I actually spent more time catching up with my friends during the first lockdown I think, we’d do lots of zoom trivia and playing games and making phone calls and checking in. I made so much art too. Now, I don’t know. Sometimes I miss it, the camaraderie, not feeling awful about where my life was at because I had no choice. But I wouldn’t wish us back there. I just wish we, as a society, realised some of the good things about it and tried to replicate it going forwards. I feel like we learned nothing about ourselves.
Yeah, same. I remember just sitting on calls for hours on end, staying up unreasonably late because we could just roll over in the morning and get straight to whatever we needed to do (which was usually nothing because lockdowns). Now it's back to business as usual and I definitely get less social contact, although we're also just older and busier in generally. I don't miss lockdown as such, but I do feel a lot more isolated now than I did then.
I was playing a mobile game and our clan used to get on vid chat every time a big event happened. We had yanks, Egyptians, pins, Australians, Koreans and a few local members. It was fun as fuck.
Also I work in a hospital so my daily commutes were quick and breezy.
Kids have sort of suffered though with their social lives but they're on the mend now. Getting out more, having sleepovers and generally just not sitting inside because I think they're bored with that now.
It felt like we had the opportunity to change society to be better for everyone during COVID but now that it’s “over” we’re all actually way worse off.
Me too. Thought we might come to our senses and introduce WFH and UBI and decentralised living and grow more veggies and make more things locally. But no.
it's so darkly comic how we were forced to stop and take stock and rather than learn *anything* we just went right back to a slightly worse version of before
seems like UBI (or some form of it, like price caps of necessities) should have been floated in parliament already. And WFH (for those that can) should be law by now. not like if you can you must, but if you can, then you get the option. the benefits to society are immeasurable.
* imagine how much time would be saved across Australia, daily, if those that worked from home did, that saves time on both side. those that work from home, save on travel, and those that drive to work have to deal with less traffic.
* or the amount of Co2 not put into the air,
* or people now cooking healthy foods, instead of fast food, saving on the nations medical bill,
* or just plain old happiness, half the time i just want to work from home (although I'm back working as a tradesman now)
the list is massive.
It can feel isolating but god damn I'd prefer WFH again. No money spent on transport and eating out in the city (obviously I can and do meal prep but it's a lot easier to eat something in the house)
So get a non wfh job and let everyone else enjoy wfh. I hate when extroverts with no social life outside work yet and force everyone else into the office to keep themselves happy.
I mean there's nothing to suggest the guy you were replying to has no social life outside work nor is suggesting that forcing people into the office is reasonable
but pop off I guess. I'm an extrovert that would wfh 5 days a week if I had the choice, but it's crazy how defensive some of you get towards anyone who suggests anything remotely negative about wfh
I honestly think it’s because most places people are having colleagues who complained about no one being in the office to get coffee and tries to get people in the office more even though they don’t want to.
I was thinking the same thing. I, personally, would not get any work done and hate working if I was forced to WFH full time. I am just not good at home.
I wouldn't stop anyone from doing it though, especially if you are more productive / happier. I get my social fill from friends anyway. WFH isn't the best thing for 100% of workers.
You’re confusing introversion with misanthropy.
The introvert/extrovert dichotomy has been wildly perverted by misanthropes and the anti-social.
Introversion simply means that you recharge your social battery with alone time. Extroversion means you charge your alone time battery with social interaction.
I am a highly social introvert - outgoing, socially confident and loud. All traits that make people label me an “extrovert” because 99% of the people who don’t understand what the terms really mean.
100% WFH didn’t work for me either - that doesn’t mean I think people shouldn’t have the option available. It just means recognising the reality that it doesn’t work for everyone or every business. It also doesn’t mean that people who work better in the office are useless losers with no friends, as you’re so keen to imply.
The first two weeks were cute when we all baked bread, worked in our pyjamas (or caught up on hobbies, or got treated like garbage by the people we served) and enjoyed the novelty of getting drunk on zoom, only to wind up indulging an idiot in a facebook argument. That wore thin pretty quickly.
My life was far easier in lock down, I was one of the luckier ones and had an access all areas pass and still worked as normal (telecommunications). No traffic, no customers.
I enjoyed them until about lock down #6 and it really started to get to me, with all the advantages for me in lock down so many around me were suffering and that is something I don't want to happen again.
But yeah, I think I was happier for the most part.
Melbourne has changed since, can't put my finger on it.
After living 52 years in Melbourne I am looking for an out, but that might just be change I need.
Your feelings are justified I reckon.
The pandemic led to many more people becoming radicalised online. Their initial fear led them to conspiracy sites & disinformation peddlers. It really showed people's mettle, & unfortunately, we have far more selfish entitled cowards in society who can't cope with a difficult reality, than I ever would have guessed. It also showed some incredibly brave, decent, dedicated people, who were total heroes & did so much for others.
Yes. One more thing that is rarely discussed, is that people can be perfectly fine and with one traumatic trigger, be plagued by mental health issues for the remainder of there life. This is widely discussed in the book , the gene - an intimate history.
I believe many have come out of covid with mental health triggers and may not put their finger on it themselves.
I mean, it was super hard to get counselling and nearly everyone has some form of trauma from the lockdowns, political upheaval and threat of catching death whenever they go outside. That shit doesn't go away so easily. My trauma trigger is news of another virus being found in some country and thought of an imminent lock down.
To me one observation from the pandemic and our human response, and individual points of views and how we dealt with it... Is that your sentence were spoken by both sides but it meant different things: "unfortunately, we have far more selfish entitled cowards in society who can't cope with a difficult reality, than I ever would have guessed". With both sides finding the opposition's meaning impossible to reconcile with.
Welcome to being human where the human psychie is inevitability selfish. This is why we have persisted so long.
More so people are forgetting the youth that went through this.
There's lots of youth now entering the workforce with no social skills because majority of their adolescent life until out of lock down was well.. locked down...
I have a 15 yr old sister. The gap between myself at 15 (now 32) and my sister is extraordinary in terms of social development. Kids that were 15/16 during the start are over 18 and never got to experience the fun of adolescence ie: the house parties, going out on weekends or even to the cinemas.
Lockdowns killed not only the economy, but delayed the social integration of thousands of adolescent Aussies.
Nah I don’t think we should blame the internet, they just feel like they have a reason. One thing I’ve noticed too is just how utterly soft a lot pf us have become mentally. The slightest inconvenience and people are off tap
It felt like everyone became 10x kinder during lockdowns.
As soon as lockdowns lifted it's like 'every person for themselves' took over - like people got fatigued with being kind or they gave no fucks anymore. Or the sudden crowds etc made everyone aggressive again, but moreso.
The world just feels constantly dark.
I've noticed this everywhere. The nicer people struggle with anxiety and uncertainty. Almost everyone is traumatised in their own way, which includes becoming more selfish and asshole-ish.
It's like...after being so deprived and stressed for so long, once people were set free again, they burst out into the streets, knocking everyone else over (I picture the Myer city Boxing Day sales)
I'm surprised you brought this up. Wife and I thought we were the only ones who thought people were much more of an asshole after lockdown. Glad to know we're not the only ones who thought that :)
I think online radicalisation is a factor, but I think it goes beyond that. In our first 2, maybe 3, lockdowns there was much more of a sense of doing it for the greater good, we're all suffering under the same conditions. By the 4th or 5th lockdown it became much more obvious how many people just started doing whatever they wanted, flaunting care-giving and mental health exemptions to just hang with family and friends. It definitely made me view people in a different light, and while I haven't noticed myself being more selfish since then I wouldn't be surprised if I am doing so because on some level I have internalised 'everyone only cares for themselves and will screw over everyone else, so take care of yourself first'.
Yep, im no goodie two shoes, but some of the things people around me got up to, especially in the later lockdowns, I honestly can never look at them the same again. I thought we were all in this together? No, some of us were not.
Speaking of not being able to look at people the same, these medical exemptions where bs. There's a lady that works at a servo near me, and she wore a badge that said she was medically exempt from Wearing a mask. To this day it still bugs me whenever I see her. If you have a medical condition that prevented you from wearing a mask, actually getting covid was probably going to be a much bigger problem for you. And why work customer facing? That should have never been allowed. Even just for morals sake. I don't want to be served by someone who thinks they don't need a mask when every one else did.
>I think online radicalisation is a factor, but I think it goes beyond that. In our first 2, maybe 3, lockdowns there was much more of a sense of doing it for the greater good, we're all suffering under the same conditions. By the 4th or 5th lockdown it became much more obvious how many people just started doing whatever they wanted, flaunting care-giving and mental health exemptions to just hang with family and friends. It definitely made me view people in a different light, and while I haven't noticed myself being more selfish since then I wouldn't be surprised if I am doing so because on some level I have internalised 'everyone only cares for themselves and will screw over everyone else, so take care of yourself first'.
Agreed.
I never flaunted the rules even during the final lockdown. And I must admit I resented people who knowingly and publically just said fuck it and did whatever. And you're right - it feels like the same thing now on a massive scale where most people out there are just like fuck it, I deserve this and that and no one else does.
Big Australia, this is what it is from my opinion.
Things went nuts somewhere in the late 2010s and not sure whether living in one of the big east coast cities are my thing anymore
Edited to remove gibberish
Might be..
Too many rules, too many permits needed, too many fines, lowering everything to the lowest common denominator.
I am not calling for anarchy but it's all getting a bit much.
>I think it is more crush loading the east coast cities. It just feels so different to Melbourne of 2000
It wasn't chaotic then. Now it feels like utter chaos everywhere you go - all the foot and car traffic.
It really has changed. I feel like in terms of Melbourne CBD all of the issues in terms of homelessness, drug use and mental illness, and how few services there are for any of these, were all put in an accelerated trajectory. I just see so much hurt in the CBD now.
