How has your life changed since Covid? (1 Viewer)

[Hastur]

March, 2020:  Pandemic hit full force.  Almost immediately, my job and my wife’s job has us start WFH.  Both kids school’s did the same(at the time, kids were 15 and 13).  My MIL lives with us, so that went from 1 person in the house during most of the day to 5 people in the house ALL the time.  I can honestly say we as a family handled that transition pretty well.

My wife and I used to work together, so that was no problem.  We were already used to being together 24 hours a day. 

The 15 year old(now 17) handled SFH(school from home) like a champ.  He was already a bit of an introvert.  He loves the idea of virtual school, and his grades pretty much stayed the same.

The 13 year old(now 15) is another story.  They crashed and burned.  Hard.  The pandemic may or may not have contributed to this though.  During the past 2 years, they came out as gay/trans.  Severe depression and anxiety reared its ugly head.  ADHD was already present.  The 15 year old has been checked in to mental facilities twice now for suicide watches.  The last time(over a year ago now) was for over a week, and the facility honed in on the medication needed to help.  My youngest is in a much better place now, mentally.  We are out of the woods, I feel, but the woods are still lurking in the back round.  Therapy is helping…I think.  Unfortunately, the depression/anxiety meds interfere with the ADHD meds, and had to stop the ADHD meds.  This is the big downfall in regards to school. 

It is a work in progress.

 

[shader]

For the folks eating out less, cooking at home more, exercising more, drinking less - is that a direct result of Covid and concerns about being overweight and catching it or just a general plan to get healthier?

I think I've said a few times that I was the opposite of IK and several others - I let my weight go up and I drank more - I think there was an element of depression in there but also was just easy to do.  I've reversed course but don't feel it was directly related to Covid but just I needed to get out of my rut.

Two things for me:  First, we were at home for literally 6 straight months.  To keep from going crazy I went on walks around the neighborhood as long as often as I could.  Probably walked 4-5 times a day.  Walking is an incredible way for a fat person to begin to get in shape, and it's great for burning calories without causing you to crave food excessively.

Second thing is that I wasn't travelling for work.  As anyone who travels knows, it's really hard to lose weight while travelling.

 

[General Malaise]

March, 2020:  Pandemic hit full force.  Almost immediately, my job and my wife’s job has us start WFH.  Both kids school’s did the same(at the time, kids were 15 and 13).  My MIL lives with us, so that went from 1 person in the house during most of the day to 5 people in the house ALL the time.  I can honestly say we as a family handled that transition pretty well.

My wife and I used to work together, so that was no problem.  We were already used to being together 24 hours a day. 

The 15 year old(now 17) handled SFH(school from home) like a champ.  He was already a bit of an introvert.  He loves the idea of virtual school, and his grades pretty much stayed the same.

The 13 year old(now 15) is another story.  They crashed and burned.  Hard.  The pandemic may or may not have contributed to this though.  During the past 2 years, they came out as gay/trans.  Severe depression and anxiety reared its ugly head.  ADHD was already present.  The 15 year old has been checked in to mental facilities twice now for suicide watches.  The last time(over a year ago now) was for over a week, and the facility honed in on the medication needed to help.  My youngest is in a much better place now, mentally.  We are out of the woods, I feel, but the woods are still lurking in the back round.  Therapy is helping…I think.  Unfortunately, the depression/anxiety meds interfere with the ADHD meds, and had to stop the ADHD meds.  This is the big downfall in regards to school. 

It is a work in progress.

Damn, man.  I'm really sorry to read this.  FWIW, I went down to Austin to visit my best friend.  Hadn't seen him in a while.  He has one daughter; a daughter they spent tens of thousands of dollars in IVF et al to conceive.  She is a they now, similar age, similar predicaments.  He and his wife take turns sleeping next to them at night.  They've cut themselves, threatened suicide often, got involved online with a pedo and was sending graphic videos to him thinking he was her age.  It's taken a toll on all of them.  I guess my point in bringing this up is that you're not alone.  My buddy is exhausted, overwhelmed, depressed, terrified and heartbroken, but he's doing whatever he can to help is child get through this.  I hope for better days ahead for you, him your children and all families that are struggling with these issues.  

