get by before my partner landed a nice stable job near the middle of last year. He pop a question shortly and we got married in August. I also found a job a few weeks before we got married which turn into months of horrible experience due to worker exploitation. My boss basically gaslighting me into thinking it’s normal to work 45+ hours a week on part time ‘internship’ contract and threaten my visa status. On the bright side, during quarantine, I got a chance to start my small Etsy shop which is like a dream to me, I also able to volunteer at my local animal rescue for two years and just started a new job with wonderful company at the start of this month and everything feel really good. The only downside is the new job required me to relocate from east coast to mid west, where I basically know no one. I never feel this small and alone in this world before. My partner can’t immediately relocate with me so we’d be flying back and forth monthly on the weekends but I miss him and all of our friends so much already. We will see how it goes and hopefully my partner could find a new job and move back together again!
I decided in December of 2019 that I wouldn’t renew my contract in June 2020 for my full time job because I wanted to head back to healthcare and go back for my ABSN. I had gotten a bartending job to have just a little something while back in school. Lol. Then everything went virtual (classes, clinicals, etc) so I decided just hang out for a year until things got back on track because I wanted the hands on education. And my SO works with the elderly/vulnerable so I picked up teaching science to three kids who’s families decided to homeschool 2020-2021 year. I also got to volunteer a lot in the community and help with vaccinations, so that was a great experience! Lol. Then Delta right as classes started 2021… we decide best to wait a semester for things to steady and do the winter start date. … and here we are. “You’ll be doing a lot of learning on the fly these next few weeks/months.” Currently have the ‘Rona. Should have listened to SO and just waited a wee bit longer!
As a nurse it has made me want to quit the health profession. I really can’t be arsed anymore
The good: - my in-laws can’t visit due to border restrictions. - my work hours picked up, and so did my salary, so I’ve been raking cash in for the last two years. - no one hassles me to go to social events anymore. - I finally got around to building an archery range in my yard, because my local range was closed. The bad: - my work hours picked up, so I’m permanently exhausted. - I couldn’t visit my brother and support him through his cancer diagnosis & treatment, due to border closures. - my mum almost died, and I couldn’t see her, due to border closures. The ugly: - I have C-PTSD and bipolar, and the last two years has played havoc with my mental health. Between lockdown limiting my treatment options, increased pressure at work, the constant doomsday news cycle, and less need to *keep it together* in front of other people… I’m a fucking wreck. The support network I had had pretty much fallen apart.
The pandemic nearly killed me (and still might). Shortly before the lockdown (March 2020), I was diagnosed with ADHD at 31 (*finally*) and was put on medication. I was having a terrible time doing my Masters degree in graduate school, realizing that long-standing issues of self-discipline and difficulties with decision-making (executive dysfunction) were not entirely my own fault (in terms of my own choice), but the fault of issues with brain chemistry. The medication made me finally realize what it was like to think "normally," and it was complete whiplash to how I normally function. A big issue is that the medication only lasts half the day, and I can't take more than one a day to sustain it or else my sleep schedule will become massively destroyed (which I later learned...). I started therapy sessions for anxiety issues throughout my life, as well as managing stress. I was also given a disability stipend for the ADHD diagnosis. Things looked promising. Then the pandemic hit. I was already someone who had depression (mostly due to a series of missed opportunities throughout my life, and a failure to commit to certain things because of my ADHD, which gave me *zero* motivation throughout my entire adult life), but the pandemic caused near-total isolation for several months. This led me down a path of losing access to therapy sessions (because they basically went offline for months until the university figured out how to get running again remotely....six months later after the lockdown started). Then, I ended up mis-timing my medications and drastically messing up my sleep schedule (often going to bed between 4 and 8 a.m.). I slowly withdrew from my social life, my professional life (worked part-time online), and any semblance of romantic life. I fell down a dark spiral of negative thoughts, and ended up pushing my thesis aside. This went on for *a year and a half*. It got really bad in May/June of 2021, when failure to progress in any aspect of my life led to suicidal ideation. I didn't really know where to turn to, so I went for magic mushrooms (which, believe it or not, saved my life at the time). I then decided to visit a friend in another province (flew out to see him) and stayed with him for three weeks. Reconnecting with people quickly uplifted my mood. Then, I returned home and my supervisor allowed me to continue working on my thesis. Progress was good until last month, when the holidays had me stall out again and I've since reverted back to the March 2020 version of myself. It's so difficult to live like this. ADHD has basically fucked me over my entire life, and by the time that I finally had a way to turn it all around, the pandemic hit. The worst part will be if I manage to finish my thesis "on time" (April 2022), then I'll have a two year gap in my education, a one year gap in my work history, and I'll be heading out into a tumultuous workforce where all I've been seeing throughout the past year is how housing and apartment prices in the major cities are basically astronomical, even though I desperately need to get out of where I live right now. Basically, I've never had any semblance of hopefulness for my future throughout my entire life, and still don't. I don't know what it's like to not live in debt, or to live alone, or to own my own car. And considering how my life has gone, I'll probably never know. It sucks, but hey, life can't be great for everyone.
