I am loving quarantine, but no good way to admit it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your life seriously sucked before if you are enjoying this current situation. Anyone who had a good life before does not enjoy this period.

Nah, it’s just that some of us are still content with ourselves and our families even when we strip away the shopping and the travel and the eating out and all the other indulgences of a leisurely life. Life was good before. Now it’s good in a different way.

+100. I suspect that the inability to travel / vacation every long weekend is affecting the rich people (not just 1 percenters) much more. I think having grown up working class in an urban setting has helped me a lot. I know how to survive with less — unlike my introverted spouse who grew up white collar middle class home.

[Anonymous]

I saw a funny meme that said something like "turns out my hobbies are shopping at non-essential businesses, going out to eat at restaurants, and touching my face." Which I didn't connect to at all - a lot of this is yes, if your main way of defining a "great life" is shopping, travel, social experiences, eating out, etc. this must be awful. But it doesn't mean that's what defines a "great life."

[Anonymous]

I grew up lower middle class (so did my dh) and we are doing fine. Yes, we did have to cancel a trip and work at home.

But "quarantine" is basically our childhood without church, grocery shopping, and Gilligan's Island on TV.

We know how to cook, how to sew, how to garden, how to make bread so we are good. Catching up on TV and those long books we wanted to read. And all the sewing, cleaning, bread baking and gardening takes up a lot of time.

[Anonymous]

OP, I totally get it. I am usually up at 5am to get to the gym before work. I'm a parent of a tween and a teen, one of whom has swim practice every day. The other one is a soccer player so carpools for practice there. I'm usually on the move non-stop from 5am until 8pm.

Now I wake up at the luxurious time of 6-7am to exercise, take a shower some time in the afternoon when I get a work break, and I can have a glass of wine at 5pm if I feel like it. The kids are old enough to be independent during the day.

I can't wait for things to go back to normal and I recognize that I am very fortunate. I'm also grateful that my family is healthy. But I'll admit that it's a bit of a break right now.

[Anonymous]

I think a lot of this depends on what stage your kids are in. We're 18 months and 3.5. The 3.5 year old is okay but the 18 month old is WILD. I've always thought this was the hardest stage with my oldest, and yep, hardest with my youngest too. My coworkers who have babies, middle schoolers or teenagers love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don’t need to share this. The world doesn’t need every thought in your head. Just say you’re fine and grateful for each day.

Isn’t that 99% of this board?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up lower middle class (so did my dh) and we are doing fine. Yes, we did have to cancel a trip and work at home.

But "quarantine" is basically our childhood without church, grocery shopping, and Gilligan's Island on TV.

We know how to cook, how to sew, how to garden, how to make bread so we are good. Catching up on TV and those long books we wanted to read. And all the sewing, cleaning, bread baking and gardening takes up a lot of time.

All of that sounds enjoyable. That's like my dream quarantine. Instead I'm working from 6am and keep working until midnight because I can't get it all done. House is wrecked and toddlers scream nonstop. Sewing? Cleaning? I clean more than I've ever cleaned but everything is a disaster. hah at bread baking. I'm slinging food at everyone and we're barely surviving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up lower middle class (so did my dh) and we are doing fine. Yes, we did have to cancel a trip and work at home.

But "quarantine" is basically our childhood without church, grocery shopping, and Gilligan's Island on TV.

We know how to cook, how to sew, how to garden, how to make bread so we are good. Catching up on TV and those long books we wanted to read. And all the sewing, cleaning, bread baking and gardening takes up a lot of time.

All of that sounds enjoyable. That's like my dream quarantine. Instead I'm working from 6am and keep working until midnight because I can't get it all done. House is wrecked and toddlers scream nonstop. Sewing? Cleaning? I clean more than I've ever cleaned but everything is a disaster. hah at bread baking. I'm slinging food at everyone and we're barely surviving.

Certain ages are definitely harder than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes!!! Same here, OP. You said it well. I am loving this time. And trying to do for those who might be struggling.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I totally get it. I am usually up at 5am to get to the gym before work. I'm a parent of a tween and a teen, one of whom has swim practice every day. The other one is a soccer player so carpools for practice there. I'm usually on the move non-stop from 5am until 8pm.

Now I wake up at the luxurious time of 6-7am to exercise, take a shower some time in the afternoon when I get a work break, and I can have a glass of wine at 5pm if I feel like it. The kids are old enough to be independent during the day.

I can't wait for things to go back to normal and I recognize that I am very fortunate. I'm also grateful that my family is healthy. But I'll admit that it's a bit of a break right now.

+1

[Anonymous]

I think there's a difference between appreciating the slow pace and saying that your mental health is so much better etc. As said upthread, if a global pandemic doesn't make your life much worse, you were doing something wrong to begin with.

If you're not feeling at least mildly anxious right now, that's basically pathological.

[Anonymous]

Op, I have 3 kids and both of us work full-time. 2 have school work to manage. It's crazy at our house, but.... I am loving this time, for all the reasons you state. I already limited our activities in 'regular' life anyways so that we weren't overbusy. But, I love this time and am trying to soak it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there's a difference between appreciating the slow pace and saying that your mental health is so much better etc. As said upthread, if a global pandemic doesn't make your life much worse, you were doing something wrong to begin with.

If you're not feeling at least mildly anxious right now, that's basically pathological.

Exactly! A PP upthread said it best - people that are enjoying this are control freaks and can now control their environment so much more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there's a difference between appreciating the slow pace and saying that your mental health is so much better etc. As said upthread, if a global pandemic doesn't make your life much worse, you were doing something wrong to begin with.

If you're not feeling at least mildly anxious right now, that's basically pathological.

I think at least some of the people who are enjoying this are actually very anxious normally, but now feel they can control everything in their own domain. This is letting them feed anxiety that isn't healthy. Kids are totally under their control, spouses are under their control. The comfort they are feeling is really the fact that their anxiety is now unfettered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there's a difference between appreciating the slow pace and saying that your mental health is so much better etc. As said upthread, if a global pandemic doesn't make your life much worse, you were doing something wrong to begin with.

If you're not feeling at least mildly anxious right now, that's basically pathological.

Ok, well I guess I can say I’m feeling good enough that it’s not bothering me anymore that strangers on the Internet call me pathological. I am normally a very anxious person but the existential threat of this whole period has shifted my thinking so I can focus on what is really important, which is my family. Somehow it’s just easier than it used to be to not care at all what others think, whether I have the right job, the right house, or the most accomplished kids. We still have an income, and if we didn’t then I’m positive I would feel worse. But in general I am just feeling all the unimportant stuff fall away. And I am getting more sleep.