 

[the moops]

Damn, man.  I'm really sorry to read this.  FWIW, I went down to


Austin


to visit my best friend.  Hadn't seen him in a while.  He has one daughter; a daughter they spent tens of thousands of dollars in IVF et al to conceive.  She is a they now, similar age, similar predicaments.  He and his wife take turns sleeping next to her at night.  She's cut herself, threatens suicide often, got involved online with a pedo and was sending graphic videos to him thinking he was her age.  It's taken a toll on all of them.  I guess my point in bringing this up is that you're not alone.  My buddy is exhausted, overwhelmed, depressed, terrified and heartbroken, but he's doing whatever he can to help is child get through this.  I hope for better days ahead for you, him your children and all families that are struggling with these issues.  

Just pointing it out so we all get better at using they/them/etc when called for.

 

[Zow]

For the folks eating out less, cooking at home more, exercising more, drinking less - is that a direct result of Covid and concerns about being overweight and catching it or just a general plan to get healthier?

I think I've said a few times that I was the opposite of IK and several others - I let my weight go up and I drank more - I think there was an element of depression in there but also was just easy to do.  I've reversed course but don't feel it was directly related to Covid but just I needed to get out of my rut.

I did the bold as well but started back in the gym regularly this yes and chose to not drink M-Th. 

 

[culdeus]

Working from home allowed me to move closer to my wife's family and settle into a place that is more or speed.  We sold our house for 2x what we paid for it and plowed it into a new construction home at the same cost carrying no need for a mortgage.  None of that would have been possible without Covid.  

Our house needed ALOT of work.  and someone came in and paid me a bunch over list without need to do that repair.  I don't think covid directly led to that, but it didn't hurt.

For awhile the stock market growth was making it appear retirement was going to come early, but that fell away.

Driving alot less.  Working out a lot more. Walking alot more for exercise.  Drinking a lot less.  I'm stronger and lighter, and look better.  

10/10 would pandemic again.  Probably the best thing to ever happen to me.  

 

[[icon]]

i dont have to pretend anymore with radical relatives.

This has been nice, honestly. Both family and acquaintances.

The conspiracy loons and science deniers have now effectively marked themselves with a Scarlett Letter of sorts for life, and it's given folks a reason to avoid any interactions with them... or at the very least dismiss their opinions with a "bless your heart" and a headpat.  

For me... not much has changed. We still went out to eat, went to events where possible. We've travelled more the past 2 years than ever before, domestic and international. We've grown closer as a couple due to spending so much more time together.  

Oh and the work from home stuff is amazing... greatest societal shift since who knows what. You miss the office? Cool.... go. Don't try to drag me with you.  

Regarding kids.. some heartbreaking stories in here. Grateful we don't have any... Big challenges and would have absolutely been a different past couple years. 

 

[General Malaise]

Just pointing it out so we all get better at using they/them/etc when called for.

I'm trying very hard to get this right, but it's a challenge and I'll try to do better.  Thanks for pointing it out. 

 

[[icon]]

GM's ability to be a good, positive dude at nearly all times has always impressed me. Just wanted to throw that out there.  

 

[Hastur]

I'm trying very hard to get this right, but it's a challenge and I'll try to do better.  Thanks for pointing it out. 

Same here.  My youngest has been known by the name we gave them 15 years ago.  That is now their 'dead' name.  My wife and I have been pretty good at using their new name, but we still get caught using the wrong pronouns every now and then.  14 years of using a certain pronoun is a habit hard to break.  We've done pretty good, but still slip up every now and then.