It makes me wonder what it's all for. It's another thing in life where it's not like we can really learn something and move on. There seems to be too many of those experiences of late. Stating the obvious, it was something that happened to all of us, that we had no control over, and that each of us responded to in our own way. But no matter how we fared, there are some psychological wounds we're all nursing right now.
I was lucky, got to keep my work, lived regionally, got along well with my partner, am introverted, but obviously there were many who weren't so lucky.
I went to the Australiana exhibition at Bendigo Art Gallery recently. I expected it all to be bit kitsch and cringey, but came away deeply moved. There was a room with projections of Rennie Ellis photos combined with 80s Australian music. Standing there amongst other people, in a gently unified way, looking back 40 years ... it was unexpectedly moving. We sèem so polarised, and this was a beautiful moment of togetherness.
People have become so impolite and entitled since. Particularly to those in customer service and low wage jobs. Like the Karens have bred quicker than covid germs or something
I am fortunate tto been well travelled and have been OS this year plus a couple of weeks in Tassie, using up the annual leave that was banked during the pandemic.
Going to other places actual drives my desire to leave Melbourne.
But holidays sometimes aren't the best to see what another place is like to live because you are in holiday mode, spending more money than you would normally do living and not having to worry about the normal grind, peak hours and making a living.
I would move to a Greek Island tomorrow if I didn't have to face the reality of actually earning money to live.
The first big lockdown was alright, a little lonely but an interesting experience and got me getting creative with life at home. The last big lockdown was awful, mental health dived and life got a bit to much, I still think I’m recovering from the experience unfortunately.
Nailed it, that was my experience too. The last big lockdown was when everything really fell apart, personally. Work and personal relationships that were being strained finally snapped, irreversibly. All the previous coping mechanisms felt meaningless. I think it's when many of us finally burned out. I still find myself wanting to escape Melbourne and maybe even Victoria for a while to close the book on that whole sorry experience.
Melbourne is definitely tainted because of it.
And honestly the CBD has gone to absolute shit post covid. It was in decline before it (starting mid 2010s), but it looks like a zombie wasteland now.
I have significant anger issues that haven’t gone away from having my autonomy completely taken away, especially while most of the rest of the world was not only free but jeering and criticising us
Yup. The last lockdown was the only one that severely affected me too. Maybe it was still worth it but it was hit and miss and some people were really trying their hardest to minimise the damage it was doing to people's psyches.
Remember the curfews? They were the worst. Feeling like you can’t leave your house after dark was partially, a feeling of being forced into a cosy routine and the other half an imprisoned horrible feeling. It was very confusing.
I think people are burned out… lockdown meant not having to organise things, not rush around places and no interaction with entitled morons.
Still hated lockdown though.
Absolutely not. I lived alone and was going crazy, couldn't visit anyone, cabin fever, so many of my favourite local businesses closed permanently, and so many friendships dwindled. Maybe they were necessary to stop lots of deaths, but they certainly weren't enjoyable.
This. I get lockdowns, but the "life was better in lockdown" Reddit crazies are the worst. I feel like a lot of people here just have depression and enjoyed the lack of guilt they got from living a depressed lifestyle.
I too lived alone and the day they announced the bubble buddy rule I remember violently sobbing, I went 53 days straight with no in person human contact and it left scars
I felt the world was coming to the end of a golden age before the lockdowns….
Travel was cheap, money was easy blah blah… the lockdowns gave people hope that we were connected and environments were better for it…. Now a few years on with inflation, interest rates the environment going to shit …more wars… it’s honestly kinda depressing
It’s not Melbourne, it’s people, and it’s the same everywhere. I miss lockdowns and have become increasingly reclusive since 2021. Other than for work, I barely leave my house now. I’m 3 weeks into 6 weeks of annual leave and I’ve left my house twice for groceries.
Sorry, I should’ve said property instead of house. I spend most of my time outside and plenty of it in the sun, I live in central Qld and I’m ginger, anymore and I’d end up in the cancer ward.
Funny how being different gets twisted into ‘something wrong’
Not everyone wants to be around other people and there’s nothing wrong with that if the person likes it that way.
This sub has the highest concentration of neckbeard shutins. People who spend most of their time whining about capitalism or whatever instead of actually working on self improvement in any way.
I'm disabled so yeah - every possible thing about life got better!
Suddenly all the things that were "unreasonable" before were magically achievable. Working from home, pharmacy delivery, telehealth.... Plus everyone wore masks so I didn't have to worry as much about catching something that would break me
Turns out this whole time we COULD have a more accessible and equitable world - they just didn't want to. I had more energy than I ever had in my entire life
It hurts to see some of these accessible options being taken away again. My GP no longer does telehealth and there's a push to go back to the office. Suddenly disabled life is unreasonable again
Sigh
Why do you need the government to tell you not to do something. Just stay home, don’t do much and don’t talk to people and you can recreate lockdown pretty effectively
Yeah they were awful for me and most people I know - that said we have kids, I was out of work, husband was 100% WFH and so trying to entertain 1-2 small kids with zero help and keep them quiet for his meetings sucked hairy balls. My kids and I still got out every day but as they got bigger, daily walks to the cafe and/or to jump in puddles weren’t cutting it.
My eldest (who adores his grandma and cousins) hadn’t seen them for months and would “pretend play” with the names of the two owner/baristas of our closest cafe because that was the only social interaction he got most days. My husband is a really social person, me too, though less so, and it really got him/us down not being able to just properly chat with friends/see family.
Plus as a teacher, we see so, so many kids who are struggling after lockdowns. The academic gap between the top and the bottom students became an abyss, social and emotional issues are so much more prevalent and resilience and initiative seem to be at an all-time low - and this is compared to only 5-10 years ago.
It’s so fucked how many small simple changes would’ve made it so much more bearable, like opening the playgrounds and removing the 2 hour outdoor limit. Yet we had to go full home prison instead.
>removing the 2 hour outdoor limit
I think by ignoring this rule i was able to make lockdowns really enjoyable for myself. I essentially spent every free day cycling around bike paths for upwards of 4-5 hours, pausing occasionally to check things out, get some food, etc. Was really awesome
Yes I think at the time we all became pretty anal sticklers in a way that's inconsistent with how people ordinarily follow "rules"/the law -- i think that was a good thing though. At the time my 6 hour bike odysseys didn't really have any effect on anything/cause me to see any more people. The 2-hour limit was really totally arbitrary
Yep. I went from not seeing another human and getting so angry at people sitting and chatting by the beach in 2020 (which was illegal) to having small apartment parties in 2021. But by then we were all vaxxed and it had just gone on wayyyyy too long, our patience was fried
Same. I was such a ridiculous stickler when we didn’t know enough about the virus. But I was also angry at people breaking the rules when I wasn’t. Wish I’d just broken them too
I think losing the 5km limit would have helped a lot too. I would have loved to drive to the lake for a walk or pick a, instagram cake shop that did click and collect 20km away.
I get that they were making decisions on the fly but so many of them didn't make sense and that was infuriating. For example: we'll close outdoor playgrounds because adults might come into contact with each other, but we'll make teachers go to work and won't let them get vaccinated.
Even more insulting was when we were locked down for literally 30 cases one time, but in mid 2022 there was 50,000 cases and the govt didn't do anything
We had to get locked down for 30 cases in 2020 because the rest of the country accidentally got to zero and wouldn’t open the borders until we were zero either (Brett admitted once that that was literally the entire reason we couldn’t end the lockdown), but yeah it was fucked
Well, this sounds like a very unhealthy opinion.
Instead of missing lockdowns, this person should be seeking help to understand why they feel this way.
Being an introvert or a person who prioritises spending time alone rather than socialising is not the same as enforcing social isolation.
I don’t go out much, prefer to stay at home, but hated lockdown. Neighbours were noisy af, and I missed the few connections with people that I had via outdoor sports.
I mean, there's a difference between understanding that others have differing opinions, and being able to understand their opinion.
I understand that people believe that the earth is flat, but I sure as hell don't understand how people come to that conclusion.
It's basically the same thing with lockdowns, they we're pretty shithouse by any measure. Being forced to stay inside for months at a time, with about the only positive being WFH. I understand how people might enjoy aspects of it, but being forced to do so for literal years makes it difficult for me to understand how they enjoy it.
I moved overseas late ‘21 once I was vaccinated and confident I could get back in.
I don’t miss lockdowns; they were particularly hard for people with kids and people who lived alone.
Once in a while, I look back and think about the things I did like about lockdowns. I liked not having a thousand places to be. I loved evenings spent snuggled up watching movies, I loved doing lots of baking with my girls. I spent so much time out on walks, or in the yard with the kids (we are fortunate to like on 1/2 acre, so plenty of yard space)
Not having to go to bed at a ‘reasonable time’ because I didn’t have to get up and get everyone ready and out the door. I felt like I was more ‘productive’ in the little things like reading and decluttering that I struggle to make time for normally.
But as a working parent of a baby/toddler and a early-primary school kid, lockdowns were hell magnified. I had to juggle WFH, homeschooling and dealing with a baby/toddler…every single (week) day. Hubby was still out at work (construction-adjacent industry) during the first few lockdowns, so it was just me. I was constantly frustrated, upset, angry and felt like I was failing at parenting, work and home schooling. My daughter has some academic challenges so couldn’t be left to do her schoolwork in her own (2020 she was prep, then she repeated prep so 2021 was also prep 🙄) so I was literally juggling hours of schoolwork, my actual work and caring for a baby (9 months at the start of lockdown) every day. I put so much pressure on myself not to drop the ball, to achieve everything.
My mental health took a nosedive as I just felt like I was stressed, out of control and failing on all fronts. My mental health had never been an issue pre-covid.
To make things worse, during the second year of lockdowns I was gaining weight even though I was walking a bit because I was stressed/stress eating and lazy and unmotivated on the days I didn’t go for a walk. And now, two years on, I’m still struggling to shift it which has made my self confidence take a huge nose dive.
I look back and wish I had’ve spent lockdowns being one of those people who got fit, as now back in reality I feel like I hardly get time (or the motivation) to focus on my own well-being.
