What did COVID-19 pandemic do to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel so fragile now. Like a leaf struggling to hang on before another blast comes. I never felt like this before and our family has been through a lot.

This is EXACTLY how I feel. I used to think I was a tough cookie! Now I feel afraid and anxious - not necessarily about Covid, but more like - when will the other shoe drop. I know I need to be strong for my family, so I just have to fake it. But sometimes I can’t.

Another who feels this way. I've always been anxious - been medicated since my teens, lost parents suddenly and tragically, etc. But this last year has been the worst for my mental health and I worry I can't recover. Two therapists, exercise, meds- but still drinking too much and can't stop head spinning. It's awful. Oh and my company went under.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having small kids and taking care of them is the most isolating and tiring experience even when there is no pandemic.

People need to also understand that having more than 1 or 2 kids is not easy. No one owes the raising of your kids to you. The parents have to raise them. If they are lucky they will have paid or unpaid caregivers at various times but it is not a guarantee.

If you cannot do it on your own and do it well then don't have kids.

Oh shut up.

This poster isn’t wrong though…when the going gets tough, raising kids is entirely on the parents.

Absolutely. But do you understand how many people had to work in person over pandemic that had no childcare resources? Our children are absolutely our responsibility…but no one has 11 back up plans for plague. It’s so dismissive.

In CRT scholarship, this attitude is evidence of white supremacy culture. It reflects rugged individualism (everyone is on their own, if you didn't have backup, backup backup pandemic childcare plans you are an irresponsible person), power hoarding and either or thinking. These people think that if it wasn't a problem for me, then it wasn't a problem at all. There's no sense of the greater good and no willingness to listen to the experiences of others, only blame and judgment. The resulting isolation pushes all of us further apart at a time when shared values and concern for the common good are needed the most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Health care worker. I'm so tired, and I look so old. I never dealt with anxiety or burnout before this, and I find myself irritable and ready to snap all the time. I have some cardiac damage from a likely COVID infection early on, and that's probably going to shorten my lifespan.

My spouse could have written this.

It reminds me of when a president goes into office looking fresh and their age, but the stress of the job quickly ages them. Like Obama, for example.

They have seen more death during their short career than both their father & grandfather combined during their whole careers. That takes a toll on a person.

They are now in therapy and doing better, but I don't think there's any amount that will help them not look so old and tired.

[Anonymous]

it made me pregnant LOLLLL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having small kids and taking care of them is the most isolating and tiring experience even when there is no pandemic.

People need to also understand that having more than 1 or 2 kids is not easy. No one owes the raising of your kids to you. The parents have to raise them. If they are lucky they will have paid or unpaid caregivers at various times but it is not a guarantee.

If you cannot do it on your own and do it well then don't have kids.

Oh shut up.

This poster isn’t wrong though…when the going gets tough, raising kids is entirely on the parents.

Yeah. I'm amused at all the parents who deliberately had kids back-to-back every 2 years or less and then ended up with 3-5 kids who outnumbered them.

The only 'plan' you had was for society to raise and care for your kid 80% of the time.

No wonder you were overwhelmed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having small kids and taking care of them is the most isolating and tiring experience even when there is no pandemic.

People need to also understand that having more than 1 or 2 kids is not easy. No one owes the raising of your kids to you. The parents have to raise them. If they are lucky they will have paid or unpaid caregivers at various times but it is not a guarantee.

If you cannot do it on your own and do it well then don't have kids.

Oh shut up.

This poster isn’t wrong though…when the going gets tough, raising kids is entirely on the parents.

Absolutely. But do you understand how many people had to work in person over pandemic that had no childcare resources? Our children are absolutely our responsibility…but no one has 11 back up plans for plague. It’s so dismissive.

In CRT scholarship, this attitude is evidence of white supremacy culture. It reflects rugged individualism (everyone is on their own, if you didn't have backup, backup backup pandemic childcare plans you are an irresponsible person), power hoarding and either or thinking. These people think that if it wasn't a problem for me, then it wasn't a problem at all. There's no sense of the greater good and no willingness to listen to the experiences of others, only blame and judgment. The resulting isolation pushes all of us further apart at a time when shared values and concern for the common good are needed the most.

Rugged individualism isn't white supremacy culture. CRT scholarship is trash.

I'm on board with the greater good stuff and listening to others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having small kids and taking care of them is the most isolating and tiring experience even when there is no pandemic.

People need to also understand that having more than 1 or 2 kids is not easy. No one owes the raising of your kids to you. The parents have to raise them. If they are lucky they will have paid or unpaid caregivers at various times but it is not a guarantee.

If you cannot do it on your own and do it well then don't have kids.

