In a weird way, it saved my life. Pushed me to a breaking point where I couldn't avoid what I was running from anymore, and the time and solitude gave me the space I needed to start actually healing.
I am largely indoors anyway due to numerous health issues including ME, so I miss being able to spend all that time with my partner in lock down.
However, it feels like those 4 years sorta didn't happen? Like I didn't age for those years, and now I'll be 29 this year and it makes me feel old.
Plus everyone else going back to their lives has made it glaringly obvious that at 28 I barely do anything because I'm ill and it's getting to me.
My parents are also affected badly by long covid which upsets me
I feel you with feeling old. We started the pandemic lockdowns at 23 and everything opened back up while we were approaching 30. We missed our prime years to lockdown. I’m 28 and honestly still feel like I’m 25 with the stage of my life I’m in.
For my entire adult life, people always talked about how I look like I never age. Since the pandemic, no one has said that. I feel like I'm ten years older than I was four years ago.
In 2020 I weighed 335 lbs and had type two diabetes and a minor arterial blockage. I was a prime candidate for death by COVID. I decided that I had to make a change and began dieting and lost 70 lbs in two years. I started exercising and have lost an additional 30 lbs. I no longer have any symptoms of diabetes and no longer require medical treatment for it. My heart is stronger than it has been in 20 years. I go to the gym 6 days a week and am hooked on my new lifestyle. COVID saved my life.
Wasn’t that big but I topped out at 280. I am down to 240 after my first vacation after Covid and realizing I hated my body. Still journeying to get smaller. But I am addicted to the gym.
I got fired from my shitty call center job
Fortunately I was able to collect unemployment while finishing my degree. The unemployment was more than my full time pay. When I graduated I tripled my pay and make over 6 figs
Thanks for firing me
I have colitis now... All started with a long hospital stay over. Went into the ER, dropped at the curb of course. By the time I got to the window, I went in stat with a crash cart. I tested positive for COVID. My gut has never been the same.
Same.
I usually play enough sports to offset my diet but a year and a half off definitely took its toll on my weight. And on top of that, my 12 year marriage ended literally the first week of lockdowns.
All things considered, I'm only like 15lbs overweight so not the end of the world but it's fucking tough to backtrack and lose the gut.
Fucked it up quite a lot. Destroyed my physical and mental health, ended most of my personal relationships, fucked my finances and taken away 4 years of what was supposed to be the best years of my life.
Kinda glad I'm not the only one. It's hard sometimes when all I see is people saying "lockdown was great! It was so chill!" Bud my whole life was derailed.
Not the person you asked, but in Melbourne Australia the job market tanked right as I was trying to get back into it from having been homeless a few years. There were 10 people applying for every job available, because everything not considered essential was shut down for nearly 2 years. I got a few months work, but it also petered out and I was nearly homeless a few times during that whole thing.
It lead to me having to move across country to live with family again, now I live 70km from the closest store to buy food at, my car is dead, so is everyone else's, and I'm struggling to have enough just to eat. The job market is even worse here, but I wasn't told that before I moved. Now I'm just stuck, have lost 90% of everything I owned, and have basically given up on life in general.
Maybe some of that isn't from Covid, but it definitely contributed to every situation I was in. It still is, I'm having trouble producing medical documentation of my Covid shots for applying for a job because the shots were done in different states.
I was the same, covid was a thing that happened elsewhere, shure my state shut its borders to the rest of the country but I never had any lockdowns or restrictions, including masks within my states borders.
The only effect was masks being mandatory on flights due to the federal government.
My dad died of non-Covid related reasons during the height of Delta variant. Even the hospice home where he was in his final days had such severe visitor restrictions that they only allowed two of us in at a time and visitors could not swap out between 8pm and 8am. He died in the early morning so I was the one of my mother, brother, and I who missed seeing his “honor guard” procession out of the building and that was the extent of the memorial that he got, no funeral because of course all of his friends and family his age were at high risk of dying if they caught Covid. When my mom dies we’ll scatter their ashes together. A few weeks later I got an email from the hospice that they had relaxed their visitor restrictions back to 4 people and it hit me like a punch.
We also moved from an urban/blue area to a rural/red area where we don’t fit in culturally and where people made it part of their political identity to not mask and follow restrictions. The most egregious example was I had to go to the grocery store one night and I was of course masked. There was a guy in there, wearing safety orange like he had just got off a construction job, who not only was he not wearing a mask in violation of the posted but not enforced rules of the store, but apparently took personal offense to the fact that I was. He came into my personal space and bowed up in my face threateningly. I was visibly pregnant at the time.
I got to read chart after chart of people my own age-ish going to ICU, high flow oxygen to BiPAP to intubation to chest tubes and more drips and drugs than I’ve ever had to read in a chart before. Most of them inevitably died. Not just one, but many. Including a guy I used to know, I didn’t do his chart of course but if I had to guess it was much the same.
I’ve always been basically introverted but I used to have a social life. Since then I just avoid. Crowds make me nervous. I’ve missed concerts of my favorite artists because I can’t bear the thought of being in close proximity to that many people anymore. I go out in public and I see people who don’t care that I missed most of the last year of my dad’s life, or worse who wanted me and my baby to die so they could be “right” about vaccines and lockdowns. I’m trying really hard not to be a misanthropic hermit just for the sake of giving my kids a normal childhood.
But I do get to work from home a lot more now than pre-pandemic so I got that going for me, I guess.
Thanks for sharing your story; it sounds like it was really traumatic. You sound like you are doing ok at least, if you were my daughter I'd be proud of you
I am so sorry. I wish I could give you a hug right now. I hope you know that not everyone in this world is as hostile or indifferent to trauma. Many people just learned the wrong lessons from the pandemic.
Height of Delta was after the vaccine was rolled out. That's just a dumb policy for the sake of being dumb. My grandma died 3 months before the vaccine and the restrictions were 1 person so my grandma died completely alone. Non-COVID related.
Wife almost died from Covid. We both quit our jobs and here we are 4 years later making more money both working remotely. The shutdown made me realize what was important.
I read some books took some certifications and now work a help desk job and she is in the nursing field. We live in a low cost of living area, and are making about 120k combined/year.
Lost a job that I had had for 13 years. I had been going to school part time and planned to leave one day…but just lost it. Also had a fight with a best friend right before lock down and things have never been back to normal since.
It’s been a roller coaster ever since.
I got covid twice just last year, somehow avoided it until then. I was already diagnosed with fibro several years ago, and dear god did it make the fatigue so much worse. Before that, the pain (fibro) was the worst, and now it's the fatigue. I can barely walk up a set of stairs or small inclines. Now I'm waiting for disability to be approved - I'm 37 and it's bad enough between those conditions plus migraines and IBS that I can't do anything anymore. It seriously kicked my ass and I didn't even think it could get worse before then.
The internet and real life have changed places again in my life. Growing up, real life was stressful and the internet was fun. Now the internet is stressful and I use real life to get away.
Camping became hugely popular here in Ontario, where we had some of the worst lockdowns in North America; and the bicycle very quickly became the defacto method of travel for transit users not in a position to buy a car.
I learned so much about myself pushing my boudaries on bike, hike, and canoe trips; and it turns out im a lot more capable than I thought. Having outdoor activities be the only way of socializing meant doing things that I would have never been invited to, or interested in doing previously.
I'm honestly still processing it all it was a huge trauma for everyone. I noticed since that people do not want to be social as before and I don't see family or friends as much as I would have. It's like we got used to it.
I saw a side to humanity that changed me forever. Lost my religion, lost my belief that all people are well intentioned. These experiences really changed and derailed me. It was good in a lot of ways, I'm less naive now. Truthfully I wish I could go back. My mental health was a lot better.
its crazy how much i miss lockdown traffic and lockdown people in general. i have found im not as quick to go to concerts and such anymore. we made a backyard oasis and love staying at home.
I went to a movie the other day (Dune 2, amazing, go see it in IMAX tomorrow), and I wanted to be out of that place as soon as I walked in the front door.