 

[jobarules]

Same here.  My youngest has been known by the name we gave them 15 years ago.  That is now their 'dead' name.  My wife and I have been pretty good at using their new name, but we still get caught using the wrong pronouns every now and then.  14 years of using a certain pronoun is a habit hard to break.  We've done pretty good, but still slip up every now and then.

They need to come up with a new pronoun that's not grammatically incorrect.

 

[General Malaise]

GM's ability to be a good, positive dude at nearly all times has always impressed me. Just wanted to throw that out there.  

You're kind, but I've also been a horrific turd to folks at times too.  Covid did help me put some things in perspective - life is short, don't be a Richard.  To quote the heroic Patrick Swayze from Roadhouse:  "Be nice". 

 

[stbugs]

That's awesome -- I agree about the phones, they spend a lot of time looking at insta and other SM, probably seeing people in their grades having a great time and it just makes them more depressed. Oldest does dance/tap, has friends, went to her prom, has good days and bad days. The bad days are terrifying, but she's had a string of solid days and yesterday her therapist laid out a plan for her short term and longer term when she's in college that has everyone hopeful.  Youngest just doesn't seem to care about anything, refuses to reach out to any friends, so they've kind of just dwindled away. She runs track and when I go to the meets I could care less about how she does in the race, I'm looking to see if she interacts with her teammates, and she rarely does. Also hopeful therapy will help her. They're both shy, take after my wife, so it's tough knowing how to act, I can't force them to be sociable. Don't think this is all Covid related, but Covid probably exacerbated existing problems.  

Ugh, that’s rough. It seems like girls have had the worst of it from my anecdotal evidence. Good luck.

Also, the bolded is unfortunately true even though SM makes things look better than they really are most times.

 

[Marauder]

I have to admit Covid's been good to me.  My company used to be vehemently against anybody working from home but once we were forced to they realized that for many of us, we're significantly more productive working from home.  They also realized they could save money by giving up some of their office space.  I've now been working remotely for more than 2 years with no expectation of having to go into the office.   That also allowed to to move out of California to Las Vegas (close enough that I can still go to the office for company events or other special occasions if I need to).  This saves me lots of money on state income tax, housing costs and other expenses.  I'm also eating healthier and exercising more.  Life is good.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

For the folks eating out less, cooking at home more, exercising more, drinking less - is that a direct result of Covid and concerns about being overweight and catching it or just a general plan to get healthier?

I think I've said a few times that I was the opposite of IK and several others - I let my weight go up and I drank more - I think there was an element of depression in there but also was just easy to do.  I've reversed course but don't feel it was directly related to Covid but just I needed to get out of my rut.

For me, it's hard to say how much of it was the pandemic and how much of it was me just reaching mid-life (I turn 50 later this year) and making some changes.  My best guess is that the pandemic was just a massive wake-up call that accelerated some plans that were floating around nebulously in the back of my mind in February 2020.

For example, I mentioned in another thread once that my drinking before the pandemic had gotten to the point that it was just inconsistent with long-run good health.  It never interfered with my work or family life or anything, but it was just more ethanol than what a person should consume regularly.  About a handle every ~4 days, for context.  When the pandemic hit, it became clear to me very quickly that sitting around at home all day with a fully-stocked liquor cabinet was probably not in my best interests.  You know what I mean. 

On the other hand, I've always been kind of thin, and I think I react like a thermostat any time my weight creeps up more than 10-15 lbs past my "racing" weight.  The pandemic didn't have much to do with that IMO.    

 

[General Malaise]

For me, it's hard to say how much of it was the pandemic and how much of it was me just reaching mid-life (I turn 50 later this year) and making some changes.  My best guess is that the pandemic was just a massive wake-up call that accelerated some plans that were floating around nebulously in the back of my mind in February 2020.

