Anonymous
Post 01/05/2022 22:19     Subject: Feeling Hopeless
Anonymous wrote:I had been trying to stay afloat this entire pandemic, since everything shut down in March. Tried to find ways to find the silver lining in everything--in early 2020 it was spending more time with my kids outside on hikes throughout the DMV, in the fall of 2020 it was being thankful I had the resources to send my youngest to private (for just that year) so he could at least attend school in person, in the winter of 2020 it was feeling hopeful about the vaccines that were about to be released even though we couldn't gather when friends and family at the time, and earlier this year it was feeling hopeful about having received that vaccine even as things started to look grim again with Delta. And now, now with Omicron I've lost all hope. My hope has run out and I'm completely spent. I feel like I'm having a nervous breakdown. I'm facing my youngest being home again and being socially isolated (because he is socially isolated when he's not in school and school is everything to him). We had been planning for an event for the end of February that I had been looking forward to so much and just had to cancel after months of going back and forth on whether we can/can't do this and being encouraged earlier on in the year even through Delta that things would be fine, and this was just the last straw for me. I mean when does this end? When can we just get back to normal life? And yes these problems are miniscule compared to people who have lost family members, lost their jobs, lost their homes, have suffered emotionally/mentally, but in my little corner of the world, I am just completely lost and my hope has run out and I don't even know how to find the silver lining anymore. Yes, I'm healthy, I have a job, I have a great family ,etc. but even being happy about those things are not enough anymore. I just want all the stress and tension around this to end. I'm exhausted by this and don't even know how to feel happy about life right now because we aren't really living. We're stuck in this perpetual state of uncertainty and I can't take it anymore.


I absolutely feel your pain OP. I was exactly where you are a few weeks ago.
But then I and everyone in my family and a lot of other people I know got covid, and I suddenly felt better! I felt like the end is really in sight!! Because we weren't very ill, all vaccinated, but everyone got it!
This means, IMHO, that the pandemic is pretty close to being over. Once everyone gets this thing (and let's face it, most of us are going to get it), then we'll all be basically immune, and it's going to stop. It will be an annual problem, like the flu, that a few people will get, but it won't hit most of us because we've all got natural immunity combined with vaccines.
The end is in sight, OP. Hang in there. It's' going to end, and pretty soon.

Anonymous
Post 01/05/2022 22:14     Subject: Feeling Hopeless
Just fine should say just done
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2022 22:14     Subject: Feeling Hopeless
I’m coping by deciding I am just done. I am vaxed and boosted (family is vaxed too). I wear a mask in public places (not KN though). But I am just fine with avoiding indoor stuff. It’s been two years. This is what it is at this point.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2022 22:10     Subject: Feeling Hopeless
That’s why I don’t cancel events and I traveled throughout- wish I traveled more when my kid was in “virtual school”
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2022 21:57     Subject: Feeling Hopeless
Anonymous wrote:Try leaving this area for a few days. You'll be amazed by all the folks living their lives fairly normally if you get out of this crazy DC bubble.

This. Both MD and VA are bigger and more wonderful than the DMV. The anger and “stress and tension” inside the beltway is palpable and can destroy even the most optimistic.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2022 21:22     Subject: Re:Feeling Hopeless
I too have been feeling just deflated. Monday morning the power went out and has yet to return. I want to scream “I just can’t rally anymore!!”
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2022 21:03     Subject: Feeling Hopeless
Try leaving this area for a few days. You'll be amazed by all the folks living their lives fairly normally if you get out of this crazy DC bubble.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2022 21:01     Subject: Feeling Hopeless
I feel the same way.

Trying to manage in-person working with reduced (and at times almost non-existent) childcare options for nearly two years has been difficult. Meanwhile my kids continue to struggle and I feel so depleted.

On the plus side - I am no longer concerned about getting COVID. I am just so exhausted from trying to keep things functioning.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2022 20:52     Subject: Feeling Hopeless
For me the risk calculation has changed a lot recently. I'm doing more small "risky" things (the gym, exercise classes, a dinner inside with friends) because they bring me a lot of happiness. I'm still not doing big parties, but I have decided I'm okay with more risk. I expect this will go over for several more years and realizing that has changed my outlook.

I'm sorry about your Feb event -- that is hard.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2022 20:48     Subject: Feeling Hopeless
I hear you. It sucks. It all feels hopeless right now. It’s dark and cold outside which doesn’t help either. Maybe tomorrow will feel better.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2022 20:44     Subject: Feeling Hopeless
Another person who feels just the same as you. And similar “problems” which seem like small potatoes compared to others who have lost a loved one, a job, have financial hardship. My emotions ebb and flow throughout the day and when I am on the good side of feeling hopeful, I remember the tools that I have - vaccinations, masks, social distancing, fairly mild weather to be able to do things outside with others. I think normal life won’t return for a while and now decisions are being made by if the benefit outweighs the risk. It’s tough. You aren’t alone. Hang in there OP.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2022 20:39     Subject: Re:Feeling Hopeless
Same.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2022 20:38     Subject: Re:Feeling Hopeless
You are definitely not alone!
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2022 20:33     Subject: Re:Feeling Hopeless
Im sorry OP. I don’t have any advice but just wanted to say that you are not alone.
Anonymous
Post 01/05/2022 20:16     Subject: Feeling Hopeless
I had been trying to stay afloat this entire pandemic, since everything shut down in March. Tried to find ways to find the silver lining in everything--in early 2020 it was spending more time with my kids outside on hikes throughout the DMV, in the fall of 2020 it was being thankful I had the resources to send my youngest to private (for just that year) so he could at least attend school in person, in the winter of 2020 it was feeling hopeful about the vaccines that were about to be released even though we couldn't gather when friends and family at the time, and earlier this year it was feeling hopeful about having received that vaccine even as things started to look grim again with Delta. And now, now with Omicron I've lost all hope. My hope has run out and I'm completely spent. I feel like I'm having a nervous breakdown. I'm facing my youngest being home again and being socially isolated (because he is socially isolated when he's not in school and school is everything to him). We had been planning for an event for the end of February that I had been looking forward to so much and just had to cancel after months of going back and forth on whether we can/can't do this and being encouraged earlier on in the year even through Delta that things would be fine, and this was just the last straw for me. I mean when does this end? When can we just get back to normal life? And yes these problems are miniscule compared to people who have lost family members, lost their jobs, lost their homes, have suffered emotionally/mentally, but in my little corner of the world, I am just completely lost and my hope has run out and I don't even know how to find the silver lining anymore. Yes, I'm healthy, I have a job, I have a great family ,etc. but even being happy about those things are not enough anymore. I just want all the stress and tension around this to end. I'm exhausted by this and don't even know how to feel happy about life right now because we aren't really living. We're stuck in this perpetual state of uncertainty and I can't take it anymore.