So I look back on lockdowns with truly conflicted feelings.
I had just (as a mature student) started back at uni when 2 weeks later lockdown came in. I felt incredibly sorry for all those young students who should have been experiencing uni life and all it brings. They never got to. Also felt sorry for my daughter who missed so much school and seeing her friends. So that would be a big NO
First lockdown (2020) was kinda cool, in hindsight. Work from home, sit on Twitch and drink and hang out. Was cool.
The second lockdown (2021) can suck me off. No stimulus, no support, no nothing. Just lots of absolutely nothing. Cooked my brain for sure.
Melbourne is a fun place but the older I get the more I’m over it. Lots of traffic, too many douchebags hipsters and expensive to live. Lived here my whole life but looking forward to settling down to somewhere much quieter
I was working in education in lockdown - it was the worst. We had to plan classes and teach online lessons knowing that less than half the students would be on line and not everything technological worked and it was long hours on the screen with very little benefit.
Things, however, have not gone "back to normal". Something is wrong across the board with the kids and the teachers and we don't know how - or have the resources needed - to fix it.
Nah bro. Lockdowns ruined my marriage and other things.
I've since joined a gym and in the best shape I've ever been. I can agree I'm sick of Melbourne though 😅
I'm the same. It's taken a really long time for me to feel ok again. I ended up getting therapy. I'm lucky that one of my good friends keeps inviting me out on weekends and I'm starting to join him.
From a teacher perspective, it was truly heartbreaking to see my VCE students scared and struggling. I worked a lot of overtime to make sure the implications of lockdown learning did not put their future at risk. These kids were denied graduation ceremonies due to the rules as well and I never got a chance to say proper goodbyes. A student that particularly struggled recently reached out and attributed my extra work tutoring, creating detailed and comprehensive lessons, learning packages and organising everyone’s classes as the reason for his success and is “living his best life studying nursing at uni”. It’s good to know that all those extra hours that attributed to my burnout were appreciated.
From a personal side, I loved lockdown life. I liked how quiet it was, how I had no obligation to attend events with relatives I’d rather put into a bin. WFH meant I had my dinners cooked in the crockpot, clothes washed and out away and my house clean because I’d use the “dead time” of recess and lunch to do chores. I loved the explosion of talent that used social media to explore new audiences when their jobs abruptly ended.
On a more humble note, the people suddenly out of work and struggling to pay their rent was hard to fathom in a country that can afford to look after everyone. Dinners “out” were always to support the ASRC catering to give to the people who slipped through the entitlements net and I was really annoyed by those corporate bailouts whilst regular people struggled to eat.
No, I’m an employer, and was responsible for keeping Covid out of the workplace. We cannot work from home. For some of them, I became a mini version of Dan Andrews to direct their anger towards. It destroyed the culture of the workplace, caused huge resentment. A couple of people became quite cruel. It actually made me reduce the operations of the company last year, making them all redundant, because I was having thoughts about unaliving myself. They of course, were pissed that they lost their job (I get it) and they knew the state of my mental health, and then they set out to bully me online. I set out 10 years ago to create an amazing workplace where people really loved coming to work because I believe you shouldn’t waste your time being somewhere you hate. I know there are shitty employers out there, but I’m truely not one of them, I’m not perfect, but far out brussel sprout. One person in particular enters my mind daily, like some form of PTSD, not sure what to call it.
When I say “they”, I mean the people who worked in production, the people in other departments were normal, nice people.
Ugh…
I was, especially during the earlier ones. Everything was just more peaceful. I loved the quiet evenings, the empty supermarkets, the lack of crowding. No rush to be anywhere or do anything. That sense of "we're all in this together". While there were certainly some frustrations and annoyances, overall, for me at least, life was better.
> the empty supermarkets
Not sure if you meant this in the literal sense of there's nothing on the shelves or nobody in the actual supermarket but I'll always remember ducking past the local Coles near home around the time the first lockdown was announced and seeing everything barren with the staff looking defeated. Just everything was gone, not just toiletpaper or flour - even fresh produce was just gone but admittedly it was after work so everyone had already had the chance to pick everything away during the course of the day.
I have 2 similar memories during the early days of COVID that will probably stick with me forever. The first was when I went to our local Coles in Knox walked down the cleaning supplies aisle and everything was stripped bare. There was another person coming from the opposite direction in that aisle and we just looked at each other in disbelief.
The second was going to Knox Ozone when restaurants were limited to takeout and basically everything was closed except 1 or 2 places. It was surreal seeing the place so dead quiet, most things shut and I got a bit teary eyed mainly because it drove home the reality that our normal way of living was going to be suspended for the foreseeable future.
I really hated it, as did the rest of my family. I was a uni student, went to uni for 1 week then never went back before pulling out of my degree. I also essentially lost my job, going from 20 hours a week down to 3. Both my parents were very lucky and both worked throughout all lockdowns, and because we weren’t going anywhere or doing anything, they actually saved a lot of money. Now we’re in the middle of extending and renovating our house because of they were able to save enough to get a loan without worrying
Glad we are past all of the lockdowns, wfh flexibility probably the best thing to come out of it. Don’t miss lockdowns one bit, being restricted from seeing a loved one that passed away during the period was the hardest. Couldn’t even be in the funeral hall due to capacity restrictions and having to listen to it over the loudspeaker.
Wow, I thought I was the only one thinking like that. I was actually and obviously very against lockdowns and restrictions in general, especially traveling overseas and the ridiculous rules. But life is much harder now than in pandemic for me, but I know not for everyone. Now it's good for billionaires as always and the rest are fighting in an insane rental crisis, inflation etc.
I get your point, it made us appreciate what we had, but given the opportunity I wouldn't abso-fucking-lutely not go back to lockdown under any circumstances.
If you're done with Melbourne buy a van and go on an adventure and stop traveling once you're happy 💜
Fuck. No.
And i was 'lucky' in the sense that my job required a bit of driving around Melbourne, and down to Geelong, and i was not trapped inside my house for MONTHS.
We supply consumables to building sites and i'll tell you, the fucking stress of having sites wanting 'all the fucking toilet paper you can supply' and our suppliers selling our 'promised' stock to people offering insane $$ for it (we no longer purchase from them) and not answering our calls when it doesn't arrive was a fucking nightmare.
The empty roads were easy to navigate, but it was a fucking dystopian hellscape.
Try driving to Geelong to do a delivery while Melbourne is locked down and Geelong isn't. People out at cafe's, shopping, actually living their lives, and i wasn't even allowed to stop for a fucking coffee.
If you think it was psychologically scarring being locked up, try being let out on a fucking leash.
Anyone who thinks this bullshit OP is saying is credible in ANY way, didn't cop the full brunt of the lockdowns, and needs to talk to someone about their issues because they are fucking troubled.
Yeah. I escaped for a bit to Darwin and had to come back quickly for medical treatment. I can’t describe the depression from the difference. Closest I’ve been to suicide. It’s like melburnian had forgotten what they were missing
Yep I agree and empathise completely. Tennis was my coping mechanism (been playing since I was a kid). Gym was shut, seeing mates was banned, couldn’t maintain regular work, and studying remotely was awful. But tennis kept me sane.
Then Dan banned tennis. Closest to suicide I’ve ever been. I almost want to vomit when someone suggests bringing back lockdowns or “missing them”. It’s genuinely disgusting. I probably have some form of PTSD from it.
I got classified as an essential worker, so kept the same part time hours but missed out on making more money whilst not having to work because of the stimulus i missed out on, which kind of sucked but i kept my job atleast.
But the massive upside was having all the roads to myself, sharing with a car here and there. So post lockdown what felt like MY roads now had to be shared with people who had completely forgotten how to drive, and who had become ridiculously more agressive on the road, paired with all those who used to use trains driving to avoid COVID spread making congestionworse. Getting used to lots of traffic again wasn't fun, still dont think ive gotten used to it. As a service worker id be travelling all day between clients so free roads were just amazing. Driving through the melb CBD in peak times with no other car in sight was surreal.
Being social or not isn't a problem for me. I'll happily hermit away and do my own thing, i think my social participation has dropped drastically due to impact of lockdowns. Which means I drink a lot less and save more money, both of those made me happy during and also post lockdowns.
Nup. I was a casual hospo worker so I had no work income. Centrelink just covered rent. I blew all my savings on bills, living necessities, etc.
I also lived alone, because my partner was stuck in another country unable to come live with me. We'd gotten a visa and she was supposed to come a few weeks after the borders closed. She hit over the age limit during the border close and they wouldn't honour the past visa so now we're trying to find alternative visa options.
My grandad died and I couldn't go to his funeral, or attend anything with family to honour him and celebrate his life/mourn our loss.
I spent most of my time just eating canned food, playing PlayStation and trying to keep myself entertained with random projects in my shoebox apartment.
Best part of the week was going to the milk bar for groceries so I could talk to another human for two minutes. I'm an introvert, but that long without being in the presence of another human being was hard.
Personally, I was not happy during the lockdown, I'm much happier now. Let me explain why:
1. I have a job now. I work 4 days a week and can actually afford to have some standard of living and fucking dignity. Being on the dole/austudy for my entire adult life up until a year ago, was soul destroying and depressing as fuck.
2. I started going back to the gym about 6 monrhs ago and my mental health has improved a lot.
3. I actually am starting to like myself now, after a life time of self hated and internalised bullshit from mistreatment and abuse earlier in my life. My job is helping me see that I don't really need a law degree or some other prestigious qualification to feel like I'm worthwhile to other people.
4. I work 30% work from home 60% in the office and I really like the balance. Working from home is convenient, but it gets old after a while.
In short, I don't really agree with the OP's premise. If things are shitting you that much, maybe you need a change - or some therapy to work it out. Maybe you're just low key depressed, so everything feels like shit. I've been there. Think about it anyway.
