PM Press Conference. Anyone else feeling despair?

Petera, of course there's valid concern for children living through this. My grandchildren (I've seen very little of, except on Zoom) seem to be coping well overall, though.

I haven't seen my eldest for two years - he's sensibly staying in NZ - but I'm reassured that he's relatively safe there. Still, I'm not sad, just so grateful for vaccination and remaining well so far.

It's understandable Shelflife that all these external bad happenings accumulate and just add to our own sufferings, be they far less on the grand scale of things. Everyone should show compassion for the tiniest of worries which sometimes can tip a person over the edge.

I too am feeling very low . Covid is still with us and with Christmas looming we are not sure what to do about being with family - will this be another cancelled Christmas. My mood is low at the moment - four nights without electricity after the storm didn't help!! So unlike me to feel this way but I am fighting hard to be more positive. Of course I am well aware of the horror for migrants, the stabbings of so many young people on our streets , global warming, child cruelty etc. All these issues add to my anxiety.

Lucca, maddyone and others, I can feel your upset too. It will amount to despair in people who had hoped for better outcomes. One of my cousins in NZ has a friend in Australia who has been given April 2022 as his return date home. And that is a NZ national, (admittedly no longer working). There is such a back log with processing and quarantining returning ex-pats, that capacity is reportedly full for months.
Very sad, real people with real emotions.

Maddyone “
Lucca I do hope you get to Australia to see your family soon. Is there no way you feel able to go to visit your family? ”

I was planning to book a flight for March as I would have been allowed as the parent of an Aussie citizen which my son now is. However with omicron Currently it is “essential travel only”. So I’m assuming that’s a no !

I feel despair everything BJ opens his mouth!

Kali I’m so sorry about your family, and I hope they’re all recovered very soon. Are you not coming to the UK now because of the ten day quarantine when you return to Switzerland? I’m thinking you’re in Switzerland. You should come and see your children and grandchildren, it’ll do you so much good.

Lucca I do hope you get to Australia to see your family soon. Is there no way you feel able to go to visit your family?

No one should belittle the worries and concerns of others, simply because it’s unkind. And there are plenty of troubles here in the UK. A lady I know has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and is worrying about how that will turn out. My mother’s care home has gone into lockdown because they’ve got three cases of Covid. My mother in law died just over a week ago and we’re travelling north for the funeral on Thursday. Josianne and many others will be upset because there’ll be no nursery or Reception class nativity and therefore no photos of those little people at a milestone in their lives. Many Gransnetters are so very saddened because they haven’t seen their beloved families for years because of Covid. These are real people with real emotions and they should not have their concerns belittled by anyone.

Lucca

So no point booking that flight to Australia then……three years almost to the day since my last visit.

You see, is that a First World problem? but every time I read something like that it makes me tearful.

No, Calistemon, it was earlier comments, not yours.
I think everyone is on edge after the weekend just gone, so even small, somewhat seemingly trifling things can trigger a fleeting feeling of despair. Whichever world, and yes we've all been there.

So no point booking that flight to Australia then……three years almost to the day since my last visit.

I wasn't upset by that, Josianne.
It's all relative and we were all hoping getting back to some kind of normality now so it has knocked us back again.

I just thought some of us in the 'First World' have had a pretty tough couple of years too.

Sorry if the cancellation of a choir concert sounded pitiful and whimpering to some. I would just add that our group were giving this concert in aid of the local hospice where several relatives have been so kindly looked after. So the disappointment goes way beyond just one person. We are all human after all.

But equally to top up this bog awful year, I cry for those suffering hardship, war, famine, death. It is all so bloody and I can’t ever remember a time in my life when I have felt that everything is so wrong.

Yes, empathy isn't a limited quality.

growstuff

Josianne

That's an unfair growstuff if it was meant for me. Is one not allowed to have a down moment without having to think outside one's own box just for one day? No one mentioned not being grateful.

No, it wasn't specifically meant for you, but I don't have much sympathy for anybody with first world problems.

I'm just wondering what First Wirld problems are?

Coping with cancer? Not being able to travel to Australia to visit a dying parent? Losing friends who've died? People not being able to hold the hand of a dying relative because of Covid?
Losing your business, your job and not being able to pay your bills, feed your family?
Do you mean those kind of First World problems?

I think you should show your concern for your grandchildren Kali because it shows you care about them personally. I know you care about refugees too, but in this instance you are upset for your nearest and dearest which is just as important as fretting about world problems. Totally understandable.