For example, I mentioned in another thread once that my drinking before the pandemic had gotten to the point that it was just inconsistent with long-run good health.  It never interfered with my work or family life or anything, but it was just more ethanol than what a person should consume regularly.  About a handle every ~4 days, for context.  When the pandemic hit, it became clear to me very quickly that sitting around at home all day with a fully-stocked liquor cabinet was probably not in my best interests.  You know what I mean. 

On the other hand, I've always been kind of thin, and I think I react like a thermostat any time my weight creeps up more than 10-15 lbs past my "racing" weight.  The pandemic didn't have much to do with that IMO.    

I think the weed helps.

 

[belljr]

You're kind, but I've also been a horrific turd to folks at times too.  Covid did help me put some things in perspective - life is short, don't be a Richard.  To quote the heroic Patrick Swayze from Roadhouse:  "Be nice". 

What if someone calls my mama a whore?

 

[General Malaise]

What if someone calls my mama a whore?

Well......is she?

 

[belljr]

Well......is she?

:tearsnapkin:

 

[culdeus]

For the folks eating out less, cooking at home more, exercising more, drinking less - is that a direct result of Covid and concerns about being overweight and catching it or just a general plan to get healthier?

I think I've said a few times that I was the opposite of IK and several others - I let my weight go up and I drank more - I think there was an element of depression in there but also was just easy to do.  I've reversed course but don't feel it was directly related to Covid but just I needed to get out of my rut.

put me in the category of being a social drinker, and less social events created a feedback loop that didn't break when social events became more commonplace.

 

[Gilroy34]

March, 2020:  Pandemic hit full force.  Almost immediately, my job and my wife’s job has us start WFH.  Both kids school’s did the same(at the time, kids were 15 and 13).  My MIL lives with us, so that went from 1 person in the house during most of the day to 5 people in the house ALL the time.  I can honestly say we as a family handled that transition pretty well.

My wife and I used to work together, so that was no problem.  We were already used to being together 24 hours a day. 

The 15 year old(now 17) handled SFH(school from home) like a champ.  He was already a bit of an introvert.  He loves the idea of virtual school, and his grades pretty much stayed the same.

The 13 year old(now 15) is another story.  They crashed and burned.  Hard.  The pandemic may or may not have contributed to this though.  During the past 2 years, they came out as gay/trans.  Severe depression and anxiety reared its ugly head.  ADHD was already present.  The 15 year old has been checked in to mental facilities twice now for suicide watches.  The last time(over a year ago now) was for over a week, and the facility honed in on the medication needed to help.  My youngest is in a much better place now, mentally.  We are out of the woods, I feel, but the woods are still lurking in the back round.  Therapy is helping…I think.  Unfortunately, the depression/anxiety meds interfere with the ADHD meds, and had to stop the ADHD meds.  This is the big downfall in regards to school. 

It is a work in progress.

Sorry to hear about your now 15 year old but glad he/she is doing better.  

 

[nirad3]

Man, I tell ya.  I have issues working past 4pm these days.  Days where I'm at the office (M/W/Th), I feel like going home at 3 or 3:30 usually.  Just zero motivation.  Dunno if it's "post-COVID" or adult-ADHD or what... but come 3pm I am just done.  I could probably just take off, but I'm still "somewhat new" here, and - something I don't necessarily like about this company - there are "optics" involved and being one that leaves before 5pm on a constant basis would be frowned upon.

I have no problem working at 6pm, 7pm, even later some nights, but that's after I've had a chance to decompress.  And I have no problem waking up at 5am for work travel either.  It's just these dang afternoons when the emails have stopped trickling in and I've read everything on FBG.    

 

[-OZ-]

My dogs have walked a LOT more than they used to. 
i have been in the office maybe 20 days since March 2020. Got promoted to a new office, enjoying the job and mostly teleworking. It sounds like we’re going to be in the office 2 or 3 days a week eventually but there’s been no push to get us back in. I went in today, had lunch with 5 of the 7 in my immediate office and remembered that I actually like this crew. 
one kid graduated HS, another will next year, one more starts  HS next year, #4 starts middle school, youngest starts 2nd grade next year. We made the right decision in 2020-21 to put her in a private kindergarten which ended up being almost normal. Kids are actually thriving. I spend more time with them than before, which has been great. 
we got a 2nd dog last year, that’s been great too. 
We had our first COVID “scare” this week but none of us have had it. 
no doubt we’ve been lucky. 