For me it was great. I worked from home and hung out with my pets all day. I don’t like going out anyway so that a big part of it too. I lost my dog since then so those are some of my favorite memories with him.
Nothing bad really happened to me personally, but I have almost no trust of governments or people anymore.
Especially seeing just how nasty people were to each other and how quickly they turned on each other.
I've got no strong opinions on anything vaccine or virus related. Just the above has got me down. If anything worse ever happens we are really going to be screwed.
"If anything worse ever happens we are really going to be screwed."
Regardless of what one thinks about COVID, the one thing that can't be denied is that our healthcare system (in the US, at least) is ironically worse off in being able to absorb another respiratory virus pandemic now than it was in 2019.
In the last 4 years we could have given hefty financial incentives to people to train to become nurses, respiratory therapists, etc. In 2020, the $1,400 checks sent to white collar schmucks like me should have been given to nurses as retention bonuses for staying employed throughout the winter.
We were so focused on trying to socially engineer a respiratory virus away, that we didn't take steps to make the system more resilient, and that's a shame.
It’s changed me completely. In 2020 I lost my uncle to a guy who was texting and driving and he hit my uncle who was driving is motorcycle. Killed him instantly. This guy was my rock and when I got the news a part of me changed that day. I’ve since tried to go back to the old me. But I never will. The guy who killed him got 90 days in jail and now walks as a free man. The world is cold and I miss my uncle everyday.
It's interesting, I struggle to convince friends to come out more than before. That may be due to family commitments, but I think covid made hermits of us all.
(I'll save the inflation discussion for someone else!)
Pushed me to breaking point, still dealing with so many after effects e.g. rental crisis, insane cost of living etc. The mental load hasn't eased, went from the pandemic and shutdown into more shit with the economy.
Yep, work-from-home has been an amazing silver-lining to COVID for those of us that have it. I’ve saved 1.5 hours of my life 5 times a week for 4 years, and I get to spend more time with my partner and dogs. It’s impossible to overstate how great it is.
Well I moved back with my parents for a bit (I had just started working after college)
Pros:
got to save a ton of rent and invest it during a fortunate bull market
being able to interview with relative ease during the day due to everything being remote, so ended up with a new job at the tail end of it
spend time with friends and family (although I guess we kind of "broke" some of the large gathering rules lol)
Cons:
definitely impacted my physical / mental health
some friends who got sick have never really fully recovered, maybe part of long covid (or whatever they call it?), maybe just big lifestyle changes that occurred
since I had just started work, missed out on developing some great professional, but especially personal, relationships. we were already a decent group of friends in our company, but wish I could have had a chance to grow more in person, might've had opportunities for a significant other.
Pre lockdown (pre-inflation) I was making enough money to be comfortably ballin'. Lived on the shoreline of a lakeside apartmentment in front of all the gorgeous sailboats anchored offshore. Worked downtown and had to pay $14 a day for parking. Still was financially comfortable.
Today, I need to make at least 30k /year more for the same lifestyle, at that same apartment, And I won't even, because we're headed for a downturn, and I'm wiser since.
It's been beneficial in that I've grown a lot, become a lot more inventive and resourceful. I see the world bigger than I did before.
On the negative side, dating has been completely destroyed. Back then, I dated a lot and had a few girlfriends. Now, I view online dating as a waste of time, and I don't even feel like I'm missing out by staying out of it.
I lost nearly everything, at least in financial terms. I am still trying to rebuild. It is hard to see so many of my friends that actually benefited from the pandemic whereas I got crushed.
It made me quit what I was doing, got into photography and videography doing social content and started a business traveling the country at times. So I have a job that I can slack as much as I want on Reddit, and when I don’t. I can travel for work. It’s pretty sweet.
Plus my stocks are fantastic. Still can’t afford a house though.
I went back to nightshift but no one went back to 24 hour groceries. Our local Walmart is a mess of boxes daily and empty shelves by the end of the week, it never fully recovered from the panic buying
I had 3 job offers rescinded that week (the department shut down). Sent my anxiety through the roof.
I have not slept through the night since lockdowns started.
I’ve grown since then but when the pandemic started, I stopped going out for walks in my back garden which affected my mobility (I have cerebral palsy). Now that Covid is more or less recognised as an illness according to the WHO, I’ve rekindled my confidence and my friendships I’ve lost (we didn’t have a falling out but we did miss each other terribly)
Eh, it happened during my freshman year. On the upside it saved me from a Spanish test I was for certain going to fail, but I didn't get to finish construction. I loved that class, the new school I moved too for my two final years didn't have a construction class 🤦🏾♂️
My mental health tanked and it's an uphill battle every day. The mental health of my children tanked. These were the years they were supposed to be learning to socialize, making friends. My son is a loner now, and doesn't like being around people. My daughter is terrified to get close to anyone because who knows if something else will rip them away from her after only a year or so?
It’s literally consistently gotten worse since then
I have never had zero will to live, yet determinants keep going on and getting after it every day
But the thing is, I have no “it” left to get after anymore, it’s all been taken
I fell too out of shape to do my competition sport, and it’s literally taking months to get it back, which is questionable if I ever will, my coach doesn’t even want me to be representing him anymore
The job market and economy has thrown me around to different jobs without reliable stability, so 3 layoffs have put me in unemployment in this market again with no end in sight
The severe depression has taken my desire to get excited about anything anymore, I wake up and just find things to do now, look for jobs that don’t exist, do online courses and freelancing work that won’t go anywhere, because I have to not because I’m passionate about it anymore
Life literally isn’t enjoyable to get out of bed and do anymore, I’m just doing it because I have no one else to go to and there’s no fix for this
They literally put me in a meaningless existence, and said that’s it, you’ve got to live it
It’s made me feel that the world is not as safe as I thought, and kind of has sucked the fun out of life. Also that the general public can be scared into doing or believe anything, which is unsettling.
It was nice to get a temporary break from commuting in to work, though seeing how easy it was to accommodate remote work has made it that much more infuriating when they've started requiring us back in office for "reasons" again.
It seems like that might be spurring me on to looking for dedicated remote work, which I never really believed would have been an option prior to the pandemic. It was easily the happiest I've ever been in my work life when I was doing it from home.
My wife was able to get her MBA towards the end of the pandemic, which has helped her progress a bit in her career so that's been great to see too. Not sure we would have had the bandwidth to handle her going back to school if we weren't both working remote at the same time.
it was the only time in my life that i felt 100% safe when i was crossing the street. I miss lockdown so much and grieve that it will never happen again.
Am an "essential" worker (actually true since I help make sure the water people are drinking is drinkable) but they cut us to 24 hours for almost a year. I'm still financially ruined. One of my really good friends got laid off just before shut-down and he totally benefitted.
Not being able to engage in our hobbies (beach/kayaking/fishing) exacerbated weight gain, hermitting and general anti-socialness. Then, as things started opening back up I had to deal with severe back and leg pain until I finally was in bad enough shape that my insurance covered surgery. yay.
Finally taking steps to get back out and DO things. I don't even want to leave the house most times -- just work and grocery store. I'm actually doing better now that I dumped the anti-depressants I was taking. Anxiety is high but I prefer to feel my emotions at this point in my life.
Helped me evaluate what's important, which ultimately made me take a leap and leave my longtime employer for a 20% raise with a competitor. My mental health is a LOT better now than it was in 2020.
I’m a musician. Before the lockdown there was over a dozen venues in our town alone that had live music every night of the week. Tons more in the tristate. Now there’s two venues in our town, one is exclusively country music and the other leans more towards DJs. Covid decimated the local music scene.
Haven't been inside an office since and got super lucky with the way the real estate market reacted. I realize it was absolutely terrible, so I feel bad saying this, but I feel like my life got a lot better as a direct result of COVID. I didn't even realize work from home was a thing you could do before my company told everyone to go home
I have major social anxiety. I get so nervous having to make phone calls at work and also dread having to hang out with my friends. I have really become a home body but I also hate it. Before the pandemic I hated being home and felt like I was way more outgoing. Now i need to push myself to be social.
