How has COVID affected your daily habits and relationships with other people?

We are not traveling or visiting people as much as we used to. There are fewer restaurant visits and shopping trips. Every time we go out we think about catching and spreading it.
All the adults in my family are vaxxed but I have 2 grandchildren under the age of 5 and hope to put off their inevitable infection as long as possible.
We also wear masks in public places, both for protection and as a courtesy to others.
(Also a mask feels great when you are outside in freezing weather.)

Winter canoe races are being canceled in the PNW.

“Due to continuing COVID-19 restrictions, all 2022 race date and details are tentative and will be updated as conditions change and information becomes available from local race directors.”

What restrictions are there for such a wide open air outdoor activity for fully vaccinated highly conditioned athletes?

So far the first two 2022 winter series races have been cancelled.

I didn’t know that “safety first” could be taken to such an extreme.

Nope. Not even a little.

Recently my anxiety is getting the better of me with my entire family being sick but testing negative (minus my husband.)
Day to day the last week was getting mom to the hospital for pneumonia, all while trying to delegate for a few days to her friends. Covid is affecting mom’s oxygen level (her summer case) still and I ust hope she survives. Even a local LEO in his late 30s had oxygen at 85 awhile.
For a control freak it’s very hard, plus constant worry isnt healthy.
We go to the store once every two weeks, masked, work and stay home due to extremely high case counts and deaths.

I’ve definitely been more cautious this month and have cut down on some of the regular activities I had resumed this Fall such as eating out, the gym and art classes. I mask religiously (but I have all along) and run errands only as necessary. I stay in touch with friends and family on the phone and during outside walks. Luckily through the previous phase, I had gotten closer with some of my neighbors and we check in on each other.

It feels a bit like being in the ocean and being hit by crashing waves with little lulls in between. Omicron was a big wave that is upsetting; who knows what is next? I am grateful to be retired and have comfortable housing. I have numerous home resources so I am riding it out. The biggest sadness for me, since so far, only one nephew has had Covid, is not being able to plan travel.

Mainly, I am frustrated at the divisions in the world around this and other pressing issues and I find that the most anxiety producing factor in my life.

@KNOWITALL I’m sorry to hear you are going through so much, it’s not easy. I watch a good YouTube Channel by Dr John Campbell where he speaks on Omnicron. There is a very short window where you can test positive. So a lot of tests come back negative. He says along with South Africa that Omnicron is more or less a bad cold? That it does not go deeper into the lungs, but as with everything some people can be more affected. Apparently, SA is treating it as a cold nothing more. It’s shame that we cannot choose the variant we pick up though!

So I’ll add my own answer and thoughts:

How have you changed your life?

Our lives have changed radically. The UK has very high infection rates, much like the USA. We do not visit our elderly in-laws and I haven’t been in their home for over two years now.

How are you coping with these changes?

At first very well, finally, in the last few months, it is getting to us. We are looking at ways to counteract this hence my question.

Do you manage to find balance in your life, like time for exercise, time for fun, time for relationships? (Family, friends etc.,).

More for work, we seem very work-focused. Not good we need to spend more time socially in some way.

Have you felt down or anxious? How do you deal with that?

Yes constantly! We have had short bursts of online therapy which was free to us in the UK.

How do you deal with the mental health aspect of this pandemic?

As a family, we talk about it a lot. We discuss where we feel we are going right or wrong and support one another. It’s tough.

What extra precautions do you take, for e.g. do you wash goods before allowing them into the house? Do you wash clothes that are delivered to you before wearing them?

Yes, I’ve ordered many clothes and outfits etc. that have had body odour on them or perfume. I wash everything now before wearing it.

How have you changed your life? I don’t do nearly as much activities indoors. Some activities have switched to zoom and some have switched to outside. I also do a lot of curbside pick-up for groceries rather than going into the store. I had been looking for a good part time job for the developer where I live (I work part time already from home) and now I am wary to work where I will be in contact with people, so I basically stopped looking, but sometimes I see a job listing that sounds good. It’s kind of depressing seeing a possibly job opportunity skip by, and also kind of nice to have an excuse not to work more. I just think I would overall enjoy it and would like making some more money. I am very lucky to have the luxury to choose.

How are you coping with these changes? Coping ok, but I miss many of my activities. I go back to doing zumba inside when cases are low in the community, and then when the cases surge I stop again.

Do you manage to find balance in your life, like time for exercise, time for fun, time for relationships? (Family, friends etc.,). Yes, but less fun and time together with friends than before covid. Before covid I was having fun every day and I was with friends constantly talking, going to eat, visiting, dancing (it was like living in a college dorm just in our own houses). Now, we don’t go into each other’s houses (very rare anyway) we almost never go out to eat, but we do go out dancing sometimes and we sometimes see each other at the swimming pool. We also visit each other outside. I haven’t seen my family in two years except on zoom and facetime.

Have you felt down or anxious? How do you deal with that? Waves of feeling down, but it is usually fleeting, so I just let it happen and then try to focus on what I can do.