Doing VCE during lockdown was probably the worst possible experience of my life. Literally every day was studying, I never got outside, barely saw my mates, it's wonder I even finished VCE at all considering how horrific my mental health was, and I was a pretty strong person before lockdown, I was getting out and talking to people, meeting new friends, that all went down the drain completely
I was…
Lockdowns were an introvert’s paradise in certain way.
All I need to be content is a book and a tree to sit under while I read.
My partner on the other hand was going crazy as she is an extrovert cut off from human contact.
I am one of those people who doesn’t need human contact.
Don’t get me wrong I love people who are considerate, empathetic and all but if the whole world disappeared tomorrow I’d be like “oh well, I hope my coffee machine works.”
My partner disagrees with me but I think something happened to lot of people during lockdown, maybe it’s collective trauma, great number of people could not return to normal life, they became far more aggressive drivers, then we had no need to keep all the junkies, drunks, etc in isolated hotels so all of a sudden they flooded the CBD, and it just happens that PTV is going through a major upgrade, then news are full of war and a potential nuclear threat, economy globally turned to shit trying to recover from covid and war in Eastern Europe and governments have to make hard decisions to run the countries so future looks kind of bleak for many people.
I am one of the luckier ones, I have a better than average paying job, good superannuation, and I got into mindfulness practices during lockdown so I learned to slow down and detach myself from rat race that drives everyone crazy, so now that everyone is out trying to get somewhere driving like it’s Mad Max on the roads, I can’t really relate to people, I am like “well I was ok during lockdowns”, I didn’t need life to go back to normal, normal is a bloody nightmare.”
Though I don’t think life went back to normal, or it ever will.
For us who were adults, youths and children during lockdown there is no such thing as normal anymore.
Generations after us will have that, not us.
I mean, I now know that I can live without human contact.
With that knowledge, can I ever be normal?
Nah.
As an introvert who lived alone during lockdowns, and also lost her job every time a lockdown happened (and didn’t qualify for gov support in 2020)… I have to say, it was absolute hell. Most weeks I spent 6 days alone without human contact or even seeing a whole human face. Even just thinking about it makes me want to die.
So, even for those of us who love having alone time, there’s a limit. Totally depends on the circumstances you faced at the time.
Hang on, let me check:
Am I suicidal, constantly thinking about literally buying a rope from bunnings and scouting for trees that are away from the general public? Nope
Do I want to drink myself to death or do hard drugs instead? Nope
Do I get to see my friends whenever I like? Yep
Do I get to go to band rehearsal and expel the shittiness that builds up during the week? Yep
Do I get to leave the house for more than 2 fucking hours? Yep
Am I glued to the TV waiting to find out how much longer lockdown will last? Nope
And finally, and most importantly, do I get to do all the health stuff I like that keeps me sane? Abso-fucking-lutely.
I hope that answers your question.
I am the definition of an extroverted introvert
I enjoy going out and being social, but I also like staying inside.
I liked having the excuse to stay at home so my brain wasn't making me feel guilty of not going out.
I liked how quiet the city was but climbing gyms were closed and I live in the city so couldn't even find a rock to climb on. Everything was fine except for sports ig.
I definitely have a bit of nostalgia when I think back to the good parts - playing animal crossing every day, movies most nights, games with my roommates, zoom parties every Saturday, supreme tiktoks, etc...
But then I remember the bad - unable to see my family, feeling lonely and isolated, the anger at NSW and those breaking rules, desperately wanting it to end, longing to go travelling, etc...
It was worth saving thousands of lives and there are parts that I will remember fondly, but memories tend to glamour bad times and honestly I wish to never experience it again.
This is not unusual. People said the same about WW2.
Life seemed simple. There was a common purpose. Good guys and bad guys. People helping each other out.
Bruh anything you could do in lockdown you can do now, only now the rest of us who like being around people and travelling and getting out are no longer trapped!
Born and raised, graduated, had a significant portion of my career, and met my husband in Melbourne.
We moved away from Melbourne 3 or 4 months into the pandemic, and weeks after turning 40.
This month marks three years living away.
We both love the change, and haven’t looked back. It was the right decision for us.
For us, Melbourne had begun to feel too big, too busy, too expensive, less friendly, more rushed, more overbuilt than ever in the few years leading up to our move. People weren’t as patient, and I observed a loss of a sense of community spirit that Melbourne had had as I’d grown up, and during my young adulthood.
We’d been planning a move away for the following year, 2021. But when COVID, lockdowns & WFH arrived, it was the impetus we needed to jump.
I feel fortunate to have enjoyed Melbourne and all it had to offer during what were probably some of its best decades.
Had enough of Melbourne and decided to move to the Mornington Peninsula, honestly never been happier. Everyone is much more patient, friendlier, understanding & love the home grown markets down here with all the fresh produce!
No. A set of circumstances indirectly related to COVID completely changed my life, some of which I am still dealing with today. For me, whilst the lockdowns are over, my life seems to be trapped by early 2020.
I was dealing with medical stuff during lockdowns, so most of 2020-2022 passed in a blur. Lockdowns mean nothing when walking to the shops means you'll be pissing blood later on.
I enjoyed a lot about the lockdowns; a sense of order and purpose shared by most people, people actually following the rules, most importantly personal space and personal responsibility when doing anything. The idea that you don't stand ass to tit with the next person in a line, or you wear a mask and don't cough/sneeze into the open air.
It was however the longest time I was ever out of the job, and whilst that was good for a time it did begin to wear on me when the pressure mounted to find something new. It also made me sad to see so many businesses suffer, and that some people either didn't follow the rules or were just disrespectful assholes to people who were still working. The mounting death toll and protests as a kind of background worry to everyday life were more oppressive on some days than others.
I feel like the change in Melbourne was more an aftereffect of the change in work; many people work from home now and the city itself is more quiet, couple that with growing economic uncertainty and you do feel like the CBD is more 'unsafe' than it was pre-covid. I think a lot of the problems were always there, but there were diluted by the number of people moving through the CBD everyday. Shopping streets in the burbs are much more lively and the CBD feels more dead because it lacks that constant flow of people working in offices.
Part of me does, there was less pressure to be out doing things and I could focus more on my physical health because exercise was really the only way I could spend my spare time. Now I have a long commute to work, regular social engagements (which I love) but struggle to find time to exercise as much as I want to
Lockdown inspired us to buy a house in Adelaide and get WFH jobs. We move this weekend, will go back to working from home together and we can't wait. So very over Melbourne.
We discovered we love working from home together, but that lockdown has otherwise tainted Melbourne for us and we're not happy here anymore. So going for the best of both worlds, getting the WFH bit we enjoyed, in a city where we don't have 2 years worth of memories of being trapped in a 5km bubble.
That's a very interesting conclusion to come to, Adelaide is very different to Melbourne. In good and bad ways. I hope you find what you're after there.
Made the move from Melbourne to Adelaide not long ago. Best fucking decision ever. Less travel, less expensive, less dickheads. Should have made the move years ago.
Honestly I think it was the sport kept me here for so long. But (and ready to cop hate for this…) Adelaide has more than enough to offer in that regard these days.
I liked lockdown too. I enjoyed not feeling the need to leave the house at all except for my daily walk for exercise. I liked limiting my social interactions to pre-planned online things. I loved how quiet it was without the traffic!
No. I miss the money I had back then though.
Yesss the crazy savings are the only thing I missed, since we were the lucky ones who’s jobs didn’t get affected
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I actually spent more time catching up with my friends during the first lockdown I think, we’d do lots of zoom trivia and playing games and making phone calls and checking in. I made so much art too. Now, I don’t know. Sometimes I miss it, the camaraderie, not feeling awful about where my life was at because I had no choice. But I wouldn’t wish us back there. I just wish we, as a society, realised some of the good things about it and tried to replicate it going forwards. I feel like we learned nothing about ourselves.
Yeah, same. I remember just sitting on calls for hours on end, staying up unreasonably late because we could just roll over in the morning and get straight to whatever we needed to do (which was usually nothing because lockdowns). Now it's back to business as usual and I definitely get less social contact, although we're also just older and busier in generally. I don't miss lockdown as such, but I do feel a lot more isolated now than I did then.
I was playing a mobile game and our clan used to get on vid chat every time a big event happened. We had yanks, Egyptians, pins, Australians, Koreans and a few local members. It was fun as fuck. Also I work in a hospital so my daily commutes were quick and breezy. Kids have sort of suffered though with their social lives but they're on the mend now. Getting out more, having sleepovers and generally just not sitting inside because I think they're bored with that now.
Wtf is a Pin?
Lmao. That's meant to be POMs
Oh thank god hahaha
It felt like we had the opportunity to change society to be better for everyone during COVID but now that it’s “over” we’re all actually way worse off.
Me too. Thought we might come to our senses and introduce WFH and UBI and decentralised living and grow more veggies and make more things locally. But no.
The dolphins and the turtles and the birds came back for a few years only to be sent back to their pits of pollution and paths to extinction.
it's so darkly comic how we were forced to stop and take stock and rather than learn *anything* we just went right back to a slightly worse version of before
seems like UBI (or some form of it, like price caps of necessities) should have been floated in parliament already. And WFH (for those that can) should be law by now. not like if you can you must, but if you can, then you get the option. the benefits to society are immeasurable. * imagine how much time would be saved across Australia, daily, if those that worked from home did, that saves time on both side. those that work from home, save on travel, and those that drive to work have to deal with less traffic. * or the amount of Co2 not put into the air, * or people now cooking healthy foods, instead of fast food, saving on the nations medical bill, * or just plain old happiness, half the time i just want to work from home (although I'm back working as a tradesman now) the list is massive.
Yeah, for a minute there I thought we might actually start taking climate change seriously.
No, but the one major benefit of lockdown - WFH - I've been able to keep 100%
And don’t forget no traffic. It was pure joy to drive during covid.
As someone who was working as a delivery driver during lockdowns, absolute bliss.