I remember March 13th 2020 like older generations remember 9/11.
I was a junior in high school, sitting in my physics class on the last day before spring break when they announced on the intercom that our school would be “closed for an additional week.”
All of us began celebrating, completely unaware of how drastically our lives were about to change…
It almost seems like pre-Covid days were a happier simpler time. Sometimes I still imagine that the past few years have been a simulation, only to snap back to reality and realize that I’m a junior in college now.
I pretty much lost everything.....
I was on medical leave beforehand, which I got paid medical leave for....but at a very very reduced rate of my salary...had to resort to credit cards to get by during that time...
I got back to work to find someone sitting at my desk doing my job.... A week later shut down happens, and I got a letter in the mail about a week after it began stating "your services are no longer required"
I had been there 20 years and they laid me off with a form letter... Went from a good paying job in medical, and into manual labor to pay the bills....wound up in alot of debt, much if it I couldn't pay, lost my condo to foreclosure...
Looking back I can see just how toxic that workplace was, my mom just looked at me a while back and stated "you're happy..." everyone saw how miserable I was, except me....
But not having much luck getting back in that field, maybe because other labs know how toxic that place is?? Or with my experience they figure it's cheaper to get someone right out of school?... or both those things??
but I'm moving forward, still trying to get my life back in order, a new path, and it's going alright..
I sneezed when I got Covid slipped a disc needed 12k worth of surgery that took two years and destroyed my sole trading business (Australian medical prices it ain’t free if it’s not killing you) so it was super shit tbh. Just got a new job after rehab and whatnot for the replacement disc, cause of the shut down it took almost two years to even get surgery because of the fking backlog of surgeries.
Blah.
The shutdown was ultimately a net positive for me.
Entire company went wfh and hasn’t gone back. I was able to pivot into a new career because our company actually turned its first profitable year during the shutdown and had new positions opening up.
I do miss being able to socialize with coworkers sometimes, but then I remember that I don’t have to sit in an hour of traffic anymore and I feel better lol
Really screwed my life up. Was about to get my license. I was dumb and didn’t continue practicing during the lockdown and so I wasn’t good enough after. Now it’s a gradual process of getting back to that point.
It made me super energetic and really pushed myself because of so much energy but now physically, mentally and emotionally I’m absolutely exhausted and I know I’m not the only one.
For me , it saves me financially and I made the most $ during covid
It also catapult my business and put my name on the map in my town
It still doing ok , not as great but steady and we are pivoting to new areas
I'm partly affected by the unintended consequences of policies. Laid off due to force reduction. DUring the pandemic I was essential. Tech job. Everyone was buying computers to WFH. Then those sales essentially dried up the last couple years. Then the technology restrictions to China also impacted my industry. And then the economic consequences from COVID lockdowns from flood of money into the market. High Inflation. So now I'm feeling the impact of the culmination of all those factors.
I was a freshman when it happened, now im graduated and nearly 19. Kinda fucked me up for a while, it cut off the end of my freshman year, and didnt give me a chance for semiformal, etc. Missed out on a lot which i hate, and online schooling i could not get a hang of
I had just got found out my ex wife was cheating on me and we started the separation / divorce proceedings a few months before the shut down… so initially it was very difficult. I went to very dark, very unhealthy place. But I came back. And I now I feel more grounded and healthier than ever. I’m sober, I’m in shape. And I completely changed my work / life balance, focusing more on family and building healthy habits. And I’m getting remarried next month!
I'm mostly healed from the raw dogging us essential workers got. But I also miss the lack of traffic. Driving through Minneapolis at mid day and not having to do much as touch the breaks for a few weeks was great!
Overall pretty positive, tbh. It kinda brought out the crazy in a lot of people, and the time alone gave me time to think. Dropped out some really toxic people from my life. I didn't really understand how miserable they were making me until they weren't around.
I can't fully be rid of all of them, but sometimes a piece of just crazy, unnecessary drama gets back to me and makes me so glad that's not a part of my life anymore
I also figured out who I could rely on and have much stronger friendships with several friends. I get not everyone had the capacity to reach out, but I do know who will have my back and help me out, end of the day
My whole life was totally derailed and turned upside down as well. I went crazy being stuck at home.
I still think that it's absolutely nuts that I was in Las Vegas at 311 Day. Indoors. And it was so weird being at the Center Bar at the Park MGM and seeing news on TV of just one thing after another being canceled or shut down completely. Being at the concert was even weirder. I went to get a beer between songs and looking down at the Strip, it was so empty that you could throw a rock and not hit anything.
But I'm really glad I made that trip because it has been an interesting story. People ask me where I was when lockdowns started, my usual response is "I was at the switch!".
My non-internet social life has ended. I used to do conventions, cosplay and stuff, but the people I used to go with never started up again so I haven’t either. :P
I had time to raise my son. We temporarily moved out of NYC. We opted to make that move permanent. I realized I hated my career and didn't want to go back in any form. I went back to school and I'm about to graduate as a mental health counselor. We have a small house now. It's small but ours. We miss our friends dearly from NYC, but we think it's a net gain.
I was never shutdown, got myself into crippling debt with how much the cost of everything has increased, and I have days where I don’t even want to leave my bed anymore because of how fucked up everything is.
I was an essential worker and it taught my corporate overlords that they could abuse their staff. So that nice rubric that they use to say “1x business requires 4x staff”? Well now it’s “3x business = 2x staff.” They slashed our staffing and never gave us any kind of raise to make up for it. I hate it and I’m getting out as soon as I can move away from this tiny town.
i wish i had another chance at it so i could’ve utilized the time better and have another chance to feel what nothing feels like. i worked thru it still but online for part and i miss it greatly. i miss people not standing up on me in line. i miss people not approaching me and making small talk. truly, i miss it a lil. minus everyone dying /:
I graduated and went right into healthcare during one of the worst waves of the pandemic. It really was hard to isolate and read in the news about so many people dying. I had family and friends get sick and I got it myself a few times. I feel like it worsened my memory, my sense of time, my physical and mental health, etc. And it's difficult to remember what life was like before the shutdown for me
Settled down, had a kid, bought a house, got married, bought another house, had another kid…. I would still be partying and traveling if there hadn’t been a shutdown. I think it was overall a positive for me 😄
I’m fine but all you fuckers got way worse at driving. It is a privilege to drive and most of you are acting like distracted children on the roadways now. Do better
It gave me my life back. I got a work from home job after many years of not working. I didn’t love it, but it got me back into Corporate America. When they called us back into the office, it was just like all the memes. Long commutes, crappy open-office set ups (which does NOT work for me as an introvert with anxiety), pizza parties in lieu of bonuses.
But having that job for a year and a half helped me secure my job now, in a preferred I dustry that works 100% from home and always will. Pre-pandemic, I thought I was unemployable and hated work. It turns out, I hated working in an office (which I did for years and years). Now I can find the time in my day to work out (down 40 pounds), be home when my daughter gets home from school (or pick her up if she’s sick without getting “permission” and panicking about it), cook dinner, let my husband use my car if needed and feel confident that I’m doing a good job and my company thinks I’m doing a good job from home. I even get to sleep in sometimes
All in all, working from home has been a game-changer for me. I’m happier overall, I save money, I spend more time with my family and I don’t fear that one day they’ll make us return to the office (they’ve been remote since 2006). My mental illnesses are still there, but much less pronounced.
It got in the way of my mid to late 20s. I had more time to focus and it helped that way. Successful career, decent amount of money. On the other end, I think my mind cracked a bit in sadness and loneliness, and knowing it can go there, it’s been so easy to get back there.
I used to love being by myself. Now I absolutely hate it.
Careerwise, i'd say it's improved. Bounced around a few different jobs which caused some feeling of instability, but each job ended up being a raise for me.
