Got used to this casual way of living

I live by myself and on the whole pre corona that suited me but there were lonely times. But now I have fewer lonely days simply because I feel we’re all going through this globally.

I’m on several WhatsApp groups which are fun. My book club meets now on Zoom and with a group of friends we read plays Zoomly.
I’m very grateful to be living in a ground floor flat with a garden. Basically I’ve gardened throughout.
None of my close family or friends have died so far - some friends have long covid - so I’m thankful.
Actually I’m impressed by couples managing this closed in existence together.
Like many here I’ve enjoyed the lack of pressure from the sometimes over-demanding outside world. I’ve spent days just learning embroidery or painting - basically “playing”.

The doom laden bit is our future - unemployment, inflation (Brexit and the US stimulus package) and these terrible Tories still in power despite such corruption.

Since the first shutdown i started shopping on line and will continue to do so,as havent the urge to step inside any shops.
I am happy at being at home all the time,havent been bored yet, will be pleased to meet up with grandchildren and family for celebrations this year.
We keep in touch with Zoom and have quiz nights with friends and family so i am happy.

I was only thinking less than an hour ago how much I was enjoying my life at the moment.
Today we were both up really early and had breakfast together and read the papers.
Husband had an early meeting so left home by 7.20.
I finished reading the papers, had a cup of freshly brewed coffee. We have changed energy companies and are with the new one from midnight last night. Slight issue with the smart-meter. I phoned the new company, the service was excellent and issue is being sorted.
Showered and dressed, loaded dishwasher and washing machine. Spoke to a client by telephone for a counselling session.
Read emails, made lunch and that was when I though 'I love my life'.
Some admin to do do this afternoon, change over laundry,
spend an hour in the greenhouse, prepare dinner.
Husband should be back by then and we will have a simple dinner with a candle on the table, talk about our day and settle down to read and then watch t.v. and then bed.
Nothing exciting there at all, but so grateful for the ongoing simplicity of it all. From a former frantically busy life I actually do love this opportunity to slow down and smell the flowers.

I live alone and was lonely before lockdown but had my gym, the occasional online date and visits to family and friends to keep me busy. So have hated every minute of this and feel I've aged so much in the last year. What it has made me realise is that when this is all over I want to be in a job that makes a difference and get out of civil service where I've worked for 35 years. So looking for volunteer opportunities that vwill hopefully lead to new career.

yes, Wantobeagran... I feel that I have aged with this last lockdown also.

I don’t like this way of living, I hate my choice has been taken away, cause if you want nothingness in your life you can have it but if you want to eat out, cinema, theatre etc it’s just a no no. Hopefully back to some sort of normality soon .

I have hated every minute since last March except for August when I was able to get abroad to our apartment. I have spent much of the year alone as my partner has been stuck there. What has saved my sanity is having designed and organised major refurbishment of my house starting with the large basement kitchen which had walls demolished and a complete refit. I’ve had a houseful of lovely designers, plasterers, builders, joiners, plumbers, electricians and decorators for months and it has been great fun and they have all been great to have around.

However I am angry that this is my life that appears to be dribbling away without the plans I had made happening. My partner retired a year ago and we had trips planned all over the world.

I am angry that many of the civil liberties which we previously enjoyed will never be returned and that we will live with a far greater degree of surveillance than ever before. I am angry that we will probably have to wear the detested masks for some time and have to queue to get into a shop. I am angry that the ability to use cash in shops is reducing and our spending habits can be monitored to a far greater degree. I am angry that I’m at have to show a health certificate should I want to go to the theatre or to travel. I am angry about this governments corruption and those who got rich on the back of misery and those people who will continue to make money from this. All the hiked prices and not passing on the VAT reduction for hospitality and campsites.

On the other hand I am happy that I have maintained my excellent health, spent hours every day walking the hills. I have continued to go to shops which have remained open and tried to live as normally as possible. I am happy that I don’t actually know of anyone at all who has been ill in any way with COVID and have not had to bear the loss of anyone close.
Fingers crossed for better times soon

I'm impressed with my versatility in that I've transferred from being a total social gadabout to an enforced solitary confinement without too much awfulness. I think maybe I'm just too lazy to get worked up about it. Of course I miss family and friends desperately but we are all constantly in touch by the various clever methods available to us nowadays. I've put much of my energy into improving this house and am revelling in the results. This would have taken me much longer without 'enforcement'. My life usually includes a fair bit of foreign travel but I've currently written that off for a clear year. Definitely sticking to UK trips (if allowed!). I do miss congenial lunches but I try to console myself with the cash and weight saved. Doesn't really work but it's best consolation I can come up with. Onwards..........

Another one who hates it. Though I have managed to see grandchildren occasionally for childcare. But I’ve missed out on seeing my newest grandson and haven’t seen my daughter for over a year.
I miss church, my choir, my friends, my family and other voluntary things I helped with.
I hate being stuck at home with someone I don’t get on with.
Only respite is going for walks and visits to the supermarket.
Mental health has suffered badly.

I love the peace and the tranquility of it all. Rather wish it never fully reverts to the madness that used to be “normal”

I have adapted really well to COVID regulations, but I do miss seeing my eldest sister (not seen her since November 2019), and although I am fortunate to get a grocery delivery every week, I do miss popping to the shops to choose my food, etc. I also miss my clubs and activities.

I certainly have no desire to go to department stores, etc.