 

[-OZ-]

For the folks eating out less, cooking at home more, exercising more, drinking less - is that a direct result of Covid and concerns about being overweight and catching it or just a general plan to get healthier?

I think I've said a few times that I was the opposite of IK and several others - I let my weight go up and I drank more - I think there was an element of depression in there but also was just easy to do.  I've reversed course but don't feel it was directly related to Covid but just I needed to get out of my rut.

having time helps for exercise. The lack of a commute has been awesome. Although I did take up having one drink during the last hour of work each day. That might not be a good thing. Weight has gone up, but the body composition (fat %) is roughly the same as it was 3 years ago. 
having something you need to do every day helps. They say if you want to lose weight, get a dog. I think that’s great advice if it works for your lifestyle. 

 

[Moonlight]

I'm less hopeful about the future and concerned how disruptive it has been to our way of life. So more stress.

There are fewer family and social get togethers which compounds  it all.

 

[JaxBill]

When the govt sent us home in March 2020, I went from being a contractor who could not WFH at all to being permanently remote. 

Considering I had a 40+ minute commute each way, I had to figure out something to do with the extra time. I ended up taking cloud certifications. Between those certs, an additional Security+ cert, and my previous IT experience, I'm now in high demand. I have switched jobs twice and have seen a roughly 50% raise in total comp since Covid hit.(with better benefits to boot). I have a dedicated office in my house and tell recruiters that I'm only interested in permanent remote. 

Only problem is this has led to alcohol being too convenient and increased poundage. Trying to work some of it off with 3x gym visits and 2x neighborhood walks weekly. 

Good thing is that I am usually able to start dinner, take care of dishes. etc so weekday dinners go well.

 

[FairWarning]

As a wholesaler, its been a nightmare.  You never know when you are getting deliveries, or if you are.  Most of my accounts are smaller mom-and-pop kinds, few are in good shape now.  My sales are still way down, and add inflation to it.  I’m hoping to get out of the business by the end of summer.

 

[MAC_32]

I went from a bean counter information provider that actually worked maybe 10 hours per week (covid wfh was great!) to the organization's primary financial decision maker amidst the mass resignation in a matter of 3 months. Although it helped that this promotion happened as bosses around me were replaced, so already knowing our weaknesses I was well positioned to play the role of white knight. The only problem now is I have responsibility. S'pose it was time...

 

[culdeus]

Man, I tell ya.  I have issues working past 4pm these days.  Days where I'm at the office (M/W/Th), I feel like going home at 3 or 3:30 usually.  Just zero motivation.  Dunno if it's "post-COVID" or adult-ADHD or what... but come 3pm I am just done.  I could probably just take off, but I'm still "somewhat new" here, and - something I don't necessarily like about this company - there are "optics" involved and being one that leaves before 5pm on a constant basis would be frowned upon.

I have no problem working at 6pm, 7pm, even later some nights, but that's after I've had a chance to decompress.  And I have no problem waking up at 5am for work travel either.  It's just these dang afternoons when the emails have stopped trickling in and I've read everything on FBG.    

I'm going to say that I've honestly noticed at 3pm or so things really drop off.  I feel like the pandemic taught people to actually get their stuff done in the day.  My work relies on interactions with Asia in the evening so for many people they now are capable of wrapping their stuff up early, then later that evening get on with Asia.  Previously, pointless meetings and just bull####ting in person probably pushed departures to 5pm.  

I still feel like people get the same level of stuff done, it's just instead of wasting other people's time yammering about kid sports and how expensive #### is they keep that to non work settings.