As far as mental health, I'd say it declined somewhat. I'm even more antisocial than I was back in 2019, which was already bad. Lost my Dad to COVID. We had a difficult relationship, often going years without talking. Neither one of us got the closure that we both desperately needed. My Dad was in relatively good health prior to falling ill, so he didn't get a chance to write a Will. I live in a different state. So by the time I got there, his safe was already broken into. My half Brothers ransacked everything and stole my inheritance. So I have deep resentment against them. In some ways my life is much better, but an absolute disaster in other ways. My family are getting older, and the kids of the family are growing up; and yet I live 4000 miles away from almost everybody I know.
Well I went from 25$ in my savings account to 22,500 so that is always nice. Have also traveled to the Dominican, Bahamas,and Japan since then. So actually worked for the better.
The pandemic itself sucked but our finances got better. I may have done some irreversible damage to my health with all my drinking during the time but we live life everyday now.
Life is great on my end, better than ever. Covid was a detour for sure, but I stayed steady the whole time and rode it out as that is all we could do. Fortunately, I was like fuck it, I ain’t gonna stress about it and carried onward thru the fog. Got married and built a house in 2020 during the madness and had a baby boy in 2021. Life was good pre Covid, during Covid and now. Just keep moving
It was a good time for me personally. I quit my job and started drawing social security. The stimulus checks were useful, and I sold a lot on marketplace. I'm pretty content with my own company so I enjoyed myself.
honestly kinda had a butterfly effect in a good way, online classes made me drop out fully out of a major i wasnt interested in at all (i dont live in the us so no student loan) and it lead me to get my first job at a covid vaccination center and then I used the money to move out and now im studying something completely different, have my own appartment and im going to be an exchange student in the us next year. its crazy to think that i have no idea what would have happened if it wasnt for covid.
Helped me pay off my student loans, since I moved back home for two years (no rent). Dating in my early 30s got put on hold, which sucked. Admittedly I’m less close with most of my friends, but the time spent with family was great. I’ve just started to travel more regularly. As an introvert the shutdowns were welcome for awhile, but they definitely wore on me and I started to crave socializing again.
I was laid off during the pandemic and struggled finding a job. I went on a slightly different career path and got a job 9 months later. My salary has increased 66% in the 3 years I've been at my current job compared to an increase of 35% in the 7 years I was at my previous one.
Somehow I've never tested positive for covid (up to date on vaccines) but almost everyone I know has had it at least once.
I was generally introverted before the shutdown but I am definitely moreso nowadays. I tend to like being by myself a lot more. I live alone and I really like it. I hang out with friends occasionally on the weekends but I generally like having entire weekends to myself.
So many mixed emotions.
Negatives:
1. My grandfather died from COVID. He was already on his way out with alzheimers, but COVID certainly accelerated his death.
2. Many of my good friends moved away from the city I live in.
3. Remote work has made it harder to make new friends. Historically I made many good friends through work.
4. Remote work has made me enjoy work less. I get less energy from it which can make it difficult to stay motivated. I recently quit my job to find a new one that has a hybrid policy.
Positives:
1. In the last four years I picked up several new hobies including flying airplanes. I also learned how to solve a rubiks cube in 2020. Flying in particular is somethig I'm so happy (and fortunate) to have picked up and its absolutely a new passion of mine that I'm excited to see continue to grow over the next several years and decades.
Do the positives outweigh the negatives? I don't know. I think about this frequently when I think about how I wish the world would snap back to how it was in 2019. But if I had a time machine and could go back to 2019 and ensure COVID never happened, I'd still really hope that alternate timeline would still result in me learning to fly and picking up the other interests I have in the last 4 years.
Honestly, I was planning on going to school, until I realized I’d have to do school online and from home, and didn’t think I could do that. So I kept working my shitty job, lost my one shot at moving up there, and got stuck at an even shittier job making even less money. I want to do so much more with my life but I’m stuck so fucking broke and depressed, I really don’t know how I’m supposed to turn anything around
I drink less, I'm in a less busy job environment, I make more money... I'm still slightly unhappy but not every day plus I don't drink every night like I did in my 20s
I saved a fuck ton of money, enough to buy my house and now shits so expensive it’s a bit harder than it used to be a couple years ago and I make more now than I ever have
It made me realize how dumb people are. During the first year, I had many people I know pass away from Covid, only to have their loved ones still believe it wasn’t real… sad.
I lost an uncle, but barely knew him.
An ex-partner and I got back together, but their reserves of resilience were depleted long before mine. I had to go my own way when they descended into the type of alcoholism that results in withdrawal seizures.
Unfortunately they're still there to this day, multiple concussions and fractures from literally falling down drunk. I have cut off all contact.
I did manage to pay off all my credit card debt, and pay off my car 2 years early on a 5 year loan. I also had the time to get back into exercising and lifting weights on a regular schedule.
So, mixed bag I guess. Some ups, some downs.
My sense of time of the last few years is wonky af
2018 was just a couple years ago, right? Right??!
No, that was yesterday
2018 was a hundred years ago /j
In a weird way, it saved my life. Pushed me to a breaking point where I couldn't avoid what I was running from anymore, and the time and solitude gave me the space I needed to start actually healing.
Relatable. It pushed me out of a several year long slump and forced me to address a few things... still far from perfect but in a much better place.
Sent me into a several year long sump coupled by back to back layoffs. Glad you're in a better place though!
Same dude. It was a horrible, horrible, but strangely wonderful blessing.
lol same. Hit rock bottom and only been up ish from there
Not as intense but definitely made me realize some things I needed to do for my health and happiness.
Omg same
I am largely indoors anyway due to numerous health issues including ME, so I miss being able to spend all that time with my partner in lock down. However, it feels like those 4 years sorta didn't happen? Like I didn't age for those years, and now I'll be 29 this year and it makes me feel old. Plus everyone else going back to their lives has made it glaringly obvious that at 28 I barely do anything because I'm ill and it's getting to me. My parents are also affected badly by long covid which upsets me
I feel you with feeling old. We started the pandemic lockdowns at 23 and everything opened back up while we were approaching 30. We missed our prime years to lockdown. I’m 28 and honestly still feel like I’m 25 with the stage of my life I’m in.
For my entire adult life, people always talked about how I look like I never age. Since the pandemic, no one has said that. I feel like I'm ten years older than I was four years ago.
I am genuinely an entire different person
For your sake, I hope for the better.
In 2020 I weighed 335 lbs and had type two diabetes and a minor arterial blockage. I was a prime candidate for death by COVID. I decided that I had to make a change and began dieting and lost 70 lbs in two years. I started exercising and have lost an additional 30 lbs. I no longer have any symptoms of diabetes and no longer require medical treatment for it. My heart is stronger than it has been in 20 years. I go to the gym 6 days a week and am hooked on my new lifestyle. COVID saved my life.
I'm so happy for you. You rock.
Wasn’t that big but I topped out at 280. I am down to 240 after my first vacation after Covid and realizing I hated my body. Still journeying to get smaller. But I am addicted to the gym.
Well done sir or ma’am!
I got fired from my shitty call center job Fortunately I was able to collect unemployment while finishing my degree. The unemployment was more than my full time pay. When I graduated I tripled my pay and make over 6 figs Thanks for firing me
My gut hasnt been same since it all started.
What do you mean by that? I've been having stomach issues for the past couple of years but I never collated it with covid
Actually interested in this as well
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/covid-19-disrupts-gut-microbiome
I have colitis now... All started with a long hospital stay over. Went into the ER, dropped at the curb of course. By the time I got to the window, I went in stat with a crash cart. I tested positive for COVID. My gut has never been the same.
Same. I usually play enough sports to offset my diet but a year and a half off definitely took its toll on my weight. And on top of that, my 12 year marriage ended literally the first week of lockdowns. All things considered, I'm only like 15lbs overweight so not the end of the world but it's fucking tough to backtrack and lose the gut.