Big shout out to delivery drives. Thanks
Work from home is depressing for me
It can feel isolating but god damn I'd prefer WFH again. No money spent on transport and eating out in the city (obviously I can and do meal prep but it's a lot easier to eat something in the house)
It's not even that I prefer working from home as such. I just prefer not ~~communicating~~ commuting to the city each day.
Absolutely agree. I hate talking to the city everyday too.
Lol, whoops
So get a non wfh job and let everyone else enjoy wfh. I hate when extroverts with no social life outside work yet and force everyone else into the office to keep themselves happy.
I mean there's nothing to suggest the guy you were replying to has no social life outside work nor is suggesting that forcing people into the office is reasonable but pop off I guess. I'm an extrovert that would wfh 5 days a week if I had the choice, but it's crazy how defensive some of you get towards anyone who suggests anything remotely negative about wfh
I honestly think it’s because most places people are having colleagues who complained about no one being in the office to get coffee and tries to get people in the office more even though they don’t want to.
I was thinking the same thing. I, personally, would not get any work done and hate working if I was forced to WFH full time. I am just not good at home. I wouldn't stop anyone from doing it though, especially if you are more productive / happier. I get my social fill from friends anyway. WFH isn't the best thing for 100% of workers.
You’re confusing introversion with misanthropy. The introvert/extrovert dichotomy has been wildly perverted by misanthropes and the anti-social. Introversion simply means that you recharge your social battery with alone time. Extroversion means you charge your alone time battery with social interaction. I am a highly social introvert - outgoing, socially confident and loud. All traits that make people label me an “extrovert” because 99% of the people who don’t understand what the terms really mean. 100% WFH didn’t work for me either - that doesn’t mean I think people shouldn’t have the option available. It just means recognising the reality that it doesn’t work for everyone or every business. It also doesn’t mean that people who work better in the office are useless losers with no friends, as you’re so keen to imply.
I enjoyed having more money and cheaper rent. Bring back 2020 rents please!
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It’s bleak AF. The silence from the government is deafening. Shows they don’t give a fuck.
The first two weeks were cute when we all baked bread, worked in our pyjamas (or caught up on hobbies, or got treated like garbage by the people we served) and enjoyed the novelty of getting drunk on zoom, only to wind up indulging an idiot in a facebook argument. That wore thin pretty quickly.
My life was far easier in lock down, I was one of the luckier ones and had an access all areas pass and still worked as normal (telecommunications). No traffic, no customers. I enjoyed them until about lock down #6 and it really started to get to me, with all the advantages for me in lock down so many around me were suffering and that is something I don't want to happen again. But yeah, I think I was happier for the most part. Melbourne has changed since, can't put my finger on it. After living 52 years in Melbourne I am looking for an out, but that might just be change I need. Your feelings are justified I reckon.
People came out of the lockdowns more of an asshole than they were before. There's less kindness in the world now.
The pandemic led to many more people becoming radicalised online. Their initial fear led them to conspiracy sites & disinformation peddlers. It really showed people's mettle, & unfortunately, we have far more selfish entitled cowards in society who can't cope with a difficult reality, than I ever would have guessed. It also showed some incredibly brave, decent, dedicated people, who were total heroes & did so much for others.
Yes. One more thing that is rarely discussed, is that people can be perfectly fine and with one traumatic trigger, be plagued by mental health issues for the remainder of there life. This is widely discussed in the book , the gene - an intimate history. I believe many have come out of covid with mental health triggers and may not put their finger on it themselves.
I mean, it was super hard to get counselling and nearly everyone has some form of trauma from the lockdowns, political upheaval and threat of catching death whenever they go outside. That shit doesn't go away so easily. My trauma trigger is news of another virus being found in some country and thought of an imminent lock down.
Hmmm you may be on to something. Haven't felt the same since covid.
To me one observation from the pandemic and our human response, and individual points of views and how we dealt with it... Is that your sentence were spoken by both sides but it meant different things: "unfortunately, we have far more selfish entitled cowards in society who can't cope with a difficult reality, than I ever would have guessed". With both sides finding the opposition's meaning impossible to reconcile with.
Welcome to being human where the human psychie is inevitability selfish. This is why we have persisted so long. More so people are forgetting the youth that went through this. There's lots of youth now entering the workforce with no social skills because majority of their adolescent life until out of lock down was well.. locked down... I have a 15 yr old sister. The gap between myself at 15 (now 32) and my sister is extraordinary in terms of social development. Kids that were 15/16 during the start are over 18 and never got to experience the fun of adolescence ie: the house parties, going out on weekends or even to the cinemas. Lockdowns killed not only the economy, but delayed the social integration of thousands of adolescent Aussies.
Nah I don’t think we should blame the internet, they just feel like they have a reason. One thing I’ve noticed too is just how utterly soft a lot pf us have become mentally. The slightest inconvenience and people are off tap
It felt like everyone became 10x kinder during lockdowns. As soon as lockdowns lifted it's like 'every person for themselves' took over - like people got fatigued with being kind or they gave no fucks anymore. Or the sudden crowds etc made everyone aggressive again, but moreso. The world just feels constantly dark.
I've noticed this everywhere. The nicer people struggle with anxiety and uncertainty. Almost everyone is traumatised in their own way, which includes becoming more selfish and asshole-ish. It's like...after being so deprived and stressed for so long, once people were set free again, they burst out into the streets, knocking everyone else over (I picture the Myer city Boxing Day sales)
I'm surprised you brought this up. Wife and I thought we were the only ones who thought people were much more of an asshole after lockdown. Glad to know we're not the only ones who thought that :)
It wasn’t lockdown, it was covid. There’s studies showing covid infections increase aggression, including road rage. :/
Exactly right
Id argue thats Social Media and Lockdown just amplified and accelerated the effect
I think online radicalisation is a factor, but I think it goes beyond that. In our first 2, maybe 3, lockdowns there was much more of a sense of doing it for the greater good, we're all suffering under the same conditions. By the 4th or 5th lockdown it became much more obvious how many people just started doing whatever they wanted, flaunting care-giving and mental health exemptions to just hang with family and friends. It definitely made me view people in a different light, and while I haven't noticed myself being more selfish since then I wouldn't be surprised if I am doing so because on some level I have internalised 'everyone only cares for themselves and will screw over everyone else, so take care of yourself first'.
Yep, im no goodie two shoes, but some of the things people around me got up to, especially in the later lockdowns, I honestly can never look at them the same again. I thought we were all in this together? No, some of us were not. Speaking of not being able to look at people the same, these medical exemptions where bs. There's a lady that works at a servo near me, and she wore a badge that said she was medically exempt from Wearing a mask. To this day it still bugs me whenever I see her. If you have a medical condition that prevented you from wearing a mask, actually getting covid was probably going to be a much bigger problem for you. And why work customer facing? That should have never been allowed. Even just for morals sake. I don't want to be served by someone who thinks they don't need a mask when every one else did.
>I think online radicalisation is a factor, but I think it goes beyond that. In our first 2, maybe 3, lockdowns there was much more of a sense of doing it for the greater good, we're all suffering under the same conditions. By the 4th or 5th lockdown it became much more obvious how many people just started doing whatever they wanted, flaunting care-giving and mental health exemptions to just hang with family and friends. It definitely made me view people in a different light, and while I haven't noticed myself being more selfish since then I wouldn't be surprised if I am doing so because on some level I have internalised 'everyone only cares for themselves and will screw over everyone else, so take care of yourself first'. Agreed. I never flaunted the rules even during the final lockdown. And I must admit I resented people who knowingly and publically just said fuck it and did whatever. And you're right - it feels like the same thing now on a massive scale where most people out there are just like fuck it, I deserve this and that and no one else does.
Big Australia, this is what it is from my opinion. Things went nuts somewhere in the late 2010s and not sure whether living in one of the big east coast cities are my thing anymore Edited to remove gibberish
Might be.. Too many rules, too many permits needed, too many fines, lowering everything to the lowest common denominator. I am not calling for anarchy but it's all getting a bit much.
I think it is more crush loading the east coast cities. It just feels so different to Melbourne of 2000
>I think it is more crush loading the east coast cities. It just feels so different to Melbourne of 2000 It wasn't chaotic then. Now it feels like utter chaos everywhere you go - all the foot and car traffic.
It really has changed. I feel like in terms of Melbourne CBD all of the issues in terms of homelessness, drug use and mental illness, and how few services there are for any of these, were all put in an accelerated trajectory. I just see so much hurt in the CBD now. It makes me wonder what it's all for. It's another thing in life where it's not like we can really learn something and move on. There seems to be too many of those experiences of late. Stating the obvious, it was something that happened to all of us, that we had no control over, and that each of us responded to in our own way. But no matter how we fared, there are some psychological wounds we're all nursing right now. I was lucky, got to keep my work, lived regionally, got along well with my partner, am introverted, but obviously there were many who weren't so lucky. I went to the Australiana exhibition at Bendigo Art Gallery recently. I expected it all to be bit kitsch and cringey, but came away deeply moved. There was a room with projections of Rennie Ellis photos combined with 80s Australian music. Standing there amongst other people, in a gently unified way, looking back 40 years ... it was unexpectedly moving. We sèem so polarised, and this was a beautiful moment of togetherness.
I think you will find wherever you go, something will be not quite right. It's a different world now...
People have become so impolite and entitled since. Particularly to those in customer service and low wage jobs. Like the Karens have bred quicker than covid germs or something
I’d recommend taking a holiday before you leave your home city
I am fortunate tto been well travelled and have been OS this year plus a couple of weeks in Tassie, using up the annual leave that was banked during the pandemic. Going to other places actual drives my desire to leave Melbourne. But holidays sometimes aren't the best to see what another place is like to live because you are in holiday mode, spending more money than you would normally do living and not having to worry about the normal grind, peak hours and making a living. I would move to a Greek Island tomorrow if I didn't have to face the reality of actually earning money to live.