Hetty, I am not upset of wearing a mask- in France and other parts of Europe, this has never stopped, thank goodness. You can't get into a shop, bus, train, or anywhere public without wearing one. I am not upset about having to cancel 'social arrangements' for goodness sake, but about not being able to spend Christmas with DDs and grandchildren, after not seeing them for months, and previously, for 1.5 years.

And I am not talking about me, in fact- but about being concerned about the effect all this is having on teenage grand-children. And NO I will not blame them for being upset that the excitment and happiness of going back to school at last, meeting friends at lst, doing sport and getting involved in 'normal activites' - is now coming to an end again. Confusing enough being a teenager, without going through years of this.

Kali2; 'We all felt we were coming to the end of this' - well, I certainly didn't, I thought we were somewhere in the middle, expecting a four year pandemic. So, having lower expectations, I don't feel depressed.

We're just buying time for a few weeks (yes, I know, it would be at Christmas) until we have a clearer picture of just how effective the current vaccines are on the mutated virus.

Yet again, we cancel social arrangements and people wear masks (I've done that all along), boosters are ramped up, we take twice-weekly tests and get on with what we can. We are used to it now.

Here is a variant which causes tiredness and they jump on it as if it were Ebola.

Keep some perspective here folks.

Dickens

Alegrias1

I don't think telling people who are feeling down that other people have it worse does any good at all.

... it's never helped me.

Only when I've looked objectively at my own problem and realise for myself that there are always others worse off.

And the "first world problems" cliché is never helpful. Nor meant to be. It's the equivalent of that other admonishment to "get over it".

Someone else's problems will always be greater than / lesser than your own. We all know that.

I apologise if I've offended people. However, I honestly don't feel that some of the problems people have quoted are a cause for despair. People do cope with worse every single day of their lives and, yes, I do think people should learn to "get over it". Some people have no choice but to keep getting over far worse - and many of them do it without a whimper.

Ironically, when people do mention they've been inconvenienced, they often get told that it's only local, that other people don't have the same problems or it's only the result of media panic or some such thing, etc etc.

When news of the omicrom variant came on the tv, I think it was thursday of last week, I had a physical reaction to it. You know that feeling when your heart seems to plummet downwards, I had that very strongly and felt quite ill for a couple of hours. I was utterly dismayed at the thought of all this starting again, just when I was feeling that life was slowly getting back to normal.
I've calmed down now of course, but this has certainly made me feel very low. Is this what life will be like now, endless new variants?
I share your despair, annie61

We were at an family event at the weekend and have just heard that one member has tested positive, so we will need to book tests. DD phoned up upset as her school has had to go back to year group “bubbles” after 10 students tested positive today. She will have to take a lateral flow every day. I’m stopping any indoor socialising now.

I don’t feel despair. This new strain is an unknown entity. Give it a couple of weeks & our amazing scientists will have it sussed. It might end up being super-transmissible but fairly mild. Let’s not panic.

Alegrias1

I don't think telling people who are feeling down that other people have it worse does any good at all.

... it's never helped me.

Only when I've looked objectively at my own problem and realise for myself that there are always others worse off.

And the "first world problems" cliché is never helpful. Nor meant to be. It's the equivalent of that other admonishment to "get over it".

Someone else's problems will always be greater than / lesser than your own. We all know that.

Yes, of course- we all know.

But it is totally normal for kids who have been isolating for months on end, not going to school, not doing sport or anything - and then see the light at the end of tunnel, go back to school, slowly get back to normal life and spend time planning concerts and plays, and have some fun- to be disappointed, and conflicted - and sad too.

Yes, some have it much much worse- but it makes it even more conflicting and confusing ... if it is all turned into a sort of dreadful competition. And so below the belt- as said, no wonder kids are suffering from mental issues at the moment.

Kali2

... and this exacerbated by being far away.

Yes, it was our choice (well partly) but we could never expect this. The Covid/Brexit combo is really causing havoc in so so many ways, but with families too.

Yes, I know. My partner's son and family, who live in France, were due to visit for five days. We're not sure whether they're coming now.

His other son and family have all recently had Covid. It started with the 10 year old GD, who caught it at school and partner's DiL is still quite poorly. The GD has had to look after her parents and take on all sorts of chores.

They are all going to the funeral of DiL's mother (GD's grandmother) a week before Christmas. She died from Covid a couple of days ago.

Frankly, I don't think any of them care much about choir concerts or end-of-term arrangements. We're trying to do what we can to help them now and get them through Christmas.

One of my own family lost somebody very close one New Year's Day, so I know I will be visiting his commemoration plaque and being a shoulder to cry on.

And then there are the people who spend Christmas on their own and whose families don't have enough money for presents and a proper Christmas dinner ...