Oh shut up.

This poster isn’t wrong though…when the going gets tough, raising kids is entirely on the parents.

Absolutely. But do you understand how many people had to work in person over pandemic that had no childcare resources? Our children are absolutely our responsibility…but no one has 11 back up plans for plague. It’s so dismissive.

In CRT scholarship, this attitude is evidence of white supremacy culture. It reflects rugged individualism (everyone is on their own, if you didn't have backup, backup backup pandemic childcare plans you are an irresponsible person), power hoarding and either or thinking. These people think that if it wasn't a problem for me, then it wasn't a problem at all. There's no sense of the greater good and no willingness to listen to the experiences of others, only blame and judgment. The resulting isolation pushes all of us further apart at a time when shared values and concern for the common good are needed the most.

Rugged individualism isn't white supremacy culture. CRT scholarship is trash.

I'm on board with the greater good stuff and listening to others.

You don't have to consider individualism in the context of CRT. But the ideas that every person is on their own and that any struggle is the result of bad choices are antithetic to justice and equity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having small kids and taking care of them is the most isolating and tiring experience even when there is no pandemic.

People need to also understand that having more than 1 or 2 kids is not easy. No one owes the raising of your kids to you. The parents have to raise them. If they are lucky they will have paid or unpaid caregivers at various times but it is not a guarantee.

If you cannot do it on your own and do it well then don't have kids.

Oh shut up.

This poster isn’t wrong though…when the going gets tough, raising kids is entirely on the parents.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having small kids and taking care of them is the most isolating and tiring experience even when there is no pandemic.

People need to also understand that having more than 1 or 2 kids is not easy. No one owes the raising of your kids to you. The parents have to raise them. If they are lucky they will have paid or unpaid caregivers at various times but it is not a guarantee.

If you cannot do it on your own and do it well then don't have kids.

Oh shut up.

This poster isn’t wrong though…when the going gets tough, raising kids is entirely on the parents.

Absolutely. But do you understand how many people had to work in person over pandemic that had no childcare resources? Our children are absolutely our responsibility…but no one has 11 back up plans for plague. It’s so dismissive.

In CRT scholarship, this attitude is evidence of white supremacy culture. It reflects rugged individualism (everyone is on their own, if you didn't have backup, backup backup pandemic childcare plans you are an irresponsible person), power hoarding and either or thinking. These people think that if it wasn't a problem for me, then it wasn't a problem at all. There's no sense of the greater good and no willingness to listen to the experiences of others, only blame and judgment. The resulting isolation pushes all of us further apart at a time when shared values and concern for the common good are needed the most.

Rugged individualism isn't white supremacy culture. CRT scholarship is trash.

I'm on board with the greater good stuff and listening to others.

You don't have to consider individualism in the context of CRT. But the ideas that every person is on their own and that any struggle is the result of bad choices are antithetic to justice and equity.

Sure. But people with small children and who were also cultivating non-transactional relationships with others were actually able to have backup childcare. If you are a self-centered prick who is not helpful to others then when daycares closed, you were up the shitz creek.

My MIL stays with us. Which means that we all have to accomodate and get along with each other. It takes work. But, as a family - childcare, eldercare, petcare, a smooth running household and financial security - it is all possible for us. Charity begins at home but young parents think that their relatives owe them childcare while they themselves are living a self-centered life. I am actually happy that people had a taste of how hard it is to raise children. Hopefully, we will see a steep decline in birth rates and people will quit having litter of children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having small kids and taking care of them is the most isolating and tiring experience even when there is no pandemic.

People need to also understand that having more than 1 or 2 kids is not easy. No one owes the raising of your kids to you. The parents have to raise them. If they are lucky they will have paid or unpaid caregivers at various times but it is not a guarantee.

If you cannot do it on your own and do it well then don't have kids.

Oh shut up.

This poster isn’t wrong though…when the going gets tough, raising kids is entirely on the parents.

Yeah. I'm amused at all the parents who deliberately had kids back-to-back every 2 years or less and then ended up with 3-5 kids who outnumbered them.

The only 'plan' you had was for society to raise and care for your kid 80% of the time.

No wonder you were overwhelmed.

So true!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Health care worker. I'm so tired, and I look so old. I never dealt with anxiety or burnout before this, and I find myself irritable and ready to snap all the time. I have some cardiac damage from a likely COVID infection early on, and that's probably going to shorten my lifespan.

My spouse could have written this.

It reminds me of when a president goes into office looking fresh and their age, but the stress of the job quickly ages them. Like Obama, for example.

They have seen more death during their short career than both their father & grandfather combined during their whole careers. That takes a toll on a person.