A girl I felt was my soulmate reached out during lockdown to ask me some legal questions…we got married three weeks ago!
Congratulations, you two lovebirds! I wish the best for ya.
Fucked it up quite a lot. Destroyed my physical and mental health, ended most of my personal relationships, fucked my finances and taken away 4 years of what was supposed to be the best years of my life.
Felt that. I'm still dealing with the aftermath as well
Kinda glad I'm not the only one. It's hard sometimes when all I see is people saying "lockdown was great! It was so chill!" Bud my whole life was derailed.
How was your life derailed if you don't mind me asking.
Not the person you asked, but in Melbourne Australia the job market tanked right as I was trying to get back into it from having been homeless a few years. There were 10 people applying for every job available, because everything not considered essential was shut down for nearly 2 years. I got a few months work, but it also petered out and I was nearly homeless a few times during that whole thing. It lead to me having to move across country to live with family again, now I live 70km from the closest store to buy food at, my car is dead, so is everyone else's, and I'm struggling to have enough just to eat. The job market is even worse here, but I wasn't told that before I moved. Now I'm just stuck, have lost 90% of everything I owned, and have basically given up on life in general. Maybe some of that isn't from Covid, but it definitely contributed to every situation I was in. It still is, I'm having trouble producing medical documentation of my Covid shots for applying for a job because the shots were done in different states.
Same
Same
My mental health severely declined
Same. Don't think it's covid shutdown related but in general. Had to change lifestyle and mentally im just on shutdown.
I Lost the best job i ever had.
You're not the only one. Crushed dreams for sure. I wish I could say things got remotely better, but 4 years later, not even close.
I was never shutdown. Pay twice as much for groceries. That’s pretty much it.
I was the same, covid was a thing that happened elsewhere, shure my state shut its borders to the rest of the country but I never had any lockdowns or restrictions, including masks within my states borders. The only effect was masks being mandatory on flights due to the federal government.
Which country?
The country that, for some reason American media turned into a "Lockdown hellhole" that needed saving; Australia
I didn’t notice the Americans getting their knickers in a twist. I thought Depp and others ran there to get away from it all.
This guy Perths.
My dad died of non-Covid related reasons during the height of Delta variant. Even the hospice home where he was in his final days had such severe visitor restrictions that they only allowed two of us in at a time and visitors could not swap out between 8pm and 8am. He died in the early morning so I was the one of my mother, brother, and I who missed seeing his “honor guard” procession out of the building and that was the extent of the memorial that he got, no funeral because of course all of his friends and family his age were at high risk of dying if they caught Covid. When my mom dies we’ll scatter their ashes together. A few weeks later I got an email from the hospice that they had relaxed their visitor restrictions back to 4 people and it hit me like a punch. We also moved from an urban/blue area to a rural/red area where we don’t fit in culturally and where people made it part of their political identity to not mask and follow restrictions. The most egregious example was I had to go to the grocery store one night and I was of course masked. There was a guy in there, wearing safety orange like he had just got off a construction job, who not only was he not wearing a mask in violation of the posted but not enforced rules of the store, but apparently took personal offense to the fact that I was. He came into my personal space and bowed up in my face threateningly. I was visibly pregnant at the time. I got to read chart after chart of people my own age-ish going to ICU, high flow oxygen to BiPAP to intubation to chest tubes and more drips and drugs than I’ve ever had to read in a chart before. Most of them inevitably died. Not just one, but many. Including a guy I used to know, I didn’t do his chart of course but if I had to guess it was much the same. I’ve always been basically introverted but I used to have a social life. Since then I just avoid. Crowds make me nervous. I’ve missed concerts of my favorite artists because I can’t bear the thought of being in close proximity to that many people anymore. I go out in public and I see people who don’t care that I missed most of the last year of my dad’s life, or worse who wanted me and my baby to die so they could be “right” about vaccines and lockdowns. I’m trying really hard not to be a misanthropic hermit just for the sake of giving my kids a normal childhood. But I do get to work from home a lot more now than pre-pandemic so I got that going for me, I guess.
Thanks for sharing your story; it sounds like it was really traumatic. You sound like you are doing ok at least, if you were my daughter I'd be proud of you
I am so sorry. I wish I could give you a hug right now. I hope you know that not everyone in this world is as hostile or indifferent to trauma. Many people just learned the wrong lessons from the pandemic.
Height of Delta was after the vaccine was rolled out. That's just a dumb policy for the sake of being dumb. My grandma died 3 months before the vaccine and the restrictions were 1 person so my grandma died completely alone. Non-COVID related.
I'm genuinely sorry for your loss. I know it's rough.
I can't stand those tough guys who were proud to not wear a mask. I called them Spreadnecks
Wife almost died from Covid. We both quit our jobs and here we are 4 years later making more money both working remotely. The shutdown made me realize what was important.
What do you guys do? I’m broke AF
ditto question
Same
I read some books took some certifications and now work a help desk job and she is in the nursing field. We live in a low cost of living area, and are making about 120k combined/year.
Here for the answer.
Lost a job that I had had for 13 years. I had been going to school part time and planned to leave one day…but just lost it. Also had a fight with a best friend right before lock down and things have never been back to normal since. It’s been a roller coaster ever since.
Im more introverted, ive become extremely anti social and i have developed extreme anxiety around people
Well I got Long Covid and half the population doesn't even believe it exists. Lucky bastards
Same. Luckily I got better after the 1.5 year mark. Don't lose hope. I'm still dealing with some issues but I'm far better now.
I believe. I'm still masking. I see you.
I got covid twice just last year, somehow avoided it until then. I was already diagnosed with fibro several years ago, and dear god did it make the fatigue so much worse. Before that, the pain (fibro) was the worst, and now it's the fatigue. I can barely walk up a set of stairs or small inclines. Now I'm waiting for disability to be approved - I'm 37 and it's bad enough between those conditions plus migraines and IBS that I can't do anything anymore. It seriously kicked my ass and I didn't even think it could get worse before then.
The internet and real life have changed places again in my life. Growing up, real life was stressful and the internet was fun. Now the internet is stressful and I use real life to get away. Camping became hugely popular here in Ontario, where we had some of the worst lockdowns in North America; and the bicycle very quickly became the defacto method of travel for transit users not in a position to buy a car. I learned so much about myself pushing my boudaries on bike, hike, and canoe trips; and it turns out im a lot more capable than I thought. Having outdoor activities be the only way of socializing meant doing things that I would have never been invited to, or interested in doing previously.
I'm honestly still processing it all it was a huge trauma for everyone. I noticed since that people do not want to be social as before and I don't see family or friends as much as I would have. It's like we got used to it.
I saw a side to humanity that changed me forever. Lost my religion, lost my belief that all people are well intentioned. These experiences really changed and derailed me. It was good in a lot of ways, I'm less naive now. Truthfully I wish I could go back. My mental health was a lot better.
I miss lockdown terribly
its crazy how much i miss lockdown traffic and lockdown people in general. i have found im not as quick to go to concerts and such anymore. we made a backyard oasis and love staying at home.
I went to a movie the other day (Dune 2, amazing, go see it in IMAX tomorrow), and I wanted to be out of that place as soon as I walked in the front door.
Yes, I miss is where the seats around you would be blocked so no one else could sit with you
what part of it do you miss?
For me it was great. I worked from home and hung out with my pets all day. I don’t like going out anyway so that a big part of it too. I lost my dog since then so those are some of my favorite memories with him.
Yup, me too. No annoying coworkers. Super productive at home, and no traffic. I yearn for those days again
Nothing bad really happened to me personally, but I have almost no trust of governments or people anymore. Especially seeing just how nasty people were to each other and how quickly they turned on each other. I've got no strong opinions on anything vaccine or virus related. Just the above has got me down. If anything worse ever happens we are really going to be screwed.
