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People who live alone - how are you getting on?

hypernormalized said:
The zoom calls in particular are something that have really set me off. I've had to take time off work because I just can't do them any more. To me it's like showing me pictures of food when I'm hungry.
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Yep. Work zoom calls. Awful.
The last one I was on was truly horrendous. I was the only one zooming from home so the other 2 staff sat in the same room for the meeting
But they had to socially distance so effectively I only got to see a blank screen as they were out of shot. I could hear them but not see them
.
It was a proper mind fuck cos I was being asked questions and having to reply to a blamk screen was weird.

So much for connecting.
 
bimble said:
iona you mean you sleep on alternate nights, one night on one off? Thats kind of amazing. If it works for you it works, in which case i can go to bed before 8 if i want.
It's interesting what happens when nobody is forcing us to turn up anywhere at a specific time.
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Yeah, go to bed really early and sleep like 10-14 hours straight then don't go to bed the next night. I've fallen back into it a few times after intentionally going back to a 24hr pattern. Only started late autumn / winter time though so I'll be interested to see if I switch back now days are getting longer.
 
bimble said:
My waking and sleeping pattern has become really eccentric, I'm always an early bed early up person if left to my own devices but lockdown has allowed this to get really extreme, which is no good, left to own devices way too much.
It's half past seven and i'm wanting to go to bed, not surprising if you get up at 4.30 but yeah, this is not a good thing. Normal life helped keep me more in sync with other humans.
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I found this earlier on, when I was on the dole due to not getting the job I'd been supposed to start. I'd just creep in one direction or another randomly and it didn't make any difference because time had stopped meaning anything anyway. Doing a regular work day has helped regulate it a bit.
 
FridgeMagnet said:
I found this earlier on, when I was on the dole due to not getting the job I'd been supposed to start. I'd just creep in one direction or another randomly and it didn't make any difference because time had stopped meaning anything anyway. Doing a regular work day has helped regulate it a bit.
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Just for contrast like,, I can't bloody wait until freedom-dominated, lie-in-until-when-you-want-centred, retirement begins! :cool: :D :oldthumbsup:

There are zero downsides (IMO and IME) to not having to get up in the dark, and not having to set the alarm :)
Not having to do that work thing at all, helps too!

For me, the retirement practice over the whole first lock-down period (March to August 2020) fucked up with my lie-in-needing sleep patterns not in the slightest bit at all :)

I recommend evening beer to assist this process :D :p :thumbs: :beer:
 
While I was at work it was largely fine, but less good since schools closed again.

On the one hand I’m a very outgoing, chatty type. I find the lack of interaction challenging. I’m spending five-six hours a day talking to a blank screen, trying to keep kids energised and engaged. They rarely speak in response, and below sixth form aren’t allowed to have their cams on.
On the other hand, I like staying at home, I don’t ever get bored with laying on my sofa for hours on end watching Netflix and crocheting (my latest pastime). When my ex moved out last summer it was a blessing to have more peace and the freedom to suit only myself.

But I know that in the past, this contentment with splendid isolation has led to mental health crises. I’ve been careful for decades to keep an eye out for it as a self-destructive tendency. Hard to avoid right now, though.
 
Throughout the pandemic I've been pretty much going into work full time as in school/college... anyway finished with all that now so start WFH properly next week... Much as work was a nightmare, it did provide social contact., and based on the week off I'm having, I can see WFH is going to be challenging. I guess having some routines is key, and getting out the house every day as well.. :hmm:
 
I mark the weekends, just because it saves whole months disappearing into a morass of endlessly-passing days. But it comes at a price, because each weekend somehow brings hope that it'll be like a proper weekend. I'm usually pretty "meh" by Sunday night, and Monday morning, and the return to work, is a relief, albeit a double-edged one.

The only way it's tolerable is to day dream about the things I shall do when it is safe and possible.
 
I still treat the weekend as a weekend in some sort of a way . I normally do the shopping for the weekend on a Friday , tend to plan weekend meals with a little more enthusiasm , cook something nicer , hoover and clean for an hour or so , put the football bet on etc .Tend to watch a film Sat evening buy some chocolate or a cake . Still think of Sunday as football Sunday . All I suppose an attempt to stop all the days from merging into one.
 
There are quite a few days where I don’t leave the flat at all. I mean unless I need milk or something what’s the fucking point. I don’t enjoy just walking around aimlessly. Just saying as a counterpoint to the you must leave your abode every day thing.
 
