To Gracie and 007:
I have a group of long-time friends who are more like family than friends. There are six of us - four women, two men. We are all single, for the first time. The last marriage in the group ended just before Christmas, and we're still getting our friend through that one.
Some of us have been hanging out together either online or in real life since 1999. We met through our mutual obsession/love of figure skating, but over the years we discovered other sporting interests, and formed really deep bonds of friendship. I am the oldest, and the only retiree in the group. The youngest members are late 30's.
Throughout the pandemic, we have functioned as a support network for one another, and what we've all been talking about lately is "feeling stuck". It's hard to make future plans when we have no idea what the new normal will really look like. There are things I should do, and need to do, but it's hard to get moving.
The lockdown and never ending plague, is becoming mentally hard on all of us. Last Spring, I thought I was acing lockdown, and my hair starting falling out. I had bald patches on the left side of my head. My hairdresser said it looked like it had been "faded". And she said it was from stress. So much for acing the lockdown, but it made me realize this is harder on all of us than we knew.
I was chatting about this with one of my friends, and he said that he was having similar feelings, and that's when the whole group started talking about the mental health effects of living alone during lockdown. While caring for my new cat has been a God-send of a distraction for me, not everyone has something to keep them going. Problems seem larger when you have nothing to do but stew about them all day long. I've learned that one.
Also getting outside. Thank heavens the nicer weather is here. There is an eagle nesting grounds just outside of town I may peddle out to visit. Living by the water out in the country is just amazing. I've seen lots of birds I've only ever seen pictures of and a few I had to google. Fresh air and sunshine are good for the soul. Also gardening, and digging in the dirt. Sunshine on your shoulders does indeed, make you happy.
There are still days when I feel like I'm just hanging on by my fingernails. My friends all say similar things. If we had health or money concerns to add to the stress, I don't know how I'd cope. I also feel like I really shouldn't be complaining, because I don't feel like I have "real" problems - like health or money.
It's just all a mess and I just want it gone. I'm opening up to you all to tell you you're not alone in how you're feeling. We're all feeling it, no matter how well or poorly our governments are dealing with things, no matter what our economic situations are, even those who are economically and health wise, getting through this, are finding it hard to do so.
