Comments on: Feelings about a Post-Pandemic World

By: Brigit Rotondi

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 00:25:30 +0000

The pandemic has recently affected me more that there has been a bit of a urge I am praying it is over soon. I was diagnosed positive. I feel better and, got the vaccine. Brigit

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By: Sally

Fri, 30 Apr 2021 18:52:12 +0000

Thank you for this post. I dont think I have given myself any proper time to evaluate the past year..

When we were 1st locked down in the UK, I was resentful – we had so many plans, trips away just me and my husband, family trips, sleepovers with friends…

The 2nd lockdown I was grateful, the realisation that COVID wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon and I was so fearful for my children and family that it gave me the excuse to shut our doors, block out the world and stay safe…

The 3rd lockdown was the hardest – I was so desperate to give my kids the best Christmas after such a crappy year but it just wasn’t to be.

And now? Well now I have no trust, I don’t trust my community to be sensible and help keep infection rates low, I actually don’t have a lot of trust left in humanity!
We are on a roadmap to opening up our country yet I see such complacency that it makes me nervous, how can I keep my children and family safe?! Truth is, I’m just not ready to re-enter the world – and actually as I type this, I realise that that’s ok! X

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By: Anonymous

Thu, 29 Apr 2021 03:13:45 +0000

I had been working as a fit model for one of the largest clothing companies in the world in 2019, moving into 2020. I watched closely as the factories in China shut down, and we stopped receiving samples. Many of my coworkers had family overseas and would come in reporting how bad things were getting. I didn’t know the full extent of the situation at the time, but it’s almost like I could feel a tsunami coming. Our family’s quarantine began on March 17, 2020 (my husband was literally sent home-to work remotely-indefinitely). My children have not been back to in person school since then. I have 100% been living in a survival mode…and am just now beginning to acknowledge that we might be seeing the first signs of a post-pandemic world.

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By: MARIA GATSOU

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 23:52:26 +0000

I heard a good one lately and it goes like…what you focus on becomes bigger, so I decided not to overanalyse negative feelings either they stem from the pandemic restrictions or not.I dont bury my anxieties and insecurities but I try to be skeptical.I always keep in mind that tragedy (real tragedy) could be just around the corner and we really never know what worst will happen next in our lives.So dont waste time with nonsense worrying (i repeat to myself).We have actually lived like prisoners during the last year (although with a few leaves ?)and to me this has caltivated mostly feelings of anger and resentment towards other people who did not respect the measures and were unwilling to sacrifice a part of their freedom.I mean I was becoming furious watching people secretly partying or drinking coffee at the parks for hours with their masks at their chin, even during the worst period of the lockdown, same people again and again.One thing that is positive from the whole situation is that, with the stores mostly closed, I saved hundreds of euros that I would have spent in meaningless shopping.I dont enjoy e-shopping much and I now find those old days of constant shoping for fun@(even if itdid not beeak the bank), stupid.

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By: Anonymous

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 23:44:47 +0000

This pandemic has shown me people’s true colors. My circle got smaller but I can truly say those friends are the ones every one wants in their life. I learned to leave a toxic work environment and have found such fulfillment in a new environment. I have witnessed my children deal with adults in a less than ideal manner in the retail world. Children should never be victims of adult customer’s frustration. It has made me be super friendly with everyone I encounter as I know they are being bullied daily by these assholes. Yes I said it! I also limited my extended family interaction and fear having no good excuse to not get together.

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By: Michelle

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 22:34:25 +0000

I have literally become very quiet yet anxious during the pandemic. I am a staff member in a tiny ‘little red schoolhouse’ on the east end of Long Island and I am constantly worried about our kids getting ill and passing it on.
I have tested 9x’s, always negative. My hubby got it March 13th 2020. But could not get him tested until 4/2/20! We Q from each other in same home. The 13th of March was when we closed our school and did not open again until this past September!
We have been so vigilant at home and at my little K-6 th grade school. Luckily our school children have all been well.
I’m not happy our kids can now be within 3 feet of each other…some teachers pushed for the change to be made at school and we did it but I did not want to do it.
Some of our parents don’t believe in the virus so at home, outside of school, they don’t follow the rules. Lord knows who the kids are being exposed to then bringing any germs into our 3 room schoolhouse.
Can you tell how anxious I am?!
Our private bubble has shrunk considerably. My hubby and I have been ok with that though…we still like and love each other thru it all! And we watch a sunset from the Long Island Sound just about every night!
He survived Covid & the illness was not severe for him. One of his closet friends survived as well. But sadly he was in ICU on a vent for 9 weeks. So scary.
Mother’s Day is soon. My mom and all 3 sisters and their families (we are all vaccinated) are coming out East to celebrate. We will be outdoors at a North Fork Vineyard, so I am excited for that first family get together in 14 months!
Happy MD to you. Love your blog & Insta. Be well & stay safe! My Best, Michelle

