Since covid is still out there and all that, have you gone back to your normal life, or still proceed with how things were when the pandemic hit?
Printable View
Since covid is still out there and all that, have you gone back to your normal life, or still proceed with how things were when the pandemic hit?
If anything it's gotten... less normal I guess. Though I suppose for me it's the "new normal".
I got diagnosed with an autoimmune disease back in September which means I'm immunocompromised now, yay me! So I've pretty much had to live almost exclusively indoors since then with a few exceptions here and there. It was quite the dramatic change since prior to that I had been going to work in-person but that's now no longer the case. And it may no longer be the case for... a few years? Depends on how long my treatments and COVID last. So it's unclear. I also have to wear a mask outside everywhere for... the rest of my life? Or at least whenever there's a pandemic, or flu season, or- well you get the idea. So all the time pretty much. And while working from home is nice, not being able to go out to eat with my friends or... go outside in general except for a few isolated instances is hard. And while I had been working from home and isolating back when the pandemic started, with my new job I was considered an essential worker so I got vaccinated and had to go in person. And it's REALLY hard to go back to that when everyone else around me isn't. It's only FOMO, I know, but it's still annoyingly stupid how much I miss just... being physically at work sometimes. Of course, DC is shutting down again with Omicron so it's not like I'll be missing exceptionally much, but... ya know it's a weird balance.
So yeah, COVID normal is... my new normal.
Doesn’t feel like too much has changed since 2020. I’m still working from home (quite a good thing, I don’t want to change that!), but having to wear a mask all the time while in public just sucks. It’s also kind of expected that everyone keep their mask on while working out at the gym, and that’s tough, I’m not able to breathe as well and it limits how much I can exert myself during a workout.
Right now it's a different sort of abnormal. We spent most of the last two years in lockdown to keep case numbers down, and it worked though we probably won't be seeing the cost of that for a few years. We got 90% of the population vaccinated and got a politicians word that lockdowns are done.
The reason I say we are at a new abnormal is that eith omnicron, we are getting exponentially more new cases a day than ever. For example, the most cases we got in Victoria in a day in 2020 was 725. Then until Christmas 2021, the highest was about 2500. Since the 4th of January we have had over 10,000 new cases a day, with a few days of 40-50 thousand each. And when someone tests positive they have to isolate for 7 days.
The other thing is that because I still live with my parents, and mum has an autoimmune disease, she is really worried about catching it, and by extension I am restricted from going out for anything more than the basics. I'm not saying that I'd rather us be in lockdown, but at least in lockdown, we are all in the same position and I don't feel like I'm holding other people back, when I cant go to DnD, or organize the events I normally do, or can't give people lifts because I am in my own pseudo lockdown. Mum had her booster last week and said after two weeks when it's supposed to be effective things can go back to normal but I am not holding my breath that if the case numbers continue to rise and we have a couple more close brushes with confirmed cases, that she won't change her mind. If that's the case I will probably have to find somewhere else to live and given the fact I just got a loan for my car that is going to be tricky.
That and the last two years have brought out the worst in people. If people were already willing to pick fights and burn bridges over stupid s**t before COVID, this has made it worse...
It's been a weeeeeird time.
To be honest, I think the "normal" before COVID was stagnant, repetitive, and problematic. I think the "normal" since COVID is not normal! It feels like some things improved, some things got far worse, and some things remained the same. I've been extremely fortunate to not have lost anyone close to me to COVID, and I was able to keep my job and had no new major stressors. Most of my life changes have been positive. Reduction in traffic on my way to work, ability to work from home now and then, and attitudes about working from home, even just within my company, have shifted drastically.
I'm so sick of the weird, bullcrap systems that control the corporate world. Most of them don't even make sense, and many of them exist so certain people can exert dominance over others and practice elitism. I just care nothing for that attitude. xD We're all the same, stop thinking you're better than everyone else because you wear a fancy suit and know something about the stock market. Ew. I think some of those have been shaken up, but not enough.
I think one of the worst "new normal" aspects of COVID is the negative impact it's had on a lot of people's mental health. I fell out with a friend who got weirdly aggressive (not physically) and antagonistic as a result of our lockdowns. I've had my fair share of mental health struggles, worse than ever before. At least, I suppose, these changing times have also shed light on the importance of maintaining mental health. And hey, maybe we're just realising the system doesn't work, and have had the breathing room to figure out that we're not broken, but our systems are.
Also, the housing market in Melbourne skyrocketed over the past two years. Hooray.
Anyway, I hope things do remain different in the right ways. Wishful thinking probably, but at least some progress is being made.
Bit late to the party haha. Woah these last two years have been insane. If you asked me where I'd be and what i'd be going through in two years time, back then I wouldn't have said this. haha
For me I class it as a new normal. Some things are better, some worse. For me, nothing will ever get back to pre-covid so it'll never get back to "normal" as I lost my mum during that time and with that plus the overall negative impact of lockdowns etc on my mental health I am not the person I was and see things quite differently now so I'd say that its not gone back to the new normal, but is very different.
One thing it helped me with is home working due to covid showed me how toxic my job was at that time. That's a whole other story but I ended up quitting it, eventhough it was in my wanted field of work, and going back to work at a call centre and never looked back. It's made me realise that just because it's your desired field of work doesn't mean that it's a good job and I'm so much happier and appreciated where I am now.
I think on the social side of things i'm fairly back to 'normal' I'm regularly meeting up with friends, see my girlfriend most the time now instead of being stuck between two households and my family can all get together now which we couldn't before as we are a big family. I'm one of six. One of my friend's parents is clinically vulnerable so we are testing ourselves before we meet up with her and during the pandemic is has meant she has had to miss out on quite a lot of meet ups with us which sucks but stuff is getting back on track now. I do think that things will never truly go back to the normality of pre-covid though just due to how it has massively affected everyones lives, including the anxieties of people, the distrust it's caused to the authorities and how it's shown how well remote working actually works.
I'm just hoping that things aren't all going to go backwards now after the progress the world as a whole has done. Boris Johnson (Don't get me started on that clown..) has said at the end of Feb, England will get rid of all restrictions, including isolation after a positive Covid test. This is making me a bit apprehensive and making we worry we might go straight back into a spike and lockdown but we will see.
Hope you all are doing well and let's hope there isn't much left to this pandemic now and lets see what our new normal will be.
So, unfortunately I'm on the road to not enjoying as much time working from home anymore. Everyone's expected to go into the office at least three days a week now, which just seems stupid to me. It's called the "flex plan" but I have a distinct feeling this is the halfway point to when they go all the way in and double-down by making us go in all five days a week. I think that's one of the big problems when it comes to working for Johnson and Johnson. They'll have these sessions where they ask for employee feedback, and plenty of employees open up and say "yeah, this is a bad idea for these reasons, let's not do it" and they go ahead and do it anyway.
Although considering how things are looking in China right now... seems like another variant is right around the corner.
Oh man yeah. It's all people talk about right now. How we've all (speaking simply I guess) have been working from home these past few years. Some people just don't want to go back to the office cause of it. While we do have to get over it and understand, yeah we do. Covid can just as easily catch back up on us and get really bad again. Like you said, just look at China now. Its highest case count since Omicron came out.Quote:
Originally Posted by Neo Jirachi
I have a bad feeling there will be a large uptick here after Masters week. Lately though it hasn't been too bad here. Gas prices have escalate up to $4.79 at its highest. Recently it dropped back down to $3.49. Which I'm super thankful for. Just gotta be willing to drive a little further. Since it's only a few gas stations. You can see one at $3.49 and just past it along the road all the way to the highway it's still $3.99. Pretty big difference.
I agree with you though. These companies need to listen and understand more. A 3 day office week is annoying, but at least you're still saving gas money those days. Enjoy it while it still lasts!