They are now in therapy and doing better, but I don't think there's any amount that will help them not look so old and tired.

PP here.

I'm so sorry. I do find comfort in the idea that we do the work before us, and that it's not up to us to chose the challenges, most of the time.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having small kids and taking care of them is the most isolating and tiring experience even when there is no pandemic.

People need to also understand that having more than 1 or 2 kids is not easy. No one owes the raising of your kids to you. The parents have to raise them. If they are lucky they will have paid or unpaid caregivers at various times but it is not a guarantee.

If you cannot do it on your own and do it well then don't have kids.

Oh shut up.

This poster isn’t wrong though…when the going gets tough, raising kids is entirely on the parents.

Absolutely. But do you understand how many people had to work in person over pandemic that had no childcare resources? Our children are absolutely our responsibility…but no one has 11 back up plans for plague. It’s so dismissive.

Yes, it's a pat answer that really has no connection to reality. So the nurse/ essential worker you need more than ever to be working has no child care -- but that just means she shouldn't have had kids? What about the guy bringing you your groceries so you can bunker down with your family--should he have created a pandemic-proof backup childcare system 8 years ago in anticipation of potential world pandemic? We structure society in ways that maximize public wellbeing that involve interdependence. In all sorts of ways - hardly just childcare. It is just idiot magical thinking to say everyone can/should immediately be able to cope and flourish without these structures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having small kids and taking care of them is the most isolating and tiring experience even when there is no pandemic.

People need to also understand that having more than 1 or 2 kids is not easy. No one owes the raising of your kids to you. The parents have to raise them. If they are lucky they will have paid or unpaid caregivers at various times but it is not a guarantee.

If you cannot do it on your own and do it well then don't have kids.

Oh shut up.

This poster isn’t wrong though…when the going gets tough, raising kids is entirely on the parents.

Absolutely. But do you understand how many people had to work in person over pandemic that had no childcare resources? Our children are absolutely our responsibility…but no one has 11 back up plans for plague. It’s so dismissive.

Yes, it's a pat answer that really has no connection to reality. So the nurse/ essential worker you need more than ever to be working has no child care -- but that just means she shouldn't have had kids? What about the guy bringing you your groceries so you can bunker down with your family--should he have created a pandemic-proof backup childcare system 8 years ago in anticipation of potential world pandemic? We structure society in ways that maximize public wellbeing that involve interdependence. In all sorts of ways - hardly just childcare. It is just idiot magical thinking to say everyone can/should immediately be able to cope and flourish without these structures.

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I got to know my neighbors.

I got a new job and a taste for working from home. I can’t go back to the office now.

I realized that it’s important for me to have green outdoor infrastructure for walking, biking. So we moved and I’m loving the new neighborhood.

I also realized that it’s very important for me to be surrounded by beautiful esthetic. We updated the house and I love how it looks.

PP here. I knew how fortunate our circumstances were compared to others. I tried to do the right thing - gave N95 masks to nurses in the beginning of pandemic (not doing this again though), paid our cleaners for months not to come clean, supported our school, didn’t b*tch about academics and didn’t b*tch about wearing masks, followed all the orders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having small kids and taking care of them is the most isolating and tiring experience even when there is no pandemic.

People need to also understand that having more than 1 or 2 kids is not easy. No one owes the raising of your kids to you. The parents have to raise them. If they are lucky they will have paid or unpaid caregivers at various times but it is not a guarantee.

If you cannot do it on your own and do it well then don't have kids.

Oh shut up.

This poster isn’t wrong though…when the going gets tough, raising kids is entirely on the parents.

Absolutely. But do you understand how many people had to work in person over pandemic that had no childcare resources? Our children are absolutely our responsibility…but no one has 11 back up plans for plague. It’s so dismissive.

Yes, it's a pat answer that really has no connection to reality. So the nurse/ essential worker you need more than ever to be working has no child care -- but that just means she shouldn't have had kids? What about the guy bringing you your groceries so you can bunker down with your family--should he have created a pandemic-proof backup childcare system 8 years ago in anticipation of potential world pandemic? We structure society in ways that maximize public wellbeing that involve interdependence. In all sorts of ways - hardly just childcare. It is just idiot magical thinking to say everyone can/should immediately be able to cope and flourish without these structures.

Thank you.

Whatever. Do I feel bad for the truly low-income essential families who were crushed by this? Absolutely.

Do I feel bad for the Pulomonologist married to the research scientist with the $400K dual-income who had to suddenly pay for private childcare during the year? Not a chance.

Lots of high income and high net worth individuals in this region had to shift their finances from $5,000/trip vacations to paying nannies through the nose. And I do not care.