How are you and how old are you?

Do some voluntary work if you can MrsMopp I m exactly the same age as you and do quite a variety of voluntary work which keeps me feeling younger, meeting people, chatting, being interested and being useful which for me is my top need I do three days in a charity shop it’s great fun
I did find the lockdown boring and a bit dispiriting but I made sure I got out every day whenever possible and went for walks with friends (not all together I should add, one by one)
I try to walk 4000 or 5000 steps a day which isn’t I lot but better than nothing I garden, have half an allotment and help keeping two herb beds in a local nearby park weed free, I also go on local litter picks
The only thing lock down has annoyed me with is I m half a stone heavier and not too happy about that

Hello Mrs Mopp, it's been such a hard year so it's ok to feel dispirited & a bit low in spirits. Some of us have managed the crisis quite well but understandingly, others not so good.
Small steps back into normality, even if just a walk around the block or a bit if retail therapy amongst the new clothing coming in at Sainsbury's!!
Give yourself little treats & renew contact with others. Come June, if we all stay sensible about space & masks etc you could plan an afternoon tea at yours or lunch on a Sunday at yours? I've got friends coming for a cream tea in my warm sunny conservatory soon & I'm planning Sunday lunch for 4 of us after June 21st. Something to put in the diary & look forward to.
Keep your chin up .....x

mrsmopp sorry you are feeling so low. They say that "the darkest hour is just before dawn" and things are opening up and getting better. You will be able to see your family and friends again and will feel much better for it.

mrsmopp it could have been me writing that. Feel so low and tired. Had an accident a year ago, what with that and Covid I don’t think my life will be the same again. I know there’s lots of people much worse off, but still feeling down

Hello mrsmopp yes I agree I have found it extremely depressing I don’t use that word easily either. I know there are people who do suffer depression and have to cope with it. The worse thing for me was when my DD WhatsApp me. As soon as she said goodby I was in floods of tears because she lives over sixty miles away.
Now things are opening up that’s making me feel better. I am busy planting flowers in pots and tending to my veg patch that makes me happy
Today we cancelled a holiday yet again to Southern Ireland and rebooked it for next May. We also booked a beautiful cottage we have been to on Anglesey for September looking forward to that.
I get fed up with osteoarthritis I have it in a lot of joints and it has definitely aged me. I am sixty four if it wasn’t for that I would feel good for my age.
Get yourself out a bit more now see your family and your friends. You are not on your own feeling this way and you have always got Gransnet to keep you company ?

I really struggle with this. I am 66 just got my state pension and bus pass. I feel 36! I go out twice every day for walks and do a minimum of 10 miles a day. An hour before breakfast and at least 2 hours in the afternoon. I tell myself that I should do it now because there will come a time when I’m not able to and I don’t want to regret having missed out on anything. I still climb trees, to the amazement of my grandchildren and according to my Fitbit run up and down over 100 flights of stairs a day.
Last March I spent 2 weeks terrified of dying alone of COVID. My wife and I managed to get separated in two different countries by lockdown and she only managed to get home in December. After 2 weeks I consciously decided that the fear that was being generated in order to keep us all malleable and controlled was far more dangerous than anything else. I did a personal risk assessment and felt (rightly or wrongly) that I was very low risk and decided that I would keep getting on with my life as normally as possible.
What is now coming out is that many of the restrictions that we were subjected to were advisory or guidelines only and it was in the government’s interest to confuse and muddle these to make people believe that they were the law. I chose to continue to see and hug my family. To exercise whenever I wanted (it was never against the law to exercise) and to spend as much time as I could out of the house and in the fresh air. I also project managed a total building renovation and kitchen refurbishment.
The outcome of all this is that I kept my anxiety levels low. I stayed healthy and come out of this ghastliness virtually unscathed physically and mentally.
It has been hard work sometimes making myself go out in the rain and snow, going up hills in the bitter wind but having achieved it always feels great. We need to hang onto what we can do and what makes us feel good even though others may condemn us for our decisions.

Sorry you are feeling so low mrsmopp. This Covid has been very damaging for mental health and well-being.
Good post MissChateline you were brave to use your own judgment. A lot sadly had been brainwashed (including me up to a point). Now they tell us it was ‘advisory’ only!

I dont understand why it's 'brave to choose to use your own judgement ' to see and hug family. Two of my sons have had covid, luckily not too seriously. If I had continued to have had close contact with them I could easily have become infected and then have passed covid on the the very vulnerable members of my family. I would call that irresponsible not brave.

I hope you are soon feeling better Mrsmopp. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

I am 28 years old & not feeling great. Been having health issues for a few months now and having a CT scan next week to see what's going on (bowel issues, weight loss, reflux symptoms). I am missing my Dad more than anything. I live in Wales and my family live in England but the only one I speak to is my Dad. The rest of my family never call or text me to ask how I am. Its always me that does it first but I no longer ask after them now. I've got no nearby friends either. It's a very lonely life but I have my husband and my son which I am so thankful for. Sending hugs your way xx

anna7 then in your case it was the right decision.

MissChatelaine... good job that most of us are not like you,
Hugging and keeping to your usual lifestyle and blaming the government for purposely ‘confusing’ people.That is exactly what has been spreading Covid around.

mrsmopp do hope you begin to feel better about life soon.
Things are starting to get better now for us all, and warmer weather on the way too. Being older, and all the things that often come with it doesn’t help does it? A daily dose of fresh air, even if just pottering around the garden, or a short walk helps, and talking on the phone to friends.
Living on your own has been so hard during Covid, am sure your zest for life will return for Summer.

mrsmopp it has been such a tough year, I do hope that you soon begin to feel more like yourself as restrictions ease

Anyway no chance for me to hug my DS and DGC allowed or not, as they live in Australia.

Oh it’s such a shame that you feel like that mrsmopp now things are so much better than even just a few months ago.

Just look at how far we have come. The brilliant vaccination programme has reduced the circulating virus numbers to such a low level that the government’s plan to reopen the country is on track.

Next Monday more of the hospitality industry will reopen with pubs and restaurants able to serve customers indoors along with hotels reopening.

Life is getting back to normal isn’t it? Time to make plans, to do things and to see people who make us happy.

Yes the past year has been tough for so many people in so many different ways and if no end was in sight I could completely understand feelings of despondency, but the end is in sight!

Mrs Mopp it has been a tough year. Sorry you’re feeling depressed. ??
Going out and about again is going to be quite challenging when lockdown keeps coming and going. Have you begun to think what you might do next?

Thank you all of course you are right. It’s very unusual for me to be depressed and I’ve been ok till now. Then suddenly I can’t stop crying .
Next week the recovery begins and soon this nightmare will end. Thanks for being so understanding. ?

I'm 66 and I'm so-so at the moment. My hip is a bit painful but that's about it really, health-wise. The weather is overcast and I feel a bit down in the dumps but I know it'll pass.

Hope you feel better soon mrsmopp things can get you down sometimes.

I am 82 going 83, OH is 80. We are don't think that we are that age, if we disregard our various aches and pains, and senior moments.
We are lucky to have each other for company, and even as vocal sparring partners.

With lockdown easing, social contact will improve the state of mind of all of us (Seems strange to be leaving the house to go into town to the bank!)
Spring is here, the days are getting longer and the weather is warmer; so things are starting to look up.
We are SO fortunate. there are many in a far worse state than us, in all sorts of ways.

Remember that your glass is half full!

Bravo @Miss Chatelaine!

A lady who swims at the same time as me lost her DH from Covid in December. She is making an effort to get out and swim early every morning. She said they had used their own judgement about going out and about and meeting up with family. She thinks he caught it through continuing to meet up with DD’s family. The family had Covid probably caught from teenage GC, and survived. Her DH did not-he went into hospital and she never saw him again.
You could make your own decisions, but every time you met up with a potential carrier, you risked your own life and that of others.
I’m reading now about people who were advised not to go to India, but went anyway. Same argument. It was only guidance, and I suspect some would have found a way to go and return anyway even if it had been law.

am 63 but sometimes feel like 93.I volunteer at charity shop.but my back aches at moment.so time to contact Hosp for my spinal injections.been out off because of covid.I get a lot weepy and depressed because of noisy neighbour.she now sets her alarm to go off at 5am and leaves it to go to work so noise is constant till she comes in at 2 pm then she turns it off.not very nice as sometimes I don't feel like getting up.(poorly kidneys)

Moggie : re the neighbours alarm clock

Can you not find her a nice new (ish) one at the charity shop, clean it up, give it to her? Just mention that the present one seems faulty because it goes off when she’s not there.

Really hope things improve for you soon.

My apologies, I am 77 and feel great. Life has had its problems, DD nearly died because of something overlooked in a telephone GP appointment. DH had heart attack, bypass surgery followed by major problems from in infection in the would picked up in hospital, but while I had, worrying (very) times, the rotten weather we have had since Christmas has caused me far more disgrntledness than COVID.