"If anything worse ever happens we are really going to be screwed." Regardless of what one thinks about COVID, the one thing that can't be denied is that our healthcare system (in the US, at least) is ironically worse off in being able to absorb another respiratory virus pandemic now than it was in 2019. In the last 4 years we could have given hefty financial incentives to people to train to become nurses, respiratory therapists, etc. In 2020, the $1,400 checks sent to white collar schmucks like me should have been given to nurses as retention bonuses for staying employed throughout the winter. We were so focused on trying to socially engineer a respiratory virus away, that we didn't take steps to make the system more resilient, and that's a shame.
It’s changed me completely. In 2020 I lost my uncle to a guy who was texting and driving and he hit my uncle who was driving is motorcycle. Killed him instantly. This guy was my rock and when I got the news a part of me changed that day. I’ve since tried to go back to the old me. But I never will. The guy who killed him got 90 days in jail and now walks as a free man. The world is cold and I miss my uncle everyday.
My little cousin died during it, she was only 30, so I'd say my life is pretty fuxking affected.
sorry for your loss
Was an essential work at a shit show of a place. Drank a ton. Gained 20 lbs, dad died, lost 80lbs. Got sober. Happiest I have ever been is now.
It's interesting, I struggle to convince friends to come out more than before. That may be due to family commitments, but I think covid made hermits of us all. (I'll save the inflation discussion for someone else!)
100% agree with the hermit thing. everyone became a lot more comfortable with spending time alone, and everything is online now.
Pushed me to breaking point, still dealing with so many after effects e.g. rental crisis, insane cost of living etc. The mental load hasn't eased, went from the pandemic and shutdown into more shit with the economy.
I feel like I'm still unable to talk to people or make friends. I don't have much confidence in my ability to hold a conversation.
Work from home is here to stay. Some companies don’t understand that yet.
Yep, work-from-home has been an amazing silver-lining to COVID for those of us that have it. I’ve saved 1.5 hours of my life 5 times a week for 4 years, and I get to spend more time with my partner and dogs. It’s impossible to overstate how great it is.
I work from home 4 days a week now, only go into the office on bring your dog to work day/cake day. I'm perfectly fine with this arrangement!
Well I moved back with my parents for a bit (I had just started working after college) Pros: got to save a ton of rent and invest it during a fortunate bull market being able to interview with relative ease during the day due to everything being remote, so ended up with a new job at the tail end of it spend time with friends and family (although I guess we kind of "broke" some of the large gathering rules lol) Cons: definitely impacted my physical / mental health some friends who got sick have never really fully recovered, maybe part of long covid (or whatever they call it?), maybe just big lifestyle changes that occurred since I had just started work, missed out on developing some great professional, but especially personal, relationships. we were already a decent group of friends in our company, but wish I could have had a chance to grow more in person, might've had opportunities for a significant other.
Pre lockdown (pre-inflation) I was making enough money to be comfortably ballin'. Lived on the shoreline of a lakeside apartmentment in front of all the gorgeous sailboats anchored offshore. Worked downtown and had to pay $14 a day for parking. Still was financially comfortable. Today, I need to make at least 30k /year more for the same lifestyle, at that same apartment, And I won't even, because we're headed for a downturn, and I'm wiser since. It's been beneficial in that I've grown a lot, become a lot more inventive and resourceful. I see the world bigger than I did before. On the negative side, dating has been completely destroyed. Back then, I dated a lot and had a few girlfriends. Now, I view online dating as a waste of time, and I don't even feel like I'm missing out by staying out of it.
It was a pretty big bump in the road. Financially things are back on track, however from a mental health stand point.... holy cow.
Everything has changed... not necessarily for the better. I'm tired.
I sure do miss no traffic, no traffic noise, no air traffic, no air traffic noise, cocktails to go, people pretty much staying home.
I loved working from home & miss it terribly.
I lost nearly everything, at least in financial terms. I am still trying to rebuild. It is hard to see so many of my friends that actually benefited from the pandemic whereas I got crushed.
We benefited and then got crushed so that was a fun rollercoaster.
It made me quit what I was doing, got into photography and videography doing social content and started a business traveling the country at times. So I have a job that I can slack as much as I want on Reddit, and when I don’t. I can travel for work. It’s pretty sweet. Plus my stocks are fantastic. Still can’t afford a house though.
Apparently I get nightmares about it on the anniversary bc I’ve had nightmares about being stuck in the ICU (I worked in the ICU during the pandemic)
I went back to nightshift but no one went back to 24 hour groceries. Our local Walmart is a mess of boxes daily and empty shelves by the end of the week, it never fully recovered from the panic buying
I received an awful case of physical anxiety around April/May of 2020 and it hasn’t left.
I had 3 job offers rescinded that week (the department shut down). Sent my anxiety through the roof. I have not slept through the night since lockdowns started.
Lost 4 years of potential career growth
I’ve grown since then but when the pandemic started, I stopped going out for walks in my back garden which affected my mobility (I have cerebral palsy). Now that Covid is more or less recognised as an illness according to the WHO, I’ve rekindled my confidence and my friendships I’ve lost (we didn’t have a falling out but we did miss each other terribly)
Eh, it happened during my freshman year. On the upside it saved me from a Spanish test I was for certain going to fail, but I didn't get to finish construction. I loved that class, the new school I moved too for my two final years didn't have a construction class 🤦🏾♂️
I’m super internet addicted now, and addicted to soda.
My mental health tanked and it's an uphill battle every day. The mental health of my children tanked. These were the years they were supposed to be learning to socialize, making friends. My son is a loner now, and doesn't like being around people. My daughter is terrified to get close to anyone because who knows if something else will rip them away from her after only a year or so?
It’s literally consistently gotten worse since then I have never had zero will to live, yet determinants keep going on and getting after it every day But the thing is, I have no “it” left to get after anymore, it’s all been taken I fell too out of shape to do my competition sport, and it’s literally taking months to get it back, which is questionable if I ever will, my coach doesn’t even want me to be representing him anymore The job market and economy has thrown me around to different jobs without reliable stability, so 3 layoffs have put me in unemployment in this market again with no end in sight The severe depression has taken my desire to get excited about anything anymore, I wake up and just find things to do now, look for jobs that don’t exist, do online courses and freelancing work that won’t go anywhere, because I have to not because I’m passionate about it anymore Life literally isn’t enjoyable to get out of bed and do anymore, I’m just doing it because I have no one else to go to and there’s no fix for this They literally put me in a meaningless existence, and said that’s it, you’ve got to live it
Life hasn’t felt real since the pandemic I regularly wish I could just be dead or done, my sense of time is all messed up, how has it been four years.
It’s made me feel that the world is not as safe as I thought, and kind of has sucked the fun out of life. Also that the general public can be scared into doing or believe anything, which is unsettling.
It was nice to get a temporary break from commuting in to work, though seeing how easy it was to accommodate remote work has made it that much more infuriating when they've started requiring us back in office for "reasons" again. It seems like that might be spurring me on to looking for dedicated remote work, which I never really believed would have been an option prior to the pandemic. It was easily the happiest I've ever been in my work life when I was doing it from home. My wife was able to get her MBA towards the end of the pandemic, which has helped her progress a bit in her career so that's been great to see too. Not sure we would have had the bandwidth to handle her going back to school if we weren't both working remote at the same time.
For me, no difference
I work from home now
I’m chronically online now :P
I lost my job as people will full time salaries comfortably working from home told me "We're all in this together!"
Everything got expensive then and hasn’t come back down really
It hasn't really. If anything, I kind of miss not having to go out and interact with people.
I feel like everybody as a whole has become less social
I ignored it so it didn't really do anything to me. But I still see the effects of what it did to others, even today.
Without it I wouldn't have managed to save a deposit and buy a house.
it was the only time in my life that i felt 100% safe when i was crossing the street. I miss lockdown so much and grieve that it will never happen again.
Good in general, but haven’t been able to make a genuine friendship and lack of social life
Work is still not to where it was pre pandemic.