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By: Delilah

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 21:07:38 +0000

As someone who is from one of the hardest states hit…and one of the states locked down the longest (CA), my circle has definitely shrunk but I don’t look at that as a negative because, being locked in at home for a year, I learned how valuable my time was and how it is not something to waste….ever. What actually scares me about the post pandemic world is how everyone treats each other. If you choose to not wear a mask and choose not to vaccinate, that’s OK…it is a personal choice and no one knows the reasons behind that personal decision. On the other side…if you want to double mask, get fully vaccinated, that’s OK and is your personal choice. What I don’t get is…regardless of what side you’re on…why do people have to be so ugly to each other. It literally TERRIFIES me…no one should mask shame or vaccine shame PERIOD.

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By: Victoria

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 20:18:23 +0000

I’ve always had healthy anxiety and the pandemic made it so much worse, and it was awful to begin with. I’m always worried about getting severely ill. However, I noticed so much of my own anxiety went down once my parents were fully vaccinated. Almost as if I worried a whole lot less about myself getting sick. Now that I’ve been fully vaccinated, I can breathe a big comfortable sigh of relief.

I’m visiting my parents next month for the first time in 15 months and even though we are all vaccinated, I’m still hesitant to get close to them and hug them, although I want to. Reading about breakthrough cases worries me, and I want to avoid getting anyone, including myself, sick at all costs. So although I’m happy to be out and about again and seeing people, physical connection is still a hard concept for me to be comfortable with right now. I will say for me, handshakes and sharing drinks are a thing I’ve packed away and won’t probably revisit again. Or at least anytime soon.

I really hope more people who don’t believe in vaccines, can have a change in mind and get on board with something that can protect them and others.

Aside from seeing family, I’m finally excited to have a cocktail that’s not made by me but made by a bartender instead. A girl could use a drink.

What’s been helpful for me is slowly easing back in to things I used to do pre-pandemic. I’ve always loved outdoors and have spent the majority of my free-time outdoors the past year, I’m finally inviting friends a long with me.

My therapist often asks me “What’s something you can challenge yourself with that will in turn, open up your comfortability around others?” I did therapy virtually for a year and my saint of a therapist recently started offering neighborhood walking sessions and to just talk to someone in person has made such a huge difference. I really miss people, and I can’t wait to see friends in person, again.

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By: Erin

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 17:54:19 +0000

I have been feeling all of the things! I live in Northern NJ, so just like you, we were right in the middle of it all last spring and I really think we were much more emotionally affected by the reality than people living in other states. I also have two kids, 6 and almost 3 and to think they were so little when this all started is hard to wrap my arms around. We also have had major challenges with return to school here and my kindergartener just went back for hybrid a few weeks ago. She missed out on so much! And like you said they absorbed things you can never take back. We decided to fly to visit her grandmother in NC for memorial day weekend, rather than drive again. When we told her about it, she started crying, said she did not want to go because she would get COVID and die from the air plane. This absolutely broke my heart. While not the same, I was a about 1 week into freshman year of college on 9-11, and from that moment on, I felt like I lost a little bit of innocents and life as we knew it changed… I feel like this generation of kids will have the same experience. It won’t hurt them forever, but it will define their childhood. I could go on and on… but thank you for sharing so much of yourself!

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By: AB

Tue, 27 Apr 2021 16:26:17 +0000

Thank you for starting this discussion, it has been so helpful to me to see I am not alone. Initially I was feeling relief at being able to spend time in person with family and friends. But as I’ve started to think about the reality more I’m realising how conflicted I really am. On the one hand I have missed my family and friends so much and desperately want to spend more quality time enjoying their company. But I have freaky settled into working from home and I am scared to go back to travelling constantly and working in a large open plan office.

I’ve been able to spend time realising what is important to me and really enjoying slowing down. I don’t want to give that up but something has to give. I can’t run at the pace I was before and have time to stop and reflect.

I am so grateful for everything I have learned about myself over the last year. One of my biggest lessons has been to stay present in the moment and not future project all the time. From that I have been able to take so much joy from lots of tiny moments even when going through a lot of grief. But the planner in me is stressing that I don’t have the new future all figured out. It feels like a constant battle reminding myself to slow down and breathe. Reading these posts it is so good to know I’m not alone and so n my sun of us are struggling to adapt once again to a different future. Thank you for allowing me to connect with others.

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