How have you been feeling since Covid 19?

How have you been coping with stress and anxiety since the beginning of the pandemic?

I felt quite anxious about it all at the beginning - first two weeks of lockdown, I think - then found it marvellous. The fact that there's very little active infection here has been such a relief. There have been times of anxiety about it but longer feeling secure in its absence from our ordinary lives.

How about you?

I was a little anxious early on, before we had an obvious national plan, and now I feel really good and every so often a bit guilty for feeling a bit smug, with occasional bewilderment at how it has become so political in many places, and how so many are going down the rabbithole of conspiracy theories.

Being rural, we thoroughly enjoyed the first lockdown ''break'' from business and achieved a few projects on the long ''to-do'' list. Having enough time to get required supplies in certainly helped too. At that time, it made sense for the Govt to follow that path.

Since then, and the second lockdown between the Auckland and old Franklin districts, frustrations run high. We applied for an exemption which was eventually granted to be able to get through, however on the last day of lockdown, we received another email rescinding that exemption.

Is the left hand talking to the right one?

Since then, it seems ''we'' in the greater team sense are not moving forward. Family o/s seem to be able to obtain successful covid tests that allow them to holiday through certain corridors and still shop in adjoining countries.
Coupled with that is knowing various items we in the construction industry need to keep moving forward with work are no longer arriving in NZ. Same with some stock food I buy-in for the horses. Another rep yesterday mentioned the trouble their business is having with sourcing whitegoods.

So I have a frustration it's now holding NZ back and unless things change, and quickly, little ole NZ is going to come stuck and will be bypassed by shipping, thus increasing the cost of the already expensive bit of water between Aussie and NZ for transport.

So that sort of thing really concerns me. Apart from (previous posts) not being able to see our very healthy daughter who lives in a community free covid virus country but we keep letting citizens in by choice, who are coming from high covid risk countries at NZ's expense. I think we could have made some changes there by now... which benefit all citizens where ever they are.

So that's my worries....

I also quite enjoyed the lockdown (though not having to do supermarket shopping by internet!) and it meant we were in more frequent contact with our usually busy family members. But now I feel 'stuck' and cannot see any way things will change for a long time. The new outbreak in Sydney is indicative of how fragile the situation is in most countries even when they think they are clear. And Vaccines? There will always be people who refuse it and so the risk of outbreaks will remain. I just can't see an easy way out and feel that I just live from day to day - and I don't like that.

I feel incredibly lucky. I have family in the UK and USA and they're living with this in a way we aren't.

My sister in the US wears a mask 8 hours a day at the school she works at. She's had children at her school catch covid. Her twins went to university this year, one in the US, one in the UK. They've had multiple periods of isolation, are studying from their dorms as classes are being held virtually and they aren't enjoying the usual student fun activities. Their father had Covid and still hasn't regained his sense of smell.

My elderly in-laws in the UK are virtually house-bound and have been for months.

When we talk to them they can't believe that we are living pretty much as normal. They'd love to be in our position. They're stressed not just because of the risk of catching the virus but the risk of passing on to others if they do catch it, of hearing the latest numbers of dead, of obituaries of the famous, rules and regulations changing week by week, of business closing, and hardship as many lose their jobs. It's everywhere for them, all the time.

Things aren't perfect but I'm very grateful that we are not as severely affected as most.

I think the vaccine will start to make a difference in a few months.

Oh and I'm another who enjoyed lockdown I do know that not everyone in NZ is breezing through this and again I'm thankful for my luck.

That is the truth, maybe I just used to putting positive to anything and that made and helped me to cope daily. I hpe you are too! Thanks and I hope we keep things like to, supporting each other.

We have close friends who we consider as family, who live on the northern beaches of Sydney. They were planning to spend time with our daughter over Christmas, she so wasn’t alone...

Because of recent developments there, they cannot leave. I had a good chat with them today and we covered what started the cluster over there and I am so peeved off that one selfish person has caused all this. That person, and others like her, need to be held accountable and not released back into society as they planned after isolation, but put back on the plane from where they came from.

That is my frustration today and how may hundreds of citizens of either country are sitting at Heathrow or elsewhere with tickets back “home” and are feeling so sick not knowing if Aussie and nz are about to close the borders on a system that for them, has been working so far while they remain for the moment, homeless.

What a rotten 2020 has been for some!

I agree with you Ruth, but as I go along with my day to life. I should or shall i say we should be staying strong holistically. So I just tought of sending you this link that might help you recover too. Click this - www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/commun...-non-healthcare.html

I hope you too are feeling hopeful and better soon. ♥

Do you still wear your mask on after you got vaccinated?

Who got vaccinated for what?

I've enjoyed the slower pace of life at times, and the embracing of working at home. I've also enjoyed that it's allowed me to spend more time with my family.

However, it's exhausting in the UK because there just doesn't seem to be an end in sight. I coped a lot better last year because things felt timed and like there was an end goal. It feels like we are going in circles now and that's what's so frustrating.

karenburton1305 wrote:
However, it's exhausting in the UK because there just doesn't seem to be an end in sight. I coped a lot better last year because things felt timed and like there was an end goal. It feels like we are going in circles now and that's what's so frustrating.

That's how I feel here in NZ too as far as being able to see our Daughter again (i understand this sounds selfish). I would have thought that the pacific would be further along with a trans tasman/island travel corridor/bubble after their initial hard and fast lockdowns, yet it continues to be same/same...

It was frustrating at the time too when family in Europe poo poo'd the perceived police states they claimed we were all living in, and they went about their daily business without concern.

I'm really hoping the new pre-travel testing requirements will reduce the chance of carriers entering our local Countries firstly to the front line workers, their families and then the rest of us. Because the way I feel, if it doesn't reduce the numbers of infected, then another plan needs to made.

For us the inability to travel has really hit home with our daughter in Australia now coping alone with a family death. We can get over there without a problem but would not be able to return to sometime in April or May because quarantine here is fully booked and our compassionate reason for travel is not relevant for our return.