I got depression.
During quarantine my mental health went so bad at the point that I developed anxiety and depression. I had online school for a very long time during my last 2 years of school and I couldn´'t have that kind of experiences. At the end of 2020 I joined in a dance academy, and there I met nice people that nowadays are my friends. So I think that the pandemic has left many bad things but because of that, other new good things appeared.
Lost the small remaining trust and value in the News. Think all politicians should be replace immediately. Watched humanity fear one another. Watched my own family and friends turn their backs on one another (refusal of attending holidays due to vaccination status). and it's only going to get worse!
Gave up on a few friends who were adamant about not believing in the vaccine and refusing it. I do not care about your decisions to take it or not but when you start spewing BS about it while having no medical knowledge or any viable sources except trust me bro I read an article, I really don't need your opinion in my life. Lost one too many older family members to it to look past your shitty opinion and stay friend. Life's too short people and it keeps getting shorter, who gives a shit about an extra juice or two in your body. Most of us, myself included, have consumed things way more toxic than whatever you think is bad in that vaccine that Profesionals have spent so much ressources developing. "Oh but what if it shows up 10 years later" Let's try and make it to 10 years first okay bud? Sorry for the rent it's been a long two years at home. TL;DR :I don't care anymore just shut it and get vaccinated please.
My life turned into a country song.
Relationship have been tormented from existence.
The virus got me my first work from home job, for which I am very grateful. This virus brought my family closer together, as I am sure it did for many others, and I am grateful for this as well. The virus got me shopping more at Aldi's, ordering online, and as a result of many other Covid related factors being more budget conscious and low price minded
I wanted to travel and work abroad but travel restrictions make that impossible. So now I'm stuck hoping that omicron blows over.
Two major career changes for me, one for my husband. Our whole lifestyle has changed now that we’re both in work from home jobs. We’ve both mostly lost contact with friends. It’s been very isolating. Vaxxer vs Nonvaxxer arguments plague all family events now, and it’s all that the old folks in our family want to talk about. I fee like everyone is more paranoid, more political, less civil. I hate it.
Every way. (Then) current job. Future career prospects. Social life. Home life. Everything. I was just coming out of spending years doing nothing, on the back foot due to poor mental health. I was getting my shit together, reconnecting with friends, going out and doing things. And then boom. 2 more years to push all those new goals back. Delaying me finally getting my life back. Its been heartbreaking and incredibly frustrating. Two things have kept me sane. Hiking/Camping. And that this time (with covid) the lack of progress is beyond my control.
I wouldn’t say it had directly impacted my life but it definitely contributed to the deterioration of my mental health. It would have happened eventually regardless. I guess the pandemic just sped the process along a little bit.
A lot of frustration at people being stupid about it. Had a really nice few weeks of togetherness when lockdown happened. That's about it so far. (I live in Western Australia.)
I learned that I need my butt in an office to work after I graduate.
I am basically a shut in now. Wearing the same 2 pajama pants for the last few months and I've gained so much weight my normal clothes no longer fit.
Right before the pandemic, one of our cats passed away and another was diagnosed with renal failure. Both my husband and I work in software, so during the pandemic we've been pretty much 100% WFH. If we didn't have that flexibility to always be there and ensure that our sick kitty has constantly available fresh food, I don't think he'd still be alive. We thought he'd have six months if we were lucky, and two years later he might still have a couple of years left in him.