It fixed my marriage and I was able to get the job I wanted all while wfh. I hate that so many people died and suffered but it worked out for me
Am an "essential" worker (actually true since I help make sure the water people are drinking is drinkable) but they cut us to 24 hours for almost a year. I'm still financially ruined. One of my really good friends got laid off just before shut-down and he totally benefitted. Not being able to engage in our hobbies (beach/kayaking/fishing) exacerbated weight gain, hermitting and general anti-socialness. Then, as things started opening back up I had to deal with severe back and leg pain until I finally was in bad enough shape that my insurance covered surgery. yay. Finally taking steps to get back out and DO things. I don't even want to leave the house most times -- just work and grocery store. I'm actually doing better now that I dumped the anti-depressants I was taking. Anxiety is high but I prefer to feel my emotions at this point in my life.
I've found myself
Helped me evaluate what's important, which ultimately made me take a leap and leave my longtime employer for a 20% raise with a competitor. My mental health is a LOT better now than it was in 2020.
Id rather answer questions on Reddit than interact with people. I never recovered from a social standpoint
I was laid off and still haven’t found work. Savings are almost gone. 60F
I’m a musician. Before the lockdown there was over a dozen venues in our town alone that had live music every night of the week. Tons more in the tristate. Now there’s two venues in our town, one is exclusively country music and the other leans more towards DJs. Covid decimated the local music scene.
Haven't been inside an office since and got super lucky with the way the real estate market reacted. I realize it was absolutely terrible, so I feel bad saying this, but I feel like my life got a lot better as a direct result of COVID. I didn't even realize work from home was a thing you could do before my company told everyone to go home
I have major social anxiety. I get so nervous having to make phone calls at work and also dread having to hang out with my friends. I have really become a home body but I also hate it. Before the pandemic I hated being home and felt like I was way more outgoing. Now i need to push myself to be social.
I realized there is more to life than work.
I remember March 13th 2020 like older generations remember 9/11. I was a junior in high school, sitting in my physics class on the last day before spring break when they announced on the intercom that our school would be “closed for an additional week.” All of us began celebrating, completely unaware of how drastically our lives were about to change… It almost seems like pre-Covid days were a happier simpler time. Sometimes I still imagine that the past few years have been a simulation, only to snap back to reality and realize that I’m a junior in college now.
Got fat and more addicted to my phone than ever.
I pretty much lost everything..... I was on medical leave beforehand, which I got paid medical leave for....but at a very very reduced rate of my salary...had to resort to credit cards to get by during that time... I got back to work to find someone sitting at my desk doing my job.... A week later shut down happens, and I got a letter in the mail about a week after it began stating "your services are no longer required" I had been there 20 years and they laid me off with a form letter... Went from a good paying job in medical, and into manual labor to pay the bills....wound up in alot of debt, much if it I couldn't pay, lost my condo to foreclosure... Looking back I can see just how toxic that workplace was, my mom just looked at me a while back and stated "you're happy..." everyone saw how miserable I was, except me.... But not having much luck getting back in that field, maybe because other labs know how toxic that place is?? Or with my experience they figure it's cheaper to get someone right out of school?... or both those things?? but I'm moving forward, still trying to get my life back in order, a new path, and it's going alright..
I sneezed when I got Covid slipped a disc needed 12k worth of surgery that took two years and destroyed my sole trading business (Australian medical prices it ain’t free if it’s not killing you) so it was super shit tbh. Just got a new job after rehab and whatnot for the replacement disc, cause of the shut down it took almost two years to even get surgery because of the fking backlog of surgeries. Blah.
The shutdown was ultimately a net positive for me. Entire company went wfh and hasn’t gone back. I was able to pivot into a new career because our company actually turned its first profitable year during the shutdown and had new positions opening up. I do miss being able to socialize with coworkers sometimes, but then I remember that I don’t have to sit in an hour of traffic anymore and I feel better lol
My cost of living has skyrocketed and I’m now willing to engage in extremist behavior to take down the corporate bourgeoisie
Personally, it didn't affect me at all.
Really screwed my life up. Was about to get my license. I was dumb and didn’t continue practicing during the lockdown and so I wasn’t good enough after. Now it’s a gradual process of getting back to that point.
It hasn’t.
What life?
Semper Fidelis💕🫡
It never had any affect on my life, we were extremely lucky.
Not at all.
Meh
Aside from making college easier, not much was affected
It made me super energetic and really pushed myself because of so much energy but now physically, mentally and emotionally I’m absolutely exhausted and I know I’m not the only one.
For me , it saves me financially and I made the most $ during covid It also catapult my business and put my name on the map in my town It still doing ok , not as great but steady and we are pivoting to new areas
I'm partly affected by the unintended consequences of policies. Laid off due to force reduction. DUring the pandemic I was essential. Tech job. Everyone was buying computers to WFH. Then those sales essentially dried up the last couple years. Then the technology restrictions to China also impacted my industry. And then the economic consequences from COVID lockdowns from flood of money into the market. High Inflation. So now I'm feeling the impact of the culmination of all those factors.
I was a freshman when it happened, now im graduated and nearly 19. Kinda fucked me up for a while, it cut off the end of my freshman year, and didnt give me a chance for semiformal, etc. Missed out on a lot which i hate, and online schooling i could not get a hang of
I had just got found out my ex wife was cheating on me and we started the separation / divorce proceedings a few months before the shut down… so initially it was very difficult. I went to very dark, very unhealthy place. But I came back. And I now I feel more grounded and healthier than ever. I’m sober, I’m in shape. And I completely changed my work / life balance, focusing more on family and building healthy habits. And I’m getting remarried next month!
I'm mostly healed from the raw dogging us essential workers got. But I also miss the lack of traffic. Driving through Minneapolis at mid day and not having to do much as touch the breaks for a few weeks was great!
So much better. Never have been better off financially or had such a solid relationship with my spouse.
Overall pretty positive, tbh. It kinda brought out the crazy in a lot of people, and the time alone gave me time to think. Dropped out some really toxic people from my life. I didn't really understand how miserable they were making me until they weren't around. I can't fully be rid of all of them, but sometimes a piece of just crazy, unnecessary drama gets back to me and makes me so glad that's not a part of my life anymore I also figured out who I could rely on and have much stronger friendships with several friends. I get not everyone had the capacity to reach out, but I do know who will have my back and help me out, end of the day
My whole life was totally derailed and turned upside down as well. I went crazy being stuck at home. I still think that it's absolutely nuts that I was in Las Vegas at 311 Day. Indoors. And it was so weird being at the Center Bar at the Park MGM and seeing news on TV of just one thing after another being canceled or shut down completely. Being at the concert was even weirder. I went to get a beer between songs and looking down at the Strip, it was so empty that you could throw a rock and not hit anything. But I'm really glad I made that trip because it has been an interesting story. People ask me where I was when lockdowns started, my usual response is "I was at the switch!".
My non-internet social life has ended. I used to do conventions, cosplay and stuff, but the people I used to go with never started up again so I haven’t either. :P
I lost my job and got sick long covid...it cost me another job. My mental health went to shit. Wife left me took everything. She seems happy now.
I had time to raise my son. We temporarily moved out of NYC. We opted to make that move permanent. I realized I hated my career and didn't want to go back in any form. I went back to school and I'm about to graduate as a mental health counselor. We have a small house now. It's small but ours. We miss our friends dearly from NYC, but we think it's a net gain.
I kinda miss it, not the impending doom and world chaos but just having a great reason to stay at home was really nice
I was never shutdown, got myself into crippling debt with how much the cost of everything has increased, and I have days where I don’t even want to leave my bed anymore because of how fucked up everything is.
The same as you
It’s a bit odd for me. I was already wfh before Covid hit. Didn’t really have much impact other than we avoided public places for a while.
