Yes I was going to say something similar:Originally Posted by nar53
An immuno-compromised family member had Covid quite badly in the spring just a few days/weeks or so after the panic buying hit.. at the time it felt like the world was coming apart, a very anxious time. I have a feeling this is merely the end of the beginning in numerous ways though.
*shrugs*
I've known far worse, as well as people who have had things far worse than me. Every day I wake up is a good day as far as I'm concerned.
Saracen999 (05-09-2020)
Medically retired 3 years ago. Spend a lot of time on my desktop PC and a lot of time sleeping (due medication). Live in sheltered accommodation, this COVID-19 has meant the closure of all communal areas since March, with no sign of reopening.
Year's had more ups than downs so far for me, and the biggest downs so far had nothing to do with global concerns. Not that I would have wished any of it to happen just to occasionally suit me.
i had a busy and stressful couple of years due to badly managed projects at work on top of my normal tasks, it was getting sorted finally just before lockdown, so being able to WFH via remote access and saving hours on the commute each day, no one to come to my desk and bother me, makes work far easier, plus i've been able to catchup on hours of netflix and tv shows that were mounting up, plus upgrading pcs and all sorts of stuff at home, being in to accept deliveries means i can order stuff online with less hassle, including groceries, saving money on the commute, with the extra time i've developed some extra skills, found some money saving things, changed utilities, not having to get up and ready for work dressed smartly saves time and it's more comfortable wearing shorts and a t shirt, no money spent on office clothes and footwear, got another coffee machine so i've got more choice and can eat and drink what i want when i want, and just generally have a lot more time, and a fair bit more money (for various reasons) and more flexibility and less demands makes a huge improvement
the main thing i miss is pubs, clubs and gigs, going out and socialising in person and being able to meet new and interesting people. i don't miss seeing people at work or on commute. that's the main downside. i hate travel, but would travel to go to gigs, even abroad on occasion, and most of what i like can be done at home. i'm missing new movies a bit, there's still new tv stuff to watch although it's drying up, but it usually does over summer and returns about now
obviously this is quite a divisive situation, so whilst there are others like myself enjoying more time, money and freedoms, there are plenty of people losing jobs, and some struggling to cope with WFH for technical and practical reasons as it's showing skill gaps or they don't have a decent WFH setup at home, and in some cases missing social contact with people at work, but it seems to be the older staff in that boat. my home setup is better than the one in the office, the kitchen/coffee/bathroom is closer and people i dislike much further away
so on a scale of 1 to 10 i'd say, wibble wobbly wonky doo!
Aaaarrrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
I'm fine, fineeee, fiiinnnnneeeeeeeeee.
Aaarrrggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
How am I coping?
Let me come with you...
in all seriousness last few weeks have been really hard. I've started going back into the office and sod it all. I've had enough of wfh and need the office, the team, the time out of the house etc. If I get covid I get covid. At any other time I'd take a holiday, but going into the office kind of feels like one in a way!
Ups and downs in all honesty
Music production has kept me busy and almost sane, I think just focusing on doing SOMETHING has helped so much. During the lockdown I actually moved on from just making simple hip hop beats with loops and samples (and some very basic melody drawing) for fun, to now making full length EDM by playing my own Keys and Chords, creating Arps, playing with Filters and volume levels, Changing/adding Octaves and voices to sounds, and a bunch of other stuff too.
There has been more progression in my skills during the last few months than there has been in the last ten years, I've just jumped in and started simultaneously learning basic music theory and sound design to push my music further, and the results have so far shown promise (as a hobby at least). Errm, for the really nosey if you just put /liamr at the end of the standard youtube address, you will get my channel.
"Are you managing to navigate through the Covid-19 crisis, or is your mental health suffering?"
Yes.
The isolation, and being at home for work, is definitely not good for my mental health. I need a certain amount of in-person interaction to stay in good condition. Usually that's pretty easy, but it's been hard to maintain that this year.
That said, I have been navigating. As time has gone on, I've socialized more. Hanging out with my friend who caught covid-19 in March and recovered. Visiting my parents, being careful to mask while inside and maintain proper distance. Meeting friends for dinner in parks. With one group of friends, forming a bubble where we can socialize. It's helped get things back to at least half of where they were before in terms of outside of work socializing, and that has helped tremendously. But working remotely is still way more isolating than in person, and I am eager to start working from an office again.
