Anyone else worried they will go full mental if normal is allowed?

[Pingers]

There have been two occasions in my life when a lot of negative shit has been followed up with good stuff happening, and both times I have gone manic/elated mental. Which has been really good, yet also really not good. So now I'm kinda shitting it that the same thing will happen next spring/summer, and that I might have to slowly nudge my way back to normal to avoid aforesaid mentalism. Anyone else in same boat?

[checkoutgirl]

Are you bipolar or something?

[Pingers]

No, milder than that. Possibly cyclothymic, which is a sort of milder version. Big ups tend to equal big downs and vice versa.

[checkoutgirl]

I feel neither highs or lows.

[Pingers]

I feel neither highs or lows.

Do you brush your teeth with Euthymol?

[ASFTSN]

Mental how?

[Captain Z]

Yes I think I could go mental if I no longer have an excuse to stay in all the time.

[The Culture Bunker]

Yes I think I could go mental if I no longer have an excuse to stay in all the time.

I do actually worry that after all these months of having more sleep, more free time in the evening and being able to work in lovely peace and quiet, that a return to drudging into the office and back everyday will lead me down a huge spiral of depression.

[Cuellar]

If I have to go back to an office you're damn right I'm going to go mental.

[kittens]

can confirm being forced back to work is the worst part of the pandemic

[Sebastian Cobb]

I do actually worry that after all these months of having more sleep, more free time in the evening and being able to work in lovely peace and quiet, that a return to drudging into the office and back everyday will lead me down a huge spiral of depression.

I don't think I could do it.

One thing I don't like is it does feel like my weekends rush past me no with me barely noticing, making work seem like an elongated period of drudgery even though it's costing me less time.

[The Culture Bunker]

I don't think I could do it.

One thing I don't like is it does feel like my weekends rush past me no with me barely noticing, making work seem like an elongated period of drudgery even though it's costing me less time.

That aspect has pretty much stayed the same for me, regardless of working at home or the office. Though work seems slightly less of a drudge as I can stick tunes on the stereo and in periods where I'm not busy, rather than pretending to be busy by staring at a spreadsheet, I relax by (ie) watching the 3dbotmaker channel on Youtube. Plus being able to take a shower on my lunchbreak often helps keep my mind sharp on the busy days.

I'm probably in a minority where I have the luxury of having a free table and my own office chair to use for work purposes - the five steps from there to the sofa makes for a lovely commute.

[Sebastian Cobb]

That aspect has pretty much stayed the same for me, regardless of working at home or the office. Though work seems slightly less of a drudge as I can stick tunes on the stereo and in periods where I'm not busy, rather than pretending to be busy by staring at a spreadsheet, I relax by (ie) watching the 3dbotmaker channel on Youtube. Plus being able to take a shower on my lunchbreak often helps keep my mind sharp on the busy days.

I'm probably in a minority where I have the luxury of having a free table and my own office chair to use for work purposes - the five steps from there to the sofa makes for a lovely commute.

I enjoyed those things at first but over time it's become wearing.

The thought of going back to an office is worse though.

[Beagle 2]

There has been nothing good about lockdown or working from home for me, it's meant working almost every evening as well and not leaving my desk at all during the day, I'm just expected to always be there as a magic worker drone in the sky. Can't wait to get back into the office, then leave the office and say loudly "I am now leaving the office at the end of my contracted hours, see youse cunts tomorrow", then fart loudly, then pelt the windows of the office with eggs for a bit, then go home.

If circumstances were different for me I could have seen me absolutely loving 2020, but no get covid done as far as I'm concerned.

Hope you don't go mental.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Yes I think I could go mental if I no longer have an excuse to stay in all the time.

This, and also the times when I've wanted to go out on weekends haven't felt bad because I know no-one else is out either. Saturday night is just another night, rather than the grimness of hearing the Casualty theme fire up while I imagine everyone out having the time of their lives.

On the other hand, the fact that it has given me an easy excuse not to be social is not good for me, I think a lot of people might have found ways to feed their need for interaction without having actual human contact, like Zoom meets and playing online video games, and might struggle to get back to "normal" behaviour.

[thenoise]

Lucky me, I've no job to go back to. And,with the economy on its arse for the foreseeable, no chance of being forced back to any offices any time soon. Yay me!

[Alberon]

My life is pretty much normal already.

I've been back in the office since July and I don't go to the pub much. So the only real difference I'm noticing right now is I'm eating out less and getting a few more takeaways.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I, too, haven't felt that much of a change all year: I already worked from home and I wasn't a regular restaurant/pub patron anyway. Once summer rolled around, things were basically back to normal for me, aside from the mask wearing and no new films.

I appreciate that my situation isn't necesarily the average though and that suddenly getting the all clear might feel overwhelming to those that have been hit harder by the crisis.

As you say, Pingers, I think the most sensible course of action would be to gently ease yourself back into some semblance of normality, as best you can. Small gatherings of friends and such, once the current lockdown ends.

[bgmnts]

I'll be honest, I don't mind either way but I am terribly bored in regards to the lack of paid work in the past 18 months.

