Are you happy?

[Hirst]

That's one of the worst parts , is there is no end date and one can't even go on Holiday for a week or two, to get away from it all (it's always nice in work to have a break or Holiday to look forward too) Never mind seeing mum, from behind her house window is horrid (same for my partners parents)

Also fear for the economic meltdown that will happen. It's not just be businesses going to the wall, but I can see community and local football, rugby clubs all going the wall, maybe even teams as high up , in league 1 or 2

Never mind family members and good friends might not have a job to go back too, if this goes on, past the summer

Aye that doesn't help - we're working towards this virus being under control yet we keep being told the aftermath could be a completely destroyed economy and massive job losses. The last recession was the most depressing period of my life primarily because I had very little money to enjoy doing much, so I'm not very pleased about the prospect of one that is even worse to follow. I'd just in recent years got in a position where I was really starting to like my life and now I'm thinking a couple of years from now my weekly luxury will be a bag of glue to huff down the woods.

[Team Andromeda]

Aye that doesn't help - we're working towards this virus being under control yet we keep being told the aftermath could be a completely destroyed economy and massive job losses. The last recession was the most depressing period of my life primarily because I had very little money to enjoy doing much, so I'm not very pleased about the prospect of one that is even worse to follow. I'd just in recent years got in a position where I was really starting to like my life and now I'm thinking a couple of years from now my weekly luxury will be a bag of glue to huff down the woods.

The worst one for me, was in the 1990's with the ERM exit and mum almost lost the house. In the end she had to rent it out for a year, while we moved into my Grans.

I think this recession will beat them all , some say the downturn will be even bigger than the 'Great Depression'

[Wools]

How's everyone doing?

Not bad, thanks. Although life has a way of kicking you in the balls when you least expect it.

The second COVID-19 started to make headlines, the company who purchased ours decided to go into cost cutting measures and I was linned up, along with 1/4 of the office. I'm on Furlough at the moment but there's a 99% possibility that I won't be there when all this is over. Great timing as my Wife is a Nurse at a major hospital and I'm giving her support! What's most excellent is seeing the soical media of my company mentioning how much support they give their employees along with motivational messages, as they're lining up over 20 to make redundent to save their Q1 earnings.

Still, I've been okay. I'm being paid to sit at home and do naff all so trying to have fun and enjoy it. Keeping the house tip top for my Mrs whilst she's out doing the only real work on Earth right now and have written my first new CV in years and applied for 6 great looking jobs. Heard back from 1 with an automated no, one recruiter got back and said they have passed my application on and the most exciting is still in progress: I had my first phone interview with them on Monday and it felt like it went really well, expecting to hear back if I'll progress to the next stage this week.

Trying to keep a sense of structure by concentrating on my diet and exercise, which makes me eat structured meals and 1 bit of exercise per day. Started at 94kg at the beginning of March and just crossed into 88kg this week, aiming for 80kg by the summer or the apocalypse, whatever comes first! Also pushing my runs so have progressed from regular 5km runs, to 10km, now I'm on 15km and aiming for half marathon by the time 80kg rolls around. Also using this time to clear my pile of shame, completed Doom, Ion Fury, Rez Infinite and have fallen head over heals for Witcher 3. Never mind the TV me and my Wife are catching up on; Killing Eve, FleaBag, Tiger King and The Detecorists!

So at the moment, oddly great! Being paid to relax, play great games, compete all the chores around the house, spend time with the Mrs and it's given me the boot to finally get out of a job I was no longer in love with and have a few fantastic looking roles linned up. However, if I loose out on this specific role and don't find anything in the next few months, I can imagine my confidence will take a real kicking. Fingers crossed though.

Hope everyone else here is getting along well during this odd time.

[dataDave]

Lost my income thanks to this virus. The start-up I was working for dropped me due to bunkering down and no need for intrinsic sales. Lost my dog last week due to pancreatitis (he didn't even make it to six years old). The wife is massively stressed due to us sharing the duty of looking after our 2.5 year old 24/7. She's not handling it very well.

Now we have six months worth of living expenses before things get hairy. I'm trying to knock something overly ambitious together although if I do it right I should be able to capitalize on it massively during any recession or downtown once all of this ends. No time for games, no time for forums, no time for anything else in the world that's going on; all I have in my mind is what needs to be done. Currently waking up at 4am every morning to get four hours of productivity in before the boy wakes up. I feel like a robot.

[fishbowlhead]

Sorry to hear about your current predicament Dave. Just keep working hard and keep your chin up fella, all that hard work will come good. At least you can say you never gave up and did everything in your power that way to keep going.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

Currently I really don't give a **** if I wake up tomorrow or not. I'm stuck at home due this ****ing bull**** virus, my other half is giving no consideration towards my state of mind and my daughter is being the child from hell.

It's her 7th birthday today and I've spent the last couple of days trying to get the garden nice so everyone can have fun. No one has helped - despite everyone being at home and the only time anyone has come out is when my stepson has decided to get the hot tub running. He's a ****ing legend, yet despite me sorting out the garden so we can get the pool and bbq out, I'm totally ignored and no one cares about what I've done.

I feed and look after the chickens, gey the eggs and make sure they're OK in the sun, yet no one offers me an egg sammich when they get made.

I just feel totally ignored and like no one even knows I'm here. I disappear for a **** and I'm being ignorant and unsociable.

I really do feel like just packing a bag and ****ing off. The only time I'm noticed is if the Mrs is busy and my daughter needs something.

Tell me the nearest covid victim and I'll ****ing find her out and play tonsil tennis with her.

[vanpeebles]

Typical fammydodd.