I am worried that I am hideously out of step with mainstream normality. But to be fair this isn’t just because of lockdown. Feeling a bit numb about a lot of things lately, not sleeping all that well. But generally okay. I mean I’m eating, doing exercise, not fucking up at work. But it’s also fucking routine boring I feel like I need to do something stupid soon. This could just be mid life crisis as well though to be fair.
By stupid I don’t mean alt F4 The whole thing. Justangry + meh
 
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xenon said:
I am worried that I am hideously out of step with mainstream normality. But to be fair this isn’t just because of lockdown. Feeling a bit numb about a lot of things lately, not sleeping all that well. But generally okay. I mean I’m eating, doing exercise, not fucking up at work. But it’s also fucking routine boring I feel like I need to do something stupid soon. This could just be middle life crisis as well though to be fair
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There’s probably millions thinking everyone else is in mainstream normality tbh . I went through a spell not ringing my kids up or friends in the U.K. because I didn’t think I had much to say . Of course when I did they all apologised for not being in touch more because they didn’t feel they had much to say either . You’d be amazed how long you can be on the phone when both parties feel they had nothing much to say .
 
It's the little inconsiquential things that I just miss. Being able to go out somewhere without any purpose, pleasing myself on when I need to be home. I know I've been lucky with having a job that allows me to get out and about during the working week travelling to different work sites but the rest of it has been very meh.
 
Mostly okay. I've started a new job during this and it a 24/7 type role in that I could be working anywhere from 7am to 10pm and also doing sleeps. The consistent is I'm managing to do part time hours and live comfortably which now the scheduling is being done by someone with a clue, means I'm usually working for only 3 days and off for 4. The concept of weekends is alien to me but I'm good with that. The cats have kept me company and although during the colder bits we've just escaped from they all had wicked cabin fever, we've rubbed along well. I miss just randomly doing stuff like going to Ikea on the bus to get some interiors inspiration, buying bugger all except a breakfast and hot dog and Swedish food nonsense at the end. I did miss festivals this past year, and gigs. My social battery doesn't need much to charge it but it does like a good go at those. I really bloody miss the gym. Don't like feeling so floppy and untoned. I'd also love to jump on a bus and get out to the Peak District. It's only down the road but I don't feel it appropriate to go at the moment. A couple of fields with some horses in and a country lane here and there isn't quite the same thing.

My one big problem though has been sleep. By March last year I was doing about 60-70,000 steps a week. Now I'm lucky to hit 10,000 because I'm stuck just going to work and back and that means buses cos it's too far, and not safe (dual carriageway), to walk. The only opportunity for decent exercise is to hit town for shopping but of course the only shops open really are food shops with scant other bits. My body is not managing this. It only has a good sleep when I've done lots of exercise which at the moment means about once every month I get one night of straight through 8 hours with not much tossing and turning. The rest of the time is my brain nagging me to go to bed at 8.30/9.30pm and then waking me at stupid o'clock for every question I've ever considered to pester my grey matter until I relent, get up and do nothing productive for a bit until the biphasic sleep bit kicks in and I zonk out on the sofa for a bit which is how I come to be writing this at just gone 3am 😪

This whole thing has made me more considerate of myself though. I'm better with money, I've managed to get DIY done by myself, and by someone else. The house is in a better state generally, and that's always a constant improvement. I've found the work pattern that suits me, ie hours crammed into 3 days with 4 off. I do see people at work so the presence of real humans isn't an issue for me personally. And I have sorted out some medical issues. I just don't like being told I can and can't go to places. I would so love to have gotten to Iceland last year to see someone but that's obviously not happened. It's difficult to see friends struggling but reaching out to them they don't take up offers of help even though I can see their relationships crumbling or isolation getting to them. I never know how much to push the offers of help and advice.
 
10th day in a hotel today. going a bit crazy but actually quite busy as I’m trying desperately to arrange stuff before I start my job.

3 more nights in hotels till I move into my cottage, thankfully I am moving hotels Wednesday and Thursday night as I’m travelling up to Berkshire in a Luton to retrieve my possessions. Will spend the weekend unpacking Then Monday I start work. Office based initially. Will be novel to speak to people.
 
I am standing as school governor and I had to get my application nominated and seconded by a couple of friends so I went round to their houses last night (and no I know that's not strictly legal but they're both teachers and are being tested constantly). I was only in there for about 10 minutes but it's the longest I've been in another house since October. And the longest I've spent in the company of another adult since November.

I was worried I'd have forgotten how to do that but I haven't. It felt really normal. And I'm very excited about the prospect of sitting on a bench with a friend and I'm going to make an arrangement to do that now I know I can still do social communication face to face :)
 
trashpony said:
I am standing as school governor and I had to get my application nominated and seconded by a couple of friends so I went round to their houses last night (and no I know that's not strictly legal but they're both teachers and are being tested constantly). I was only in there for about 10 minutes but it's the longest I've been in another house since October. And the longest I've spent in the company of another adult since November.

I was worried I'd have forgotten how to do that but I haven't. It felt really normal. And I'm very excited about the prospect of sitting on a bench with a friend and I'm going to make an arrangement to do that now I know I can still do social communication face to face :)
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OMG living the dream - going round to someone's house for a cup of tea!!!
 
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