I've never cared about money and never will and I know I'll never have money or a house or whatever, but no jobs at the moment and a part of that is due to covid. And living off 390 quid a month when you owe 70 quid a month in loan repayments, at least 200 quid chipping in with rent, 16 quid a month for a gym I can hardly use etc, its fucking shite even for my unambitious, low maintenance standards.

But I know a lot of people are doing mentally better so I suppose its worth it.

[sirhenry]

I had my first face to face (socially distanced) meeting with more than one person since February a couple of days ago. I find socialising hard at the best of times, and despite knowing all four of them well, I found the whole thing massively stressful. It left me angry and depressed for the rest of the day and most of yesterday. When all this is over I'm going to have to recondition myself to interacting with other humans slowly and carefully or lose it big time.

The idea that, like the OP, it would trigger a massive upswing just seems absurd.

[flotemysost]

My worry is that when normality does start to return, lots of people I know will have already "moved on" (as in, settled into a new lifestyle that suits them better but doesn't necessarily include me. Not died. Obviously don't want them to die either.)

For instance many of my work friends aren't British, and because we're working remotely, many of them have (completely understandably) gone to work from their family homes in various parts of Europe. Even without Brexit in the equation, I can see many of them are much happier and probably aren't in a rush to come back to London.

Meanwhile several other friends and colleagues have left London for other parts of the UK - again, if you can work remotely from somewhere that's more affordable, nicer, bigger, with a garden etc. then why not? And people I know who were already in relationships seem to have fast-tracked to becoming very settled, almost like this was affirmation that they don't really need the outside world.

Of course it goes without saying I want everyone to be emotionally fulfilled, mentally healthy and financially stable, but there's a stupid childish selfish part of me watching all this happening with a trembling lip and glassy eyes, thinking but what about me?

In theory there's nothing stopping me from upping sticks too, but I'm from London - can't see my family right now, but I want to be here and support the business I love and experience things again once stuff does start to open up again (and I do still have some friends here who are in a similar boat to me). And of course I can (hopefully, at some point) hop on a train to visit friends in other parts of the UK, but it's just not the same as being able to text someone and see them at the pub/round their flat for a cup of tea in half an hour.

So for me, I don't think it would be the return to normality itself that would induce full mental, but more the grieving for friendships and experiences I'll not have in the same way as before.

[notjosh]

And people I know who were already in relationships seem to have fast-tracked to becoming very settled, almost like this was affirmation that they don't really need the outside world.

Of course it goes without saying I want everyone to be emotionally fulfilled, mentally healthy and financially stable, but there's a stupid childish selfish part of me watching all this happening with a trembling lip and glassy eyes, thinking but what about me?

In theory there's nothing stopping me from upping sticks too, but I'm from London - can't see my family right now, but I want to be here and support the business I love and experience things again once stuff does start to open up again (and I do still have some friends here who are in a similar boat to me). And of course I can (hopefully, at some point) hop on a train to visit friends in other parts of the UK, but it's just not the same as being able to text someone and see them at the pub/round their flat for a cup of tea in half an hour.

Don't forget that those couples (speaking from experience) will have seen basically no one but each other for months on end by the time this thing is over so they'll be gagging for a pint with someone else. You'll be raking in the social engagements.

I'm really looking forward to London after lockdown, especially if we do end up with a vaccine which means a relatively swift 'all clear' before summer. I'm hoping that there'll be a sudden outpouring of community spirit and spontaneous street festivals popping up all over the place. They've just installed a thing near me (in SE London) called a 'parklet' which is a little wooden outdoor area built over some parking spaces where people can bring drinks and foods from nearby businesses and socially distance together. Even though it's supposed to be a temporary structure it's the first time in ages I've seen a public space reclaimed for community use like this, and I'm hoping the spirit of togetherness which comes with the end of lockdown will see more such endeavours.

It won't, but it's nice to dream.

[Blue Jam]

Just wanna go to the pub.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

I was wondering the other day how people will react when stuff goes back to normal. Feeling is...for some they'll keep working from home cos they like it, they won't do much social stuff cos they like that too. And then other people will go fucking wild, Summer of Love style.

That aspect has pretty much stayed the same for me, regardless of working at home or the office. Though work seems slightly less of a drudge as I can stick tunes on the stereo and in periods where I'm not busy, rather than pretending to be busy by staring at a spreadsheet, I relax by (ie) watching the 3dbotmaker channel on Youtube. Plus being able to take a shower on my lunchbreak often helps keep my mind sharp on the busy days.

I'm probably in a minority where I have the luxury of having a free table and my own office chair to use for work purposes - the five steps from there to the sofa makes for a lovely commute.

Hadn't thought about his but fuck yeah, one of the best things about WFH is this. Got nowt to do in the office? Better stare at the internet until you get something else to do or it passes the acceptable hometime! Nothing to do at home? Fine, do what you like. It's nice.

[Emma Raducanu]

I've enjoyed only being able to meet up with one or two people. It really suits me and knowing I'll have no excuse to avoid larger gatherings distresses me.

The other thing is that since 10pm closures, my area has been blissfully quiet at night. When everywhere is open, there's endless streams of pissed people going by through the night.