It's also hurt my productivity - it's all too easily to lose motivation and start thinking the project is pointless when working remotely, especially when things aren't going well on it and you're working by yourself without someone the next desk over to bounce ideas off of. This has become more pronounced since joining a new project in June - it's one thing to keep up good habits with a group you already know, but harder to re-establish those with a new group, and being remote exacerbates that.
Several of my friends have also commented on how much even something as simple as grabbing dinner at a park has helped them mentally.
I'll also add that I've heard very varied opinions on working remotely. In my experience, the people who are happiest tend to be those who have families that they get along with well, where it gives them more family time. Though having school-age kids also stuck at home can negatively impact that. Whereas people who live by themselves - as is the case for many of my friends - in general are doing more poorly. But it depends. I know people who live by themselves but like working remotely, and people who are happily married but dying to see a different set of four walls during the day.
My personal longer term concern is what the impact on the labor market will be. If the software field goes fully remote, I'm going to have to find a new career.
Meh, it wasn't the end of the world - it got a bit boring and I was glad to be at work at the end of June.
My wife is a key worker, so nothing much changed there, except I got up with her, dropped her off at work and picked her up afterwards. It gave me a reason to get up.
At the start, I was basically working from home and had regular conference calls and a bit of admin to do, but then that dried up when we were furloughed. I was lucky that the company paid our full wages, so I didn't suffer any financial hardship.
I did some exercise, but not enough to make up for the daily mileage I normally walked at work. So, I got fatter.
My eldest was furloughed form the start - but he has no financial commitments other than contributing a little to the weekly shopping bill, so that was basically free cash and he seriously expanded his vinyl collection. Natch, he and bunch of others have just been laid off, so he's looking for work and investigating further education / apprenticeship options.
I think the hardest thing was keeping my youngest on track with his schooling.
Overall, we've been very fortunate and there hasn't been a great deal of mental strain. Complaining that it was a bit boring would be a hideously insensitive thing to do, given the hardship some have had to endure.
We were shielding for the first 3 months or so of lockdown and found it really difficult. We didn't leave our home once during that time. The complete lack of any social interaction was hard. In the last month or so we have started going out a little bit, but still being very careful. I am really struggling without the normal human interaction. So many things at the moment that are just off limits. What makes it hard as well is we live in a Flat in a city and don't have any outside space!
Tough. My wife and 6 year old daughter took isolation very hard. I actually quite enjoyed it (seeing more of my family) but it was hard switching off when I had to give so much support. Was forced back to the office a month ago (I must work for the only tech firm that wanted us back in ASAP) and realised I just don't like 5 day a week office life + commute (2 days a week would be fine not that I have a team in the UK). Looking forward to some normality and honestly, I just don't fear Covid. I just wish everyone wouldn't be so determined to go back to exactly how it was.
OK now since the bubble contact was allowed, but spent the first 3 months ish separated from my partner as we live in different houses. That was quite tough being completely isolated but I threw myself into doing a course and kept myself busy.
bit of a strange one for me - i was working in a call centre that most definitely would have been a hotbed of covid 19. They got their act together fast and had the majority of people working from home. I was happy to do so, and ended up being seconded to tech support to get folks up and running at home, which suited me just nicely and bagged a fair bit of overtime too.
Weather was great at first, spent a great deal of time washing the motorbikes and car, getting stuff done basically, GF and I had some issues mainly due to her daughter being high risk and my mother being in the age risk group. This kind of meant we had to stay apart for a while, then had socially distance walks and stuff as things eased. That was tough
Then things took an upturn, couple of job interviews were successful, i took a new job with the NHS but didnt start until August, so a couple of months in limbo and at some point during that my skin reacted badly to god knows what.
So currently been employed full time for 5 weeks, struggling hard with health but its generally improving.
Mentally- generally ok, fed up of being ill but ok - I miss playing pool, a few people i know have died recently which doesnt help - not covid related.
Lockdown itself doesnt bother me too much, pretty sure if i stopped watching the news and just got on with life i would barely notice, but what does bother me are all the self righteous antimaskers, the muppets that moan about holidays being cut short when they have been warned about non essential foreign travel, the utter cretins that go to massive house parties or illegal raves, putting their relatives and friends at risk - and the government/politicians that think the rules dont apply to them
We're only here for the Banter - The Luvvies - Chewin' The Fat
Violence and Lubrication is the solution to fixing everything, if it still doesn't work, you need more lubrication.
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