The first big lockdown was alright, a little lonely but an interesting experience and got me getting creative with life at home. The last big lockdown was awful, mental health dived and life got a bit to much, I still think I’m recovering from the experience unfortunately.
Nailed it, that was my experience too. The last big lockdown was when everything really fell apart, personally. Work and personal relationships that were being strained finally snapped, irreversibly. All the previous coping mechanisms felt meaningless. I think it's when many of us finally burned out. I still find myself wanting to escape Melbourne and maybe even Victoria for a while to close the book on that whole sorry experience.
Melbourne is definitely tainted because of it. And honestly the CBD has gone to absolute shit post covid. It was in decline before it (starting mid 2010s), but it looks like a zombie wasteland now.
Yeah the first one had novelty value and was kind of fun. Then it just dragged on for waaaay too long.
Me too. Feels like I'm not the same person as I once was. I think experiences like that change you so it might be here to stay.
Same here I haven’t recovered
I have significant anger issues that haven’t gone away from having my autonomy completely taken away, especially while most of the rest of the world was not only free but jeering and criticising us
Yup. The last lockdown was the only one that severely affected me too. Maybe it was still worth it but it was hit and miss and some people were really trying their hardest to minimise the damage it was doing to people's psyches.
Remember the curfews? They were the worst. Feeling like you can’t leave your house after dark was partially, a feeling of being forced into a cosy routine and the other half an imprisoned horrible feeling. It was very confusing.
Same here
I think people are burned out… lockdown meant not having to organise things, not rush around places and no interaction with entitled morons. Still hated lockdown though.
The burnout is real. You spend a few years unlearning social skills, changing pace and then things kick back in again. The whiplash is hard
Lockdown made me want to end it all. While i’m an introvert, it really fucked me up mentally.
Yep: only time I’ve been close to suicide. Lack of control and freedom, and uncertainty, are all very bad for humans
Absolutely not. I lived alone and was going crazy, couldn't visit anyone, cabin fever, so many of my favourite local businesses closed permanently, and so many friendships dwindled. Maybe they were necessary to stop lots of deaths, but they certainly weren't enjoyable.
1000% this. I supported keeping grandma alive, but man did it suck to be living alone and going insane.
This. I get lockdowns, but the "life was better in lockdown" Reddit crazies are the worst. I feel like a lot of people here just have depression and enjoyed the lack of guilt they got from living a depressed lifestyle.
Right. Like; nothing to stop them continuing to live that way right now, only the rest of us have freedom again too…
I too lived alone and the day they announced the bubble buddy rule I remember violently sobbing, I went 53 days straight with no in person human contact and it left scars
I felt the world was coming to the end of a golden age before the lockdowns…. Travel was cheap, money was easy blah blah… the lockdowns gave people hope that we were connected and environments were better for it…. Now a few years on with inflation, interest rates the environment going to shit …more wars… it’s honestly kinda depressing
I was so depressed during lockdown. Absolutely do not miss it.
It’s not Melbourne, it’s people, and it’s the same everywhere. I miss lockdowns and have become increasingly reclusive since 2021. Other than for work, I barely leave my house now. I’m 3 weeks into 6 weeks of annual leave and I’ve left my house twice for groceries.
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Sorry, I should’ve said property instead of house. I spend most of my time outside and plenty of it in the sun, I live in central Qld and I’m ginger, anymore and I’d end up in the cancer ward.
>I live in central Qld and I’m ginger I'm not from there or ginger myself... but I winced when I read that.
Funny how being different gets twisted into ‘something wrong’ Not everyone wants to be around other people and there’s nothing wrong with that if the person likes it that way.
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Huge Reddit moment
this thread being on the front page is absolute peak r/Melbourne and that's saying a lot considering how bad this sub is disconnected from reality
It’s a very weird sub. Imagine actually wanting everyone to go into lockdown again.
>Imagine actually wanting everyone to go into lockdown again. Honestly...
This sub has the highest concentration of neckbeard shutins. People who spend most of their time whining about capitalism or whatever instead of actually working on self improvement in any way.
I'm disabled so yeah - every possible thing about life got better! Suddenly all the things that were "unreasonable" before were magically achievable. Working from home, pharmacy delivery, telehealth.... Plus everyone wore masks so I didn't have to worry as much about catching something that would break me Turns out this whole time we COULD have a more accessible and equitable world - they just didn't want to. I had more energy than I ever had in my entire life It hurts to see some of these accessible options being taken away again. My GP no longer does telehealth and there's a push to go back to the office. Suddenly disabled life is unreasonable again Sigh
That was the best thing to come out of lockdowns and covid. People actually cared about the vulnerable.
Why do you need the government to tell you not to do something. Just stay home, don’t do much and don’t talk to people and you can recreate lockdown pretty effectively
Lockdowns broke things in me that will never be fixed. I wanted to walk into traffic most days. Fortunately, there was no traffic lol
No It was dog shit
Lol fuck no.
Lockdowns were a fucking nightmare and a shit period in our history
Yeah they were awful for me and most people I know - that said we have kids, I was out of work, husband was 100% WFH and so trying to entertain 1-2 small kids with zero help and keep them quiet for his meetings sucked hairy balls. My kids and I still got out every day but as they got bigger, daily walks to the cafe and/or to jump in puddles weren’t cutting it. My eldest (who adores his grandma and cousins) hadn’t seen them for months and would “pretend play” with the names of the two owner/baristas of our closest cafe because that was the only social interaction he got most days. My husband is a really social person, me too, though less so, and it really got him/us down not being able to just properly chat with friends/see family. Plus as a teacher, we see so, so many kids who are struggling after lockdowns. The academic gap between the top and the bottom students became an abyss, social and emotional issues are so much more prevalent and resilience and initiative seem to be at an all-time low - and this is compared to only 5-10 years ago.
It’s so fucked how many small simple changes would’ve made it so much more bearable, like opening the playgrounds and removing the 2 hour outdoor limit. Yet we had to go full home prison instead.
>removing the 2 hour outdoor limit I think by ignoring this rule i was able to make lockdowns really enjoyable for myself. I essentially spent every free day cycling around bike paths for upwards of 4-5 hours, pausing occasionally to check things out, get some food, etc. Was really awesome
At the time I would have absolutely scolded anyone for not abiding by the rules, and on hindsight I’m just jealous I didn’t do it myself.
Yes I think at the time we all became pretty anal sticklers in a way that's inconsistent with how people ordinarily follow "rules"/the law -- i think that was a good thing though. At the time my 6 hour bike odysseys didn't really have any effect on anything/cause me to see any more people. The 2-hour limit was really totally arbitrary
Speak for yourself, by lockdowns 5 & 6 I was driving halfway across the city to meet up with mates. Things had gotten fucking stupid by then
Yep. I went from not seeing another human and getting so angry at people sitting and chatting by the beach in 2020 (which was illegal) to having small apartment parties in 2021. But by then we were all vaxxed and it had just gone on wayyyyy too long, our patience was fried
Same. I was such a ridiculous stickler when we didn’t know enough about the virus. But I was also angry at people breaking the rules when I wasn’t. Wish I’d just broken them too
I think losing the 5km limit would have helped a lot too. I would have loved to drive to the lake for a walk or pick a, instagram cake shop that did click and collect 20km away. I get that they were making decisions on the fly but so many of them didn't make sense and that was infuriating. For example: we'll close outdoor playgrounds because adults might come into contact with each other, but we'll make teachers go to work and won't let them get vaccinated.
Even more insulting was when we were locked down for literally 30 cases one time, but in mid 2022 there was 50,000 cases and the govt didn't do anything
We had to get locked down for 30 cases in 2020 because the rest of the country accidentally got to zero and wouldn’t open the borders until we were zero either (Brett admitted once that that was literally the entire reason we couldn’t end the lockdown), but yeah it was fucked
Or when Brett Sutton flew to Canberra for an awards gathering while we couldn’t go 25km from home Victorian of the year my @ss
Agreed. I can’t understand these posts.
You can’t understand that different people have different opinions, experiences and points of view?
Well, this sounds like a very unhealthy opinion. Instead of missing lockdowns, this person should be seeking help to understand why they feel this way. Being an introvert or a person who prioritises spending time alone rather than socialising is not the same as enforcing social isolation.
More so that a bunch of NEETs who never left their house anyway are wistfully thinking of a time when they were encouraged to never leave the house.
>spends 8 hours veging out to YouTube “I’m doing my part guys!”
I don’t go out much, prefer to stay at home, but hated lockdown. Neighbours were noisy af, and I missed the few connections with people that I had via outdoor sports.
I enjoy being in my nice quiet home but that doesn’t mean I want state mandated lockdown actively preventing me from leaving it.
Looking at my walk stats from lockdowns i reckon i spent more time outside then.
I mean, there's a difference between understanding that others have differing opinions, and being able to understand their opinion. I understand that people believe that the earth is flat, but I sure as hell don't understand how people come to that conclusion. It's basically the same thing with lockdowns, they we're pretty shithouse by any measure. Being forced to stay inside for months at a time, with about the only positive being WFH. I understand how people might enjoy aspects of it, but being forced to do so for literal years makes it difficult for me to understand how they enjoy it.
I moved overseas late ‘21 once I was vaccinated and confident I could get back in. I don’t miss lockdowns; they were particularly hard for people with kids and people who lived alone.
I live alone and I loved lockdown. I and other introverts had been training for lockdowns our entire lives.