[prinnysquad]

Why don’t you try to take some joy out of simple things, Fammydodd? Rather than seeing them as chores to gain plaudits from?

Fix the garden up because it’s a nice thing to do. You’re in the sunshine and the fresh air.
Look after the chickens because you’re a responsible person. They’re living things and if you watch them, they’re fascinating.
Pick up the gay eggs and make different eggy snacks out of them.

It’s not nice to be unappreciated, but the alternative is to become bitter and resentful, drink yourself into a stupor with terrible beer, and go on about drastic measures. I don’t know your circumstances, so it’s hard to tell, but maybe your family/partner are really struggling? Some people shut down when they’re feeling trapped and take it out on those to hand.

Stay off the drink and try to take small amounts of pleasure out of the little things you do. Think of them as things to help yourself rather than things to help others. Then you won’t feel so unappreciated.

[Hirst]

I'm not particularly unhappy (maybe a bit frustrated), but I've become very tired during the working week and I don't know why. Doesn't matter how much sleep I get - 4 hours, 8 hours, 12 hours. I work from home on a laptop and have decent lighting and a window slightly open. Not tired enough to sleep, just tired enough to feel lethargic and struggling to motivate myself to enjoy my free time.

[Dogg Thang]

Fatigue can be a sign of depression. Not saying that's what it is but it's something to watch out for. I was hit pretty hard with depression in my twenties and part of the reason I was hit so hard is that it went on so long before I realised it. And that happened because, weirdly, depression can be a real thing when you don't feel particularly unhappy. And often anxiety and depression can come hand in hand. The anxiety can be light, so we barely know it's there. But as it becomes chronic, it wears us down and manifests in weird ways. And depression can feel like fatigue, like a lack of motivation, an inability to really focus, finding easy things difficult for no real reason or even just getting irritable. Even if it feels like nothing is wrong.

The reason I mention this is that we are in very stressful times. Anxiety is all around us. The air is filled with tension. The situation is very unusual. It's weird and it's going to affect us to some degree whether we're conscious of that or not.

So do look out for yourself. If you're feeling fatigue, keep an eye on that. Do whatever you can to look after your mental health.

[QuantumLeap]

Are you happy ? , now that's a question I cannot answer just yet. Basically for me,I will say life has been trying . If I could sum it up , if I wrote to Take a Break , I'd get 500 quid ,be on ten prozac a day, and hold more booze in me than a Weatherspoons warehouse.

Before lockdown started I went away with the other half and had an amazing weekend away together , everything was magical and I mean magically perfect. Anyway , after getting back decided after 5 years to ask the question ( everyone said we were meant to be together) , Monday bought the ring , I wasnt going to ask that day as I wanted to do something special. Moving on following day receive the "break up txt" while I'm at work relating to I'm to good for her , to caring , to special blah blah. She moved out that day etc

Wednesday took the ring back ( she had no idea I was going to ask anyway ) bloke who sold it me remembered me and said wrong size , I replied no, wrong woman lol......I'll get back to her later...

4 weeks ago I lost my best friend to cancer, she was like the sister I always wanted but I couldn't say goodbye in person due to Corona restrictions ...we wrote to each other and spoke on the phone but I just wanted to be with her but I couldn't .......

Week later I heard my dad had passed away ......not seen him or my family in 20 years , while I was at school on a friday all them years ago they moved house without telling me that day , I was homeless at 15 , not seen them since. A friend of a friend told me about him. But he was still my dad , that's a mind bender I tell you.

So back to the past two weeks ...work ( key worker ) who do they transfer to the office due to alot of management\colleagues being off sick you've guessed it my ex ( she works in different location ) oh how my life is such a rollercoaster at the min what makes this week even harder it was supposed to be the surprise Italy big question holiday.

Inbetween all this I've helped a colleague at work who confided to me she was self harming due to her anxiety and Corona situation so I'm happy that I was there to help her and shes in a better place now, it's the little things that keep me going ...and wasting the ring money on ebay purchases ...new gaming monitor turned up today so that's a win.

Luckily I dont drink or gamble ,otherwise I'd be a penniless alcoholic by now and to be fair i dont feel anything about myself at the minute.

So am i happy ? I'm happy I get up every morning, I'm happy I helped a colleague out of a bad situation, I'm happy I've bought a new monitor and a few games I'll take that and hopefully one day I'll be happy everyday everyweek , but for now I'll take the odd ten minutes of happiness rather than none.

[Super Grover]

Well that sounds like a roller coaster of emotions there QL, but you have my respect for helping out a colleague who’s obviously in a bad place. Kudos to you.

[JazzFunk]

Hate to say this because I'm not trying to rub it in but I'm so happy to be back at work.

Had a rough 18 months and I finally feel back on track again. Bruised as **** but every bruise makes me happy.

[Blobcat]

The news about Virgin Atlantic cutting jobs and quitting Gatwick has pretty much killed my last trickle of hope that I had we were gonna get our Honeymoon. Damn. Really not been in a good place recently and this has not helped.


[MENTION=6476]JazzFunk[/MENTION], Jesus I was bruised as **** on Friday too which was my first fill day back to work, I feel ya! They are still going to try and reduce most nurse positions to half days but I was at work for 11 hours that day! I feel alive again being back at work even though its a drag with our limited service and ****ton of PPE we have to wear now. Stay safe people.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I thought I was doing OK but it's funny how bad habits can slowly creep in. I just had a sudden realisation that I've become my old self again. I'm cranky, and lazy and quick to anger. I'm not feeling suicidal yet, but I'm sure that will creep back too.
I need to get my head straight again. I think the lack of a work routine is a cause. It's easy to be lazy at home which leads to a lack of discipline and all the bad habits come back.