EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

Cheery_Daff

Definitely be kind to yourself lass, this has been a tough couple of years whatever circumstances you've been in. All the uncertainty and things changing is hard work, and getting back to routines (or having new ones) is hard work. So yes, apply a little of the kindness you tell other people to have for themselves xx

MrsPorridge

EH, I hope you don't mind but I'm going to steal your goal ideas - I think its great.  I also like your positives and less positives.

EssexHebridean

rtandon27 said:

EH - I can't express to you how lovely it was to read your above paragraph regarding C-stress.  I'm totally with you on just how hard it is at the moment to get through the everyday routines, let alone taking on anymore! Thanks for 'vocalizing' - it's comforting to know there are others having a similar experience.

Personally I'm struggling to be my usual chilled/calm/accepting self, with small things causing unproportionate upset/disruption!  I realize how lucky I am to have worked from home through the whole pandemic, but returning to the daily grind & commute has been exceptionally difficult!

Yes yes and yes again RT - ALL of this. It feels somehow as though I shouldn't complain or even mention it as ultimately I have - so far - "got off lightly" over Covid. I didn't lose my job, I didn't have a job that meant I was putting myself to the "front line", I haven't lost anyone close to it although we have seen a few beer festival acquaintances succumb, and beyond a bit of a drop in income for a good few months the impact has - on the fact of it - been minimal. BUT regardless of those things, I lost my usual sense of routine completely, spent 15 months with a lot of uncertainty over what *was* going to happen work-wise, lost an awful lot of social interaction (and lovely as it is to have some of that that back, it's also carrying quite a high increase in social anxiety with it too) as well as the associated worries over parents, other relatives, and close friends who may not be in as robust state of health as we're fortunate enough to be.  All of that is a lot to be going on with, isn't it. 

Milann - noted, particularly your final very wise sentence - thank you! 

@lucielle ours was bought from Screwfix and we find it very good. As an update to this by the way, since running it daily for those few days a few weeks back it's barely been on at all - and humidity was at 50% when I left home this morning. 

Cheery - you're absolutely right about uncertainty in itself being hard work. 

MrsP - go for it - I find the goals - whether small or larger - do at least give me a target to shoot to, and sometime also permission to stop pushing ahead when those goals are met, if that makes sense. It's easy to feel that we can't let us whatever else is going on sometimes, and having a specific point where I can say "Yes, achieved that" is useful. 

You're all very wise and lovely and sensible, and I need to listen a lot harder to you lot, I think, and stop applying rules to myself that I'd never dream of suggesting that others should follow! 

beanielou

Again so glad that it is just not me.
Life has been hard.
Like you I feel EH that really I have got off lightly on many levels but on others not quite so much.
My decreased mobility & poor balance is not helping.
But as my mum pointed out after todays shannaginns I am a strong woman.
But, it all chips away IYSWIM? 

girlatplay

That's me up to speed!

I think C19 has hit all of us hard in the emotional sense.  I am another one lucky enough to have been able to WFH the whole way through.  We still are at the moment and I am dreading when the time comes that I have to commute again.

Be kind to yourself too.  If you wouldn't say it to someone else, don't say it to yourself.

milann

Beanie I totally get it all chipping away at us…..which is why we all need to remind ourselves just what we’ve all coped and are still coping with as it has impacted on everyone’s lives. Can we - can’t we plan things?……what about work/wages?…….will we or our loved ones get ill?…….and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We have all indeed been strong 💪👍 and we need to remember this….definitely unprecedented times 

Cheery_Daff

Indeed, you are all so right. I've been fortunate in so many ways - secure job, not furloughed, easy enough to work from home, plenty of outdoor space etc. And not so fortunate in other ways - my work was SO busy at the start, but Mr Cheery lost all his self employed income and activity, so lots of disparity in terms of busyness, with one of us super stressed and the other super isolated. Taken a lot out of both of us for many reasons, and I think it's going to take a long time for so many of us to get over it, even if 'nothing particularly bad' happened from the point of view of people looking in xx

savingholmes

I agree these times have been very stressful. I've pretty much WFH throughout but that was initially very isolating - and sometimes still is. At one point 1 had 4 adults in the house which was stressful. Now it's mostly me and occasionally DD. I'm expected to go in the office some of the time - but am getting nervous again having dipped in and out of the news a little recently.

Be as kind to yourself as you have been to me. Find some things that make your  heart sing.

EssexHebridean

So. Much. Wisdom. 🤯

You lot….my goodness aren’t we all LUCKY to have this place to vent, access support, and hear some good old fashioned common sense! 🤩

My lurking cold has come and got me. I have done an LFT just in case, and I also did one on Tuesday morning, both negative so I’m quietly confident that it’s not the dreaded lurgy. I reckon it’s the first cold I’ve had in approaching two years though and I’m not enjoying it much so far! 😂

Scottiedog_3

EssexHebridean said:

So. Much. Wisdom. 🤯

... first cold I’ve had in approaching two years though and I’m not enjoying it much so far! 😂

Very glad it's not the lurgy. I too have been struck by my lack of colds in the same time period. I also used to get a terrible chest infection every year but nothing this year at all. I guess wearing a mask really works