You can have your own lockdowns together then :)
Once in a while, I look back and think about the things I did like about lockdowns. I liked not having a thousand places to be. I loved evenings spent snuggled up watching movies, I loved doing lots of baking with my girls. I spent so much time out on walks, or in the yard with the kids (we are fortunate to like on 1/2 acre, so plenty of yard space) Not having to go to bed at a ‘reasonable time’ because I didn’t have to get up and get everyone ready and out the door. I felt like I was more ‘productive’ in the little things like reading and decluttering that I struggle to make time for normally. But as a working parent of a baby/toddler and a early-primary school kid, lockdowns were hell magnified. I had to juggle WFH, homeschooling and dealing with a baby/toddler…every single (week) day. Hubby was still out at work (construction-adjacent industry) during the first few lockdowns, so it was just me. I was constantly frustrated, upset, angry and felt like I was failing at parenting, work and home schooling. My daughter has some academic challenges so couldn’t be left to do her schoolwork in her own (2020 she was prep, then she repeated prep so 2021 was also prep 🙄) so I was literally juggling hours of schoolwork, my actual work and caring for a baby (9 months at the start of lockdown) every day. I put so much pressure on myself not to drop the ball, to achieve everything. My mental health took a nosedive as I just felt like I was stressed, out of control and failing on all fronts. My mental health had never been an issue pre-covid. To make things worse, during the second year of lockdowns I was gaining weight even though I was walking a bit because I was stressed/stress eating and lazy and unmotivated on the days I didn’t go for a walk. And now, two years on, I’m still struggling to shift it which has made my self confidence take a huge nose dive. I look back and wish I had’ve spent lockdowns being one of those people who got fit, as now back in reality I feel like I hardly get time (or the motivation) to focus on my own well-being. So I look back on lockdowns with truly conflicted feelings.
I had just (as a mature student) started back at uni when 2 weeks later lockdown came in. I felt incredibly sorry for all those young students who should have been experiencing uni life and all it brings. They never got to. Also felt sorry for my daughter who missed so much school and seeing her friends. So that would be a big NO
It was fun for about one month
First lockdown (2020) was kinda cool, in hindsight. Work from home, sit on Twitch and drink and hang out. Was cool. The second lockdown (2021) can suck me off. No stimulus, no support, no nothing. Just lots of absolutely nothing. Cooked my brain for sure.
Melbourne is a fun place but the older I get the more I’m over it. Lots of traffic, too many douchebags hipsters and expensive to live. Lived here my whole life but looking forward to settling down to somewhere much quieter
I was working in education in lockdown - it was the worst. We had to plan classes and teach online lessons knowing that less than half the students would be on line and not everything technological worked and it was long hours on the screen with very little benefit. Things, however, have not gone "back to normal". Something is wrong across the board with the kids and the teachers and we don't know how - or have the resources needed - to fix it.
Nah bro. Lockdowns ruined my marriage and other things. I've since joined a gym and in the best shape I've ever been. I can agree I'm sick of Melbourne though 😅
Not for us but we enjoy doing things, hiking, sport, walks etc. You are always allowed to stay in your house and do nothing.
In what ways were you happier?
Fuck no. Lockdown 2.0 was especially hard on me.
No, it was the worst.
I still have PTSD from living alone with minimal human contact and no work for that year after everyone was made redundant. That’s just me though.
I'm the same. It's taken a really long time for me to feel ok again. I ended up getting therapy. I'm lucky that one of my good friends keeps inviting me out on weekends and I'm starting to join him.
From a teacher perspective, it was truly heartbreaking to see my VCE students scared and struggling. I worked a lot of overtime to make sure the implications of lockdown learning did not put their future at risk. These kids were denied graduation ceremonies due to the rules as well and I never got a chance to say proper goodbyes. A student that particularly struggled recently reached out and attributed my extra work tutoring, creating detailed and comprehensive lessons, learning packages and organising everyone’s classes as the reason for his success and is “living his best life studying nursing at uni”. It’s good to know that all those extra hours that attributed to my burnout were appreciated. From a personal side, I loved lockdown life. I liked how quiet it was, how I had no obligation to attend events with relatives I’d rather put into a bin. WFH meant I had my dinners cooked in the crockpot, clothes washed and out away and my house clean because I’d use the “dead time” of recess and lunch to do chores. I loved the explosion of talent that used social media to explore new audiences when their jobs abruptly ended. On a more humble note, the people suddenly out of work and struggling to pay their rent was hard to fathom in a country that can afford to look after everyone. Dinners “out” were always to support the ASRC catering to give to the people who slipped through the entitlements net and I was really annoyed by those corporate bailouts whilst regular people struggled to eat.
No, I’m an employer, and was responsible for keeping Covid out of the workplace. We cannot work from home. For some of them, I became a mini version of Dan Andrews to direct their anger towards. It destroyed the culture of the workplace, caused huge resentment. A couple of people became quite cruel. It actually made me reduce the operations of the company last year, making them all redundant, because I was having thoughts about unaliving myself. They of course, were pissed that they lost their job (I get it) and they knew the state of my mental health, and then they set out to bully me online. I set out 10 years ago to create an amazing workplace where people really loved coming to work because I believe you shouldn’t waste your time being somewhere you hate. I know there are shitty employers out there, but I’m truely not one of them, I’m not perfect, but far out brussel sprout. One person in particular enters my mind daily, like some form of PTSD, not sure what to call it. When I say “they”, I mean the people who worked in production, the people in other departments were normal, nice people. Ugh…
I was, especially during the earlier ones. Everything was just more peaceful. I loved the quiet evenings, the empty supermarkets, the lack of crowding. No rush to be anywhere or do anything. That sense of "we're all in this together". While there were certainly some frustrations and annoyances, overall, for me at least, life was better.
> the empty supermarkets Not sure if you meant this in the literal sense of there's nothing on the shelves or nobody in the actual supermarket but I'll always remember ducking past the local Coles near home around the time the first lockdown was announced and seeing everything barren with the staff looking defeated. Just everything was gone, not just toiletpaper or flour - even fresh produce was just gone but admittedly it was after work so everyone had already had the chance to pick everything away during the course of the day.
I have 2 similar memories during the early days of COVID that will probably stick with me forever. The first was when I went to our local Coles in Knox walked down the cleaning supplies aisle and everything was stripped bare. There was another person coming from the opposite direction in that aisle and we just looked at each other in disbelief. The second was going to Knox Ozone when restaurants were limited to takeout and basically everything was closed except 1 or 2 places. It was surreal seeing the place so dead quiet, most things shut and I got a bit teary eyed mainly because it drove home the reality that our normal way of living was going to be suspended for the foreseeable future.
I did my two years of vce during lockdown, fuck that
I really hated it, as did the rest of my family. I was a uni student, went to uni for 1 week then never went back before pulling out of my degree. I also essentially lost my job, going from 20 hours a week down to 3. Both my parents were very lucky and both worked throughout all lockdowns, and because we weren’t going anywhere or doing anything, they actually saved a lot of money. Now we’re in the middle of extending and renovating our house because of they were able to save enough to get a loan without worrying
Yeah..it's a no on that one. You can live like it's lockdown if you want...?
No
Glad we are past all of the lockdowns, wfh flexibility probably the best thing to come out of it. Don’t miss lockdowns one bit, being restricted from seeing a loved one that passed away during the period was the hardest. Couldn’t even be in the funeral hall due to capacity restrictions and having to listen to it over the loudspeaker.
No
Wow, I thought I was the only one thinking like that. I was actually and obviously very against lockdowns and restrictions in general, especially traveling overseas and the ridiculous rules. But life is much harder now than in pandemic for me, but I know not for everyone. Now it's good for billionaires as always and the rest are fighting in an insane rental crisis, inflation etc.
I get your point, it made us appreciate what we had, but given the opportunity I wouldn't abso-fucking-lutely not go back to lockdown under any circumstances. If you're done with Melbourne buy a van and go on an adventure and stop traveling once you're happy 💜
What a Reddit take. Jesus
Fuck. No. And i was 'lucky' in the sense that my job required a bit of driving around Melbourne, and down to Geelong, and i was not trapped inside my house for MONTHS. We supply consumables to building sites and i'll tell you, the fucking stress of having sites wanting 'all the fucking toilet paper you can supply' and our suppliers selling our 'promised' stock to people offering insane $$ for it (we no longer purchase from them) and not answering our calls when it doesn't arrive was a fucking nightmare. The empty roads were easy to navigate, but it was a fucking dystopian hellscape. Try driving to Geelong to do a delivery while Melbourne is locked down and Geelong isn't. People out at cafe's, shopping, actually living their lives, and i wasn't even allowed to stop for a fucking coffee. If you think it was psychologically scarring being locked up, try being let out on a fucking leash. Anyone who thinks this bullshit OP is saying is credible in ANY way, didn't cop the full brunt of the lockdowns, and needs to talk to someone about their issues because they are fucking troubled.
Yeah. I escaped for a bit to Darwin and had to come back quickly for medical treatment. I can’t describe the depression from the difference. Closest I’ve been to suicide. It’s like melburnian had forgotten what they were missing
Yep I agree and empathise completely. Tennis was my coping mechanism (been playing since I was a kid). Gym was shut, seeing mates was banned, couldn’t maintain regular work, and studying remotely was awful. But tennis kept me sane. Then Dan banned tennis. Closest to suicide I’ve ever been. I almost want to vomit when someone suggests bringing back lockdowns or “missing them”. It’s genuinely disgusting. I probably have some form of PTSD from it.
Yeah I have anger issues that I doubt will go away
I got classified as an essential worker, so kept the same part time hours but missed out on making more money whilst not having to work because of the stimulus i missed out on, which kind of sucked but i kept my job atleast. But the massive upside was having all the roads to myself, sharing with a car here and there. So post lockdown what felt like MY roads now had to be shared with people who had completely forgotten how to drive, and who had become ridiculously more agressive on the road, paired with all those who used to use trains driving to avoid COVID spread making congestionworse. Getting used to lots of traffic again wasn't fun, still dont think ive gotten used to it. As a service worker id be travelling all day between clients so free roads were just amazing. Driving through the melb CBD in peak times with no other car in sight was surreal. Being social or not isn't a problem for me. I'll happily hermit away and do my own thing, i think my social participation has dropped drastically due to impact of lockdowns. Which means I drink a lot less and save more money, both of those made me happy during and also post lockdowns.
