It's all doom and gloom: It's getting harder to keep up with the news without feeling hopeless about the situation

[Inflikted]

Man, it's getting tough to try to "keep up" with what's going on with this, anymore, simply because every discussion I see has really honed in on the "doom and gloom" outlook. Like, I know there really isn't any "light at the end of the tunnel" right now, it's just getting harder and harder to try to keep up with the news without feeling so... "hopeless" about the situation.

[Inflikted]

I don't know what it is about today, but I feel like the "doom and gloom" has really taken hold of things. Maybe being more than a week into being laid off and stuck at home, not being able to see friends and stuff, has made me more aware of it, or something. But I feel like everywhere I look, it's either "doom and gloom", or political bickering. And I know there really isn't any "good news" right now, and thus far, it doesn't look like we have anything to look forward to. I've been trying to stay positive that we'll get through this eventually, and "enjoy the vacation from work", so to speak. But the "doom and gloom" is starting to hit me.

I'm worried about my parents; my dad is still working, and if either of them end up coming down with it, they're probably not going to survive it. And I'm not ready to lose either of them, let alone both at the same time. Honestly, if I end up catching it, it'll probably be potentially serious for me, because I had mild asthma as a kid, so my lungs might not be able to handle it.

I'm worried it's going to destroy my friendship with my two best friends. We're still kinda keeping in touch via texting, but it's really not the same. It'll probably be several weeks (if not months, or even more than a year) before I get to see them again, and who knows, maybe they'll have "moved on" from me by then.

I'm sorry. I know everyone is struggling right now, and I'm not trying to be selfish. I've just been struggling today to continue thinking positive and looking for the "light at the end of the tunnel".

[justwhoiam]

4 hours ago, Inflikted said:

Man, it's getting tough to try to "keep up" with what's going on with this, anymore, simply because every discussion I see has really honed in on the "doom and gloom" outlook. Like, I know there really isn't any "light at the end of the tunnel" right now, it's just getting harder and harder to try to keep up with the news without feeling so... "hopeless" about the situation.

Italy declared a national emergency in January until July 31. That's our goal. As the maximum time span of the virus in a human body is 37 days (average contagion considered as 14 days), if people are doing their part, we get rid of this. The more people are resistant and go against rules, the longer it'll take to get out of the tunnel. Some people seem to not understand that.

[FMW]

This is a really stressful, and for many depressing, time.  I think most people are struggling with it in some way.

Try to distract yourself from the dark thoughts.  For me, I'm reading a lot more, it (usually) will absorb my attention and keep unhappy thoughts at bay.  I get out and walk every day and plan to hike on weekends (keeping appropriate distance from other people).  The fresh air, physical activity and varied scenery put me in a better state of mind. 

This is a temporary situation - keep reminding yourself of that.  We can't know what longer term effects this will have, so as with most things, don't buy trouble by worrying about future things over which you have no control.  Just take it day by day.    

[Ruby Slippers]

A few days ago, I was checking the news many times a day. Now it's once or twice a day just to see the big updates. I've shifted my focus to what's going on in my world, how I can be uplifting, positive visualizations. These forces are much bigger than us, so I think the best we can do is stay positive and focus on good things. Turning off the news completely helps.

[Ellener]

Depends what you look at. Tons of positive things are going on in the world amid the chaos, brave, kind, selfless, clever things. 

A 'glass half empty' person isn't going to change during a global crisis, some people seem to revel in misery. Avoid them!

For news I read BBC once or twice a day.

My puppy is enjoying all the extra attention, I am discovering solitary places to walk her in the evenings when it cools down. Watching her run off the leash for a few minutes is the new highlight of my days 🐶

 

 

[clