Do you feel like you lost a year to the pandemic?

It feels more like a pause to me. I'm kind of used to this kind of holding pattern. My life isn't very exciting. The only thing the pandemic changed about my day to day life was breaking my record for time without leaving the house. (It was a little over six weeks, in which I did not so much as take a step outside)

I'm not sure if this was a good or bad time to be an agoraphobic.

It's been hitting me a little harder this week. I have a brand new baby niece. When her sister was born I held her within hours of her birth. Now I'm just praying I'll get to see her before she's walking.

I joked at the beginning of the quarantine that I'd been preparing for this my entire life. I'm used to feeling like the world is passing me by and my life is standing still. I'm lucky in that I'd made peace with that long ago. My therapist has said that I'm doing better than 90% of her other patients with this. (Except when we all had covid, I was a mess then)

'Like' because I feel positive for your Dad. Better days are coming for him. So very sorry for the loss of your Mum.

No, not at all. There have been a lot of positives coming out of 2020 including changes at work which mean much more acceptance for working from home part of the week. I still have my job and although I did have to take a temporary pay cut, the firm did better than expected and we actually got all the money back.

I don't travel much as a general rule so the fact that our borders are closed has not impacted me hugely. Yes I've missed one trip to the UK but in the scheme of things, that's not a big deal. I think our country has handled the pandemic well and for us at the moment, there aren't major implications inside our borders.

I wouldn’t say that was true for me, but I work from home and and am a homebody by nature anyway. Aside from having my kid doing school from home (which I never would have minded all along), not much has really changed other than I don’t really feel like going out shopping for random things like I sometimes used to and it’s been almost a year since I’ve had a haircut and that does drive me nuts. After dropping a wad of cash on our lake cabin in 2018-2019, we weren’t planning on doing really any traveling for the next several years anyway so that was already off the table.

But for DD and DH I’d say it’s a mixed bag. DD misses being with her friends from school, but she doesn’t miss *going* to school and she definitely doesn’t miss having to be around the mean girls who would pick on her and her friends just about every freaking day. I don’t miss the daily emotional fallout from that. She likes her teacher this year and is doing very well with online learning overall so I can’t complain about that.

DH really misses his weekly social outlets with his guy friends and I know he’s been struggling with that. But on a positive note, his business has had its best year yet and he’s been super busy (which is both a pro and a con because he doesn’t ever mind having the occasional surprise afternoon off to do other things). Not having financial struggles while all this other stuff is happening has been a huge blessing.

ETA: I have to say that I might feel very differently if my mom was still alive and if she was in a nursing home feeling lonely with no visitors. That would change how I feel about all of this. I definitely feel sad for all of the people who are in that situation or for people with terminal illnesses who know for sure they only have a little time left and they don’t feel like they can spend it with the people they love.

No, i dont feel like I lost a year. But I feel like we lost out on some events. I turned 50 in September and we werent able to do anything for it. I dont normally make a big deal oit of my bday, but this was a big one and I wanted to do something.

Yes. I had finally gotten healthy (felt like I lost a few years with issues) and it was like I went right back. I was finally excited about my life (first time in about 8 years) and it got put on hold again

‘Lost’ yes & no. There’s plenty of things that I’ve missed, most recently holidays with extended family. And there’s plenty of things I’ve had that I wouldn’t have had if there was no pandemic, like these months of living with my adult DD which have brought us closer. It’s also given her time to do things she wouldn’t have done if she had come hone and gone to work full time

So we have missed things but gained other things and we are still here and I am choosing to focus on what I’ve gained rather than what I’ve lost

No, it's the same as usual for me. I don't get out much. With all the political and covid fighting, I prefer to stay home more than ever. I'd probably feel different if I lived in a blue area.

Not really. It’s been a different year for sure. But the virus has been mostly in check in my country. I work as a teacher, and except for 7 weeks of home schooling my work life has been normal...just with more anti bac.

I miss travelling abroad, but we travelled in Norway instead. I miss going to concerts, but we hiked and watched online concerts. We have learned a lot and made new experiences and we are lucky.