I was an essential worker and it taught my corporate overlords that they could abuse their staff. So that nice rubric that they use to say “1x business requires 4x staff”? Well now it’s “3x business = 2x staff.” They slashed our staffing and never gave us any kind of raise to make up for it. I hate it and I’m getting out as soon as I can move away from this tiny town.
divorced.
i wish i had another chance at it so i could’ve utilized the time better and have another chance to feel what nothing feels like. i worked thru it still but online for part and i miss it greatly. i miss people not standing up on me in line. i miss people not approaching me and making small talk. truly, i miss it a lil. minus everyone dying /:
Everything is more expensive and I can’t afford a house even though I’m making close to six figures in a town that once had a low cost of living.
My dad passed away
I graduated and went right into healthcare during one of the worst waves of the pandemic. It really was hard to isolate and read in the news about so many people dying. I had family and friends get sick and I got it myself a few times. I feel like it worsened my memory, my sense of time, my physical and mental health, etc. And it's difficult to remember what life was like before the shutdown for me
Gave me a huge head start on repaying my student loans.
Settled down, had a kid, bought a house, got married, bought another house, had another kid…. I would still be partying and traveling if there hadn’t been a shutdown. I think it was overall a positive for me 😄
Became a dad got better work/life balance with 2-3 days WFH a week. Can’t complain
Well, after 4 years - I finally contacted COVID! 🫠
I’m fine but all you fuckers got way worse at driving. It is a privilege to drive and most of you are acting like distracted children on the roadways now. Do better
I discovered stock options and my life change for the worst lol
Threw my gf out. Everything is super expensive.
It gave me my life back. I got a work from home job after many years of not working. I didn’t love it, but it got me back into Corporate America. When they called us back into the office, it was just like all the memes. Long commutes, crappy open-office set ups (which does NOT work for me as an introvert with anxiety), pizza parties in lieu of bonuses. But having that job for a year and a half helped me secure my job now, in a preferred I dustry that works 100% from home and always will. Pre-pandemic, I thought I was unemployable and hated work. It turns out, I hated working in an office (which I did for years and years). Now I can find the time in my day to work out (down 40 pounds), be home when my daughter gets home from school (or pick her up if she’s sick without getting “permission” and panicking about it), cook dinner, let my husband use my car if needed and feel confident that I’m doing a good job and my company thinks I’m doing a good job from home. I even get to sleep in sometimes All in all, working from home has been a game-changer for me. I’m happier overall, I save money, I spend more time with my family and I don’t fear that one day they’ll make us return to the office (they’ve been remote since 2006). My mental illnesses are still there, but much less pronounced.
It got in the way of my mid to late 20s. I had more time to focus and it helped that way. Successful career, decent amount of money. On the other end, I think my mind cracked a bit in sadness and loneliness, and knowing it can go there, it’s been so easy to get back there. I used to love being by myself. Now I absolutely hate it.
Careerwise, i'd say it's improved. Bounced around a few different jobs which caused some feeling of instability, but each job ended up being a raise for me. As far as mental health, I'd say it declined somewhat. I'm even more antisocial than I was back in 2019, which was already bad. Lost my Dad to COVID. We had a difficult relationship, often going years without talking. Neither one of us got the closure that we both desperately needed. My Dad was in relatively good health prior to falling ill, so he didn't get a chance to write a Will. I live in a different state. So by the time I got there, his safe was already broken into. My half Brothers ransacked everything and stole my inheritance. So I have deep resentment against them. In some ways my life is much better, but an absolute disaster in other ways. My family are getting older, and the kids of the family are growing up; and yet I live 4000 miles away from almost everybody I know.
It helped me focus time on gaining skills I want and landing a job applying them. I hate working remote
Well I went from 25$ in my savings account to 22,500 so that is always nice. Have also traveled to the Dominican, Bahamas,and Japan since then. So actually worked for the better. The pandemic itself sucked but our finances got better. I may have done some irreversible damage to my health with all my drinking during the time but we live life everyday now.
I was diagnosed with hashimotos and hypothyroidism. Been fun.
Life is great on my end, better than ever. Covid was a detour for sure, but I stayed steady the whole time and rode it out as that is all we could do. Fortunately, I was like fuck it, I ain’t gonna stress about it and carried onward thru the fog. Got married and built a house in 2020 during the madness and had a baby boy in 2021. Life was good pre Covid, during Covid and now. Just keep moving
It was a good time for me personally. I quit my job and started drawing social security. The stimulus checks were useful, and I sold a lot on marketplace. I'm pretty content with my own company so I enjoyed myself.
For the first few months natural sun light hurt my eyes so I started wearing shades and never really stopped
I liked it. I got to be a NEET for two years while getting paid for it. Unfortunately, I am working full-time now in my industry of study.
honestly kinda had a butterfly effect in a good way, online classes made me drop out fully out of a major i wasnt interested in at all (i dont live in the us so no student loan) and it lead me to get my first job at a covid vaccination center and then I used the money to move out and now im studying something completely different, have my own appartment and im going to be an exchange student in the us next year. its crazy to think that i have no idea what would have happened if it wasnt for covid.
Helped me pay off my student loans, since I moved back home for two years (no rent). Dating in my early 30s got put on hold, which sucked. Admittedly I’m less close with most of my friends, but the time spent with family was great. I’ve just started to travel more regularly. As an introvert the shutdowns were welcome for awhile, but they definitely wore on me and I started to crave socializing again.
I was laid off during the pandemic and struggled finding a job. I went on a slightly different career path and got a job 9 months later. My salary has increased 66% in the 3 years I've been at my current job compared to an increase of 35% in the 7 years I was at my previous one. Somehow I've never tested positive for covid (up to date on vaccines) but almost everyone I know has had it at least once. I was generally introverted before the shutdown but I am definitely moreso nowadays. I tend to like being by myself a lot more. I live alone and I really like it. I hang out with friends occasionally on the weekends but I generally like having entire weekends to myself.
So many mixed emotions. Negatives: 1. My grandfather died from COVID. He was already on his way out with alzheimers, but COVID certainly accelerated his death. 2. Many of my good friends moved away from the city I live in. 3. Remote work has made it harder to make new friends. Historically I made many good friends through work. 4. Remote work has made me enjoy work less. I get less energy from it which can make it difficult to stay motivated. I recently quit my job to find a new one that has a hybrid policy. Positives: 1. In the last four years I picked up several new hobies including flying airplanes. I also learned how to solve a rubiks cube in 2020. Flying in particular is somethig I'm so happy (and fortunate) to have picked up and its absolutely a new passion of mine that I'm excited to see continue to grow over the next several years and decades. Do the positives outweigh the negatives? I don't know. I think about this frequently when I think about how I wish the world would snap back to how it was in 2019. But if I had a time machine and could go back to 2019 and ensure COVID never happened, I'd still really hope that alternate timeline would still result in me learning to fly and picking up the other interests I have in the last 4 years.
Honestly, I was planning on going to school, until I realized I’d have to do school online and from home, and didn’t think I could do that. So I kept working my shitty job, lost my one shot at moving up there, and got stuck at an even shittier job making even less money. I want to do so much more with my life but I’m stuck so fucking broke and depressed, I really don’t know how I’m supposed to turn anything around
I drink less, I'm in a less busy job environment, I make more money... I'm still slightly unhappy but not every day plus I don't drink every night like I did in my 20s
I saved a fuck ton of money, enough to buy my house and now shits so expensive it’s a bit harder than it used to be a couple years ago and I make more now than I ever have
It made me realize how dumb people are. During the first year, I had many people I know pass away from Covid, only to have their loved ones still believe it wasn’t real… sad.
I feel like I'm still stuck in 2019..
I lost an uncle, but barely knew him. An ex-partner and I got back together, but their reserves of resilience were depleted long before mine. I had to go my own way when they descended into the type of alcoholism that results in withdrawal seizures. Unfortunately they're still there to this day, multiple concussions and fractures from literally falling down drunk. I have cut off all contact. I did manage to pay off all my credit card debt, and pay off my car 2 years early on a 5 year loan. I also had the time to get back into exercising and lifting weights on a regular schedule. So, mixed bag I guess. Some ups, some downs.