How do you deal with the mental health aspect of this pandemic? Try to focus on fun things I can still do and silver linings, like my husband has been able to work from home because of covid.

What extra precautions do you take, for e.g. do you wash goods before allowing them into the house? Do you wash clothes that are delivered to you before wearing them? I wear my mask around my neck all of the time, so I have it handy if I feel I need it. I wear my mask indoors, except for when I am in zumba class (which probably sounds crazy). I still let my mail sit a day and still use alcohol or soap and water on some surfaces if they were just touched with possible covid hands, or if I have to touch those surfaces I try to be careful not to touch my face until I can wash my hands, but I was like that before covid.

As far as clothing, I am the same as always. I usually wash most new clothing before wearing it. I don’t buy anything anymore that needs to be dry cleaned.

Our family often wonders how others are coping. It seems almost invasive to ask too much? Do you feel that too? I don’t usually ask people how they are doing regarding covid specifically. I might talk about it myself, and then if they want to open up too they can.

@CybertonSlapback Thank you. :)

Hubs refuses to go to any restaurants, all grocery and restaurant food is ordered online and picked up. We have stopped wiping down the items before bringing them in, but continue hand washing frequently.

All clothing and sundry items are delivered. The main in face contact outside the home is three family members.

When absolutely necessary, such as medical visits, we wear masks and use distancing as much as possible. We recently bought a huge bag of the N95 masks, which are more comfortable than the ones we were using.

We do not worry about getting sick, but are very cautious.

We are going to Monterey this weekend. I will be using disinfectant spray in our hotel rooms, and using hand sanitizer frequently, in addition to masking at all times when out of the room.

Like many people, my wife and I have spent decades dealing with high stress from work, parenting, caring for elderly parents, finances, medical issues, family drama, etc. we’ve been at the middle of much of it but have always handled it. Always persevered.

I’m starting to realize that the pandemic is eroding our ability to handle stress. We are much more prone to anxiety, depression, and anger now. We each have this almost overwhelming desire to flee. To start over. Whatever the hell that means.

@cookieman I’m sorry. I totally get that.

@KNOWITALL: Thank you. I’m sure it’s not just us. I appreciate that.

Seriously? Wow. It’s changed absolutely everything for me. Not all bad, though. Sure, travel has been markedly decreased, but I’ve taken up meditation, played more music, done more astronomy, done more exercise, taken up disc golf, and am retiring. I’ve also seen and reviewed 199 movies on my Letterboxd.

@Caravanfan Retiring? Congrats – how soon?

@Caravanfan Congratulations on retiring!

Congrats @Caravanfan ! ! !

Not for a few months yet. But I’m pushing 60 and I’m tired of this shit.

@cookieman Yes, we feel the same. I think it is a human condition at the moment which our government talks about all the time. I read an interesting article about those that are not stressed out by the pandemic at all. Probably, narcissistic personality type. Simply because they do not believe they will get it. Which makes sense. I try to focus on what we are doing right, how it has added to our lives. These are not flimsy thoughts but for e.g. we eat better now. We always ate vegetables but now they fill our plate, my home is more organised etc., I try to focus on that. When feeling strung out it is harder, but being strung out is allowed and treated with respect at home. All feelings are valid. There are times when we are coping or feel we are, other times we feel we are not, but these are just feelings the truth is we are coping.

For my daily habits, my work cut down to 12 hours a week from 35, still was getting full pay, then retired six months ago. I shower twice a day whenever I’m out in public although on days when I don’t go out I maybe won’t shower at all. I was always a person who washed my hands a lot so that wasn’t changed. I never was and still am not into sanitizers and anti bacterial soap.

I try to schedule my shopping so I’m not going out to stores all the time. I try to do a few stops a day instead of one or two every day. I started going to restaurants as soon as they opened up in summer 2020, except eating outdoors when the option was available and weather was good. I haven’t been on a plane on over 2 years.

As for personal relationships, I see my family less and since there are fewer or no parties and events, I see other classmates ’ parents and friends less which is good. Less obligations to see people I don’t want to see, less need for small talk and bullshit. I like that a lot.

I’ve only been to a movie theater once and have no plans to return any time soon.

We do take out instead of eating in restaurants now. We have some friends that we have not met with in a long time. They have a son undergoing cancer treatment, so is quite immune compromised. That adds another reason for not meeting with them.

We have been WFH pretty much the whole time. My cubicle at the office was taken away, so relative to my work office I am “homeless”. At least I now have a work-provided laptop that can plug into “hotel stations” if I need to go in. My wife was requested to go in once a week, but she has to be masked the whole time and everyone there is on different Zoom meetings so she doesn’t like going in. She can Zoom in peace just fine from home.

During pandemic how to handling your daily life, your routines and relationships; change the habits starts from the morning, wake up before sunshine, do sport or relax kids yoga mat with family then enjoy the morning with the nature sounds like singing birds, water flow, and fresh air. it was my self healing from the small thing to better life.