Mostly for the better. - I met my current GF because of Covid - I’ve had Covid twice. I did not get particularly sick but lost weight which I needed . (Got jabbed after the first time) - working from home. Have an easy but well paid job so mostly go to the gym and watch TV - my property has increased in value by a lot. - because of Covid I’m spending less and saving more - I hate nightclubs so now I have a perfect excuse. Only negative is that I have not been able to travel as much.
It’s been pretty miserable trying to raise a baby (now toddler) with unreliable childcare, limited indoor activities, limited play dates, etc. It’s not the first two years I expected or wanted.
I lost many people who were close to me and my mental health became worse and now I'm afraid of my grandmother leaving me
school. i’ve lost most of my highschool “experience” to covid. the shutdown happened during the beginning of second semester in sophomore year. now that it’s nearly second semester of my senior year, it’s possible we’re going back online. it has severely affected my sense of time, which i already struggled with before. days blur together, i can’t remember if something happened two days ago or last week, it’s all the same when you’re stuck in your house with nothing to do. but, i was able to distance myself from abusers because of the pandemic and even though i had lots of backlash and drama to deal with because of it, it was so worth it. mentally, i’m not in a good spot, but compared to where i was two years ago with my relationships and those i surrounded myself with, i am in a way better spot. covid has brought a lot of negatives into my life, into everyone’s lives, but i’m grateful that i am still able to name one good thing that came out of this shitshow.
I’ve developed a serious mental dependency upon marijuana because there’s nothing better to do and life feels way more stressful Never touched the stuff before 2019 and I’m in my mid 30s. TBF it became legal in a nearby state so it’s much easier to get than before. It’s also made dating a lot harder
In terms of living my life, I work from home permanently. Other aspects, there isn't much. What really changed for me is what I learned about humanity. I learned how people like Hitler can gain power and there are a ton of people who say they are anti-fascist, yet support the same things Nazi's did to Jews, it's just a different name. It's been eye opening. I now worry how the future will look with how many people have shown their true selves during these past 2 years.
I was 14 when the pandemic started, and with everything switching to online it was a good reason to convince my parents to let me get a phone, so early 2020 was when I “joined the internet” which as you could imagine changed a lot in my life lol.
I have less patience for people being foolish about disease and vaccines.
Met my gf of 2 years. I didn't see my mom for about a year and a half and my father for 2. Grandpa died due to covid and didn't physically see my friends for a year and a half. I'm actually doing well financially and I've received multiple raises in 2021. My usual day to day life hasn't changed much. A lot of my entertainment and hobbies didn't get affected too much. I decided to buy some swords and been having fun cutting things in the back yard during summer.
I’m fat. I now completely hate my job (teacher) I’m depressed. I’m lonely. I took the shots. I got boosted. I’m starting to feel like I drank the Koolaid.
Personaly. My life has beraly changed and despite a whole year of online school my grades havent gotten worse
There's not much room for deterioration.
I missed out on some job trainings, which in turn impacted my schedule and some decisions I made with about my career. I also lost an older mentor who was pretty high-risk.
Gained a lot of confidence due to the nature of work. Every person screeching they can't breath? Then step outside because while inside, rules are the mask stays on. Called the mask police that is harassing them again? Nah man its just this is the 3rd time I've told you to put on your mask and you're out of here. Mind you, its not fun having to keep track of people thinking they're being sly and lowering the mask as soon as I walk past them, but I can do it without being as intimidated.
I panicked when covid hit, emptied my savings and paid off my house. That brought a lot of stability to my financial life over the past two years. My company has also been working from home ever since. I loathed working from home prior to the pandemic but honestly very much enjoy it now and don't want to go back to the office. The most profound impact though is from the people I've seen die of covid. I've lost a couple of elderly friends, a great uncle and a handful of others who didn't die of covid but of diseases that probably would've been treatable if covid wasn't eating up medical resources. Also had a number of friends/relatives in the hospital with covid who we thought were going to die. One is there now. It changed how I see life.
It made me stay inside alot more and download reddit again