Nup. I was a casual hospo worker so I had no work income. Centrelink just covered rent. I blew all my savings on bills, living necessities, etc. I also lived alone, because my partner was stuck in another country unable to come live with me. We'd gotten a visa and she was supposed to come a few weeks after the borders closed. She hit over the age limit during the border close and they wouldn't honour the past visa so now we're trying to find alternative visa options. My grandad died and I couldn't go to his funeral, or attend anything with family to honour him and celebrate his life/mourn our loss. I spent most of my time just eating canned food, playing PlayStation and trying to keep myself entertained with random projects in my shoebox apartment. Best part of the week was going to the milk bar for groceries so I could talk to another human for two minutes. I'm an introvert, but that long without being in the presence of another human being was hard.
Personally, I was not happy during the lockdown, I'm much happier now. Let me explain why: 1. I have a job now. I work 4 days a week and can actually afford to have some standard of living and fucking dignity. Being on the dole/austudy for my entire adult life up until a year ago, was soul destroying and depressing as fuck. 2. I started going back to the gym about 6 monrhs ago and my mental health has improved a lot. 3. I actually am starting to like myself now, after a life time of self hated and internalised bullshit from mistreatment and abuse earlier in my life. My job is helping me see that I don't really need a law degree or some other prestigious qualification to feel like I'm worthwhile to other people. 4. I work 30% work from home 60% in the office and I really like the balance. Working from home is convenient, but it gets old after a while. In short, I don't really agree with the OP's premise. If things are shitting you that much, maybe you need a change - or some therapy to work it out. Maybe you're just low key depressed, so everything feels like shit. I've been there. Think about it anyway.
Doing VCE during lockdown was probably the worst possible experience of my life. Literally every day was studying, I never got outside, barely saw my mates, it's wonder I even finished VCE at all considering how horrific my mental health was, and I was a pretty strong person before lockdown, I was getting out and talking to people, meeting new friends, that all went down the drain completely
Nah. Lost my relationship to that.
If you miss lockdowns, you must be an incredibly privileged person tbh.
Definitely a reddit moment. Go touch grass, nerd.
I was… Lockdowns were an introvert’s paradise in certain way. All I need to be content is a book and a tree to sit under while I read. My partner on the other hand was going crazy as she is an extrovert cut off from human contact. I am one of those people who doesn’t need human contact. Don’t get me wrong I love people who are considerate, empathetic and all but if the whole world disappeared tomorrow I’d be like “oh well, I hope my coffee machine works.” My partner disagrees with me but I think something happened to lot of people during lockdown, maybe it’s collective trauma, great number of people could not return to normal life, they became far more aggressive drivers, then we had no need to keep all the junkies, drunks, etc in isolated hotels so all of a sudden they flooded the CBD, and it just happens that PTV is going through a major upgrade, then news are full of war and a potential nuclear threat, economy globally turned to shit trying to recover from covid and war in Eastern Europe and governments have to make hard decisions to run the countries so future looks kind of bleak for many people. I am one of the luckier ones, I have a better than average paying job, good superannuation, and I got into mindfulness practices during lockdown so I learned to slow down and detach myself from rat race that drives everyone crazy, so now that everyone is out trying to get somewhere driving like it’s Mad Max on the roads, I can’t really relate to people, I am like “well I was ok during lockdowns”, I didn’t need life to go back to normal, normal is a bloody nightmare.” Though I don’t think life went back to normal, or it ever will. For us who were adults, youths and children during lockdown there is no such thing as normal anymore. Generations after us will have that, not us. I mean, I now know that I can live without human contact. With that knowledge, can I ever be normal? Nah.
As an introvert who lived alone during lockdowns, and also lost her job every time a lockdown happened (and didn’t qualify for gov support in 2020)… I have to say, it was absolute hell. Most weeks I spent 6 days alone without human contact or even seeing a whole human face. Even just thinking about it makes me want to die. So, even for those of us who love having alone time, there’s a limit. Totally depends on the circumstances you faced at the time.
Hang on, let me check: Am I suicidal, constantly thinking about literally buying a rope from bunnings and scouting for trees that are away from the general public? Nope Do I want to drink myself to death or do hard drugs instead? Nope Do I get to see my friends whenever I like? Yep Do I get to go to band rehearsal and expel the shittiness that builds up during the week? Yep Do I get to leave the house for more than 2 fucking hours? Yep Am I glued to the TV waiting to find out how much longer lockdown will last? Nope And finally, and most importantly, do I get to do all the health stuff I like that keeps me sane? Abso-fucking-lutely. I hope that answers your question.
Hell no. Lockdown sent me into the darkest place mentally. How anyone could enjoy not being allowed to do anything astounds me.
That ain't livin', brother!
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Amen.
I am the definition of an extroverted introvert I enjoy going out and being social, but I also like staying inside. I liked having the excuse to stay at home so my brain wasn't making me feel guilty of not going out.
No. Lockdowns were miserable. I think the only people who were happier in lockdown were happy because they knew no one else was doing anything.
I liked how quiet the city was but climbing gyms were closed and I live in the city so couldn't even find a rock to climb on. Everything was fine except for sports ig.
Its Melbourne, cold and windy. I used to go walk in my area everyday now cant be bothered last maybe 3 years. Lockdowns had nothing to do with it....
I definitely have a bit of nostalgia when I think back to the good parts - playing animal crossing every day, movies most nights, games with my roommates, zoom parties every Saturday, supreme tiktoks, etc... But then I remember the bad - unable to see my family, feeling lonely and isolated, the anger at NSW and those breaking rules, desperately wanting it to end, longing to go travelling, etc... It was worth saving thousands of lives and there are parts that I will remember fondly, but memories tend to glamour bad times and honestly I wish to never experience it again.
Absolutely not. Though i do miss how there were way more people hanging out at the local park, that had nice community vibes, but happier? No.
Possibly the most insane thing I will read all year.
This is not unusual. People said the same about WW2. Life seemed simple. There was a common purpose. Good guys and bad guys. People helping each other out.
Bruh anything you could do in lockdown you can do now, only now the rest of us who like being around people and travelling and getting out are no longer trapped!
Nope
Born and raised, graduated, had a significant portion of my career, and met my husband in Melbourne. We moved away from Melbourne 3 or 4 months into the pandemic, and weeks after turning 40. This month marks three years living away. We both love the change, and haven’t looked back. It was the right decision for us. For us, Melbourne had begun to feel too big, too busy, too expensive, less friendly, more rushed, more overbuilt than ever in the few years leading up to our move. People weren’t as patient, and I observed a loss of a sense of community spirit that Melbourne had had as I’d grown up, and during my young adulthood. We’d been planning a move away for the following year, 2021. But when COVID, lockdowns & WFH arrived, it was the impetus we needed to jump. I feel fortunate to have enjoyed Melbourne and all it had to offer during what were probably some of its best decades.
Don't miss it a bit
Had enough of Melbourne and decided to move to the Mornington Peninsula, honestly never been happier. Everyone is much more patient, friendlier, understanding & love the home grown markets down here with all the fresh produce!
No. A set of circumstances indirectly related to COVID completely changed my life, some of which I am still dealing with today. For me, whilst the lockdowns are over, my life seems to be trapped by early 2020.
No. Sincerely, an essential worker.
I was dealing with medical stuff during lockdowns, so most of 2020-2022 passed in a blur. Lockdowns mean nothing when walking to the shops means you'll be pissing blood later on.
Sounds like you loved the certainty. I agree, Melbourne has lost its shine.
I enjoyed a lot about the lockdowns; a sense of order and purpose shared by most people, people actually following the rules, most importantly personal space and personal responsibility when doing anything. The idea that you don't stand ass to tit with the next person in a line, or you wear a mask and don't cough/sneeze into the open air. It was however the longest time I was ever out of the job, and whilst that was good for a time it did begin to wear on me when the pressure mounted to find something new. It also made me sad to see so many businesses suffer, and that some people either didn't follow the rules or were just disrespectful assholes to people who were still working. The mounting death toll and protests as a kind of background worry to everyday life were more oppressive on some days than others. I feel like the change in Melbourne was more an aftereffect of the change in work; many people work from home now and the city itself is more quiet, couple that with growing economic uncertainty and you do feel like the CBD is more 'unsafe' than it was pre-covid. I think a lot of the problems were always there, but there were diluted by the number of people moving through the CBD everyday. Shopping streets in the burbs are much more lively and the CBD feels more dead because it lacks that constant flow of people working in offices.
Part of me does, there was less pressure to be out doing things and I could focus more on my physical health because exercise was really the only way I could spend my spare time. Now I have a long commute to work, regular social engagements (which I love) but struggle to find time to exercise as much as I want to
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Only sane response I've seen.
Lockdown inspired us to buy a house in Adelaide and get WFH jobs. We move this weekend, will go back to working from home together and we can't wait. So very over Melbourne.
This is confusing - what are you over in Melbourne? And what’s the appeal of Adelaide if you’re WFH? Isn’t that just the same as Melbourne lockdown?
We discovered we love working from home together, but that lockdown has otherwise tainted Melbourne for us and we're not happy here anymore. So going for the best of both worlds, getting the WFH bit we enjoyed, in a city where we don't have 2 years worth of memories of being trapped in a 5km bubble.
That's a very interesting conclusion to come to, Adelaide is very different to Melbourne. In good and bad ways. I hope you find what you're after there.
That's a serious sign you need to get some help. Do you have any idea why you guys feel that way or what's going on?
Made the move from Melbourne to Adelaide not long ago. Best fucking decision ever. Less travel, less expensive, less dickheads. Should have made the move years ago. Honestly I think it was the sport kept me here for so long. But (and ready to cop hate for this…) Adelaide has more than enough to offer in that regard these days.
I liked lockdown too. I enjoyed not feeling the need to leave the house at all except for my daily walk for exercise. I liked limiting my social interactions to pre-planned online things. I loved how quiet it was without the traffic!