Has Covid changed you?

[wulbert]

Have been WFH since the start of Covid. I've noticed that my feeling of a team spirit has diminished, and I am a bit more assertive in zoom meetings than I would have been in the real world.

I had a handful of CDs on Amazon Marketplace. For two or three years before Covid I don't think I sold one, but since Covid, the CDs have started to sell again.

Both of those are very useful observations! A chance to try out a different style of social interaction on Zoom calls. My old boss has been trying to organise a social night out for the last couple of years. No-one can be arsed any more.

And a new opportunity to flog CD's which could not be given away previously. I wonder if we are in a sweet spot where scouring charity shops for CD's to flog on Ebay could be a successful money earner for a short time?

 

[Seeker_UK]

I suddenly feel "old" in a way that I did not, just 2 years ago.

Yes. Like @Seanm said as well.

I feel so very old some days, a lot older than 53, for sure.

 

[Funk]

Yes, I think it's changed me. I'm less eager to do things that involve going out and being in close quarters with people, even now - stuff like pubs and restaurants. I won two hospitality tickets to the F1 on Sunday from one of our suppliers and I'm ashamed to admit my first thought was, "Can I actually be bothered..?" I'm good at what I do and have also won all-expenses-paid trips to Florida (you couldn't even pay me to go there) and Dubai. I've had covid and whilst it wasn't severe, I've come to realise it's left me with mild after-effects, predominantly infrequent waves of fatigue but also I get easily short of breath where pre-covid I didn't. I'm hoping it improves.

From the perspective of others? Well having worked supermarket jobs when I was younger I know how awful they can be so I've always been polite and courteous to those in service-related roles. A lot of people did thankless jobs, were underpaid and exposed to greater risk than those of us with the luxury of being able to work from home. They're the ones that kept things going and I'm grateful to them for that.

However one thing I wasn't expecting was the frustrating revelation about just how ****ing selfish so many people are when asked to do simple things for the good of others around them. As you can tell, it makes me rather angry. We live in a world of modern scientific and medical marvels, yet some ****s think they're special, that the rules don't apply to them and can't even do something like take a vaccine or put on a ****ing mask when on a train/plane/in a shop - even to the point of lying to get exemptions. Thankfully it seems I've chosen my friends well; we're all of like mind and took the vaccines, wore masks, distanced in public and sacrificed seeing each other and family whilst many (including ****ers like Boris Johnson) decided to do what they wanted anyway. It often felt like most of us were trying to scoop water out of the boat whilst others kept drilling more holes.

I've come through the pandemic disappointed, cynical and to a degree angry at those who decided to carry on regardless or actively made the problem worse. If we can't get those idiot ****ers to wear a goddamn mask in a shop, no wonder we can't fix other wider societal issues.

 

[Hook]

COVID hit at the exact same time I stopped working due to a physical disability (lumbar scoliosis). Before then, I had a very active business/social life and traveled frequently. But now I stay mostly at home, and I guess I’m becoming a hermit.

I expected life to change when I retired, but not to this degree. Due to health conditions, Mrs. Hook and I were both advised to isolate. It’s now been 2+ years without restaurants, movies, shows, concerts and sporting events. Air travel? Only for an emergency. I am trying not to complain, and Mrs. Hook reminds me that we live very comfortably while many others do not. I tell myself online shopping and delivery services are simply the modern way, but I miss visiting small retailers. I really miss digging through crates of records!

On the plus side, I am spending more time outdoors than I have in years. Mrs. Hook thinks Monty Don is hot, so I’ve taken her hint and am helping out daily with gardening. While weeding isn’t a job that can actually be finished, I have become Wood Sorel’s worst enemy!

 

[tiggers]

Covid has changed all of us I would think, just many don't realise it. For me on a personal level it wasn't a bad thing, but then I was lucky in that I could work from home quite successfully (as I had been telling the luddites I work with for 5 years prior to the pandemic) and home is a place in the countryside with lots of animals so I had space, privacy and companionship.

Ultimately it has made me happier in some ways as I do a lot less travel and rarely have to go to London which can only be a good thing, I enjoy time on my own walking in the countryside more than ever and have learned to appreciate the nice things in life on a risk/reward balance basis. I was never that keen on most people I encounter anyway, preferring animals and this has just given me an excuse to be ever more selective about who I spend time with. I also finished losing a large amount of weight over the last two years and have got much fitter... driven in many ways by the fact that the healthier you are the less affected by the virus you will be.

However, in some ways I am a more nervous and concerned person particularly now that we are living in a false reality that it's all over and so many people are buying into the government's rhetoric around this to the point where I am often the only one wearing a mask in shops etc. I have to pinch myself sometimes when I think we all hid away for a year and yet now it's like it never happened... I know it did, but sometimes it feels surreal. I now fear for those more vulnerable than myself and of course still think of all those who died, many quite unnecessarily... that still worries and concerns me.

So yes, it has changed me... for the better and worse I guess.

 

[cubastreet]

I think covid nearly had me. I was too Ill at the time to really see it, I was in survival mode.

28 months later I still have long covid. I've been slowly improving this whole time. I had a nasty reaction to my 2nd vaccine, but catching omicron 2 months ago improved my condition quite a lot.

The old me is shattered, I feel like a different person now. I go through old memories and they don't feel like mine. Some days I try to take it in and come to terms with it, but most days I'm just trying to get on with life.

 

[wulbert]

I think covid nearly had me. I was too Ill at the time to really see it, I was in survival mode.

28 months later I still have long covid. I've been slowly improving this whole time. I had a nasty reaction to my 2nd vaccine, but catching omicron 2 months ago improved my condition quite a lot.

The old me is shattered, I feel like a different person now. I go through old memories and they don't feel like mine. Some days I try to take it in and come to terms with it, but most days I'm just trying to get on with life.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Rotten luck. Long covid scares the bejesus out of me; if I get it, my income stops. I'm a sole trader with a manual job. That's weird about how another dose of covid can help. I've heard that from other sources too.

"I feel like a different person now" Yeah, me too. Although I have been very lucky (so far) to have escaped serious physically debilitating effects. Had it early in 2020 and it scared me, and again with the Kent variation. My sense of humour and fun have evaporated. Brain definitely not as sharp.

I hope your health improvement continues and speeds up.