I hate it! I want to be out and about and see family and friends and work in a physical workspace instead of via Zoom or Teams.
The last few days have been full of news items about the detrimental effect on our brains, memories and bodies, and telling us what we should be doing to avoid decrepitude!
The worst one yesterday informing readers that ‘if you aren’t spending time each day walking, or exercising, or making the effort to move around the house within the limits of your physical ability, you are killing yourself as surely as Covid would”. (That’s a rough translation of my DB’s post from Germany).

On the positive side I have learnt to do new things via Zoom and on line and rediscovered old interests.
I’ve also enjoyed GN. It helps to pass the time, get advice, add rhymes and exchange gentle or sometimes heated views with other posters. Does that count as keeping my brain active, I wonder.
Must go now, my watch is telling me to get up and move around!

Over the hill... I totally agree with you. I was unsettled at first but it also gave me a good excuse to avoid the conflict I was in with my youngest daughter, who hurt me by not wanting me to have anything to do with my grandchildren. Now lock downs ending, she's upped the anti by completely cutting me out of her life too, so in all honesty I dreading the end of lockdown because if I want to continue seeing my grandchildren my life is going to go back to being worse than before lockdown. Either that or ignore my grandchildren. Which seems really cruel. I adore them. And they did me, until mum decided otherwise. It hurts and it makes me poorly, I've tried every approach but nothing works.

Neilspurgeon0

I love the peace and the tranquility of it all. Rather wish it never fully reverts to the madness that used to be “normal”

Me too.

I am glad there are others who have enjoyed the last year so I don't have to feel so guilty. I hate shopping and have done it online for years. I rarely eat out, go to cinema, theatres, have holidays etc etc so no change there. I can spend time in my garden and go for long walks on my own. I am building my family tree and have had contact with unknown family members. I am learning lots online that interests me and have time to decorate and tidy up my house when I feel like it.

I am lucky in that my DC and DGC live locally so have seen them mostly out of doors, very regularly. The bonus is that I have not had the stress of child care, cooking, overnight stays or being a taxi driver for school, clubs, visits to friends etc. I am also spending less on food, clothes and other necessities for DGC. I have learned that I am happily anti-social and have had time to consider who I really am for the first time in my life.

I love the online life I am living and will be sorry when it ends. I have become even closer to the few friends I have through WhatsApp and emails. Even my online choir is better because no-one can hear me singing on Zoom!

I am not heartless and I feel so much ympathy for those who are not as lucky as me but honestly I could live like this for ever.

"sympathy"

Absolutely hate this way of living it's not living I just want my life back to be able to do as I like and not be told what to do

I agree it's not living, it's a soulless existence

I think a lot of grans are enjoying some much precious ‘me time’ as childcare is still pretty much a no-no except in exceptional circumstances. Before lockdown many grans felt obliged or pressured to help out and it goes on for years with only some breaks in school holidays - when travel abroad & bookings here in the UK ask premium rates.

Many grans would love to see their grandchildren without being factored in for childcare.

There’s a big difference!

It’s tiring, restricts spontaneity in their own lives and causes stress and guilt for wanting things to be ‘other’.

Maybe after lockdown, a halfway house can be accommodated for those grans who have really enjoyed getting a bigger portion of their own lives back?

I love being a grandma. Our daughter works full time. I wanted to be a very occasional, extra pair of hands, not a surrogate mum. Much as I adore the smalls, I’d hate to think that set days of the week, every week, I’d have to be ‘on duty’. No thanks.

It was fun for a few months; catching up with the garden and decoratingand so on, but after that, it has just been frustrating.

All the things I enjoy disappeared or went on line. Tai Chi, grandchildren, all my other activities went online. Zoom is a god send but it also makes you realise how much beter the real thing is.

DD daughter and I have always seen ourselves as self contained people. Happy in our own company for days on end. Always with something to do. And that remians broadly true, we are not socialising with friends all the time, but we have both realised how important the outer circle of our socialising is; the people we see each week at the sports centre, the people we meet in classes and on committees, the friends we do meet up with, albeit, not regularly. All are important and we both desperately want this side of our lives back.

As someone who hasn’t been able to socialise for some years the only difference is my younger granddaughter can’t visit me

As a species, we humans have survived because we are able to adapt. However, I would just love to do something that is not ‘essential’ as I have had enough of staying at home.

My 80y old aunt is agoraphobic Anniebach this last seven years. Midway through lockdown she said ‘welcome to my world’. Fortunately over time she has adapted. Her husband is the same age, shops, cooks & grows their veg in their lovely garden.

The mind is a funny thing isn’t it? She will sit occasionally in the back garden but won’t go past the front door ....

I’ve found it a bit of a mixed bag.
Missed socialising with AC and GSs although we did some childcare in between lockdowns.
Miss coffees and lunches with friends and ex work colleagues. Miss the odd meal out, occasional drink at the pub or trip to cinema.
However I’ve really enjoyed Zoom chats and quizzes on Friday and Saturday nights. I love reading books, newspaper, crosswords, pootling in garden, trying out new recipes if the fancy takes me, putting feet up and having cuppa and watching quiz on tv. Many of these things I’d have little time to do ordinarily!
So just different quieter lifestyle at the moment and looking forward to sunnier warmer days and more socialising

This is for you people who mentioned you're pleased to have a break from childcare
www.instagram.com/reel/CMXn_0dnv80/?igshid=k7awd5wjp481