fishsticks
Chatty Member
Joanna really annoyed me with her rant about this as this pandemic is not black and white. Before I write anything else, I completely sympathise with her, about her grandad. It's personally affected me and my family too and it's definitely not a joke, it's definitely a real issue in the UK/ROW and it's definitely something that needs to be taken serious. HOWEVER...
I am truly dreading having to return to work. Working from home works for me. It's not for everyone, but yes, I'm dreading it. I'm concerned my mental health is going to decline again. I'm concerned the black hole WFH has got me out of is going to appear again.
I have been very fortunate that I have been able to work from home and have not been furloughed. I didn't realise until I started WFH how much my mental health had declined over the past 3-ish years. I'm now the smiley, happy, bubbly person I was 3 years ago. I appear to have more time to spend with my husband (he's a key worker, so hasn't been with me every minute of every day for the last 3 months, so I don't mean in that sense), I appear to spend less time doing housework even though the house appears to be cleaner than ever, I appear to have more time to study and I'm far less stressed about work. I've got more time to study, read for pleasure and I'm even exercising more... yet I feel like I still have so much more time even after all that!
This is a very negative situation, of course it is, it's a pandemic! However, I will be taking the bad things this pandemic has thrown at me and my family and also find the positives in it too. For me, WFH has been a positive and having to go back to work is terrifying. It's terrifying because I don't want my mental health to decline, I don't want to go back into that hole that I never even realised I was in. My anxiety has dramatically decreased and I finally feel free.
I also have colleagues who have really struggled WFH and their mental health has declined because of it. I have helped those colleagues, I've spoken with them daily to ensure they're okay. I understand that this situation is affecting every single person differently.
You CANNOT tell someone how to feel. You CANNOT make someone feel guilty for the way they feel. You CANNOT expect everyone to think or feel how you do. Never. Not now. Not in a pandemic. Not after a pandemic. Not ever.
Rant over.
so desperate to become an influencer. 
). Before corona when she was out at work full time, she was always moaning about being tired and ‘living for the weekend’ and generally struggling through the working week. I get the feeling her career isn’t particularly important. Maybe she’s thinking she wants to be one of these mumfluencer types, I bet she’s badgering Adam something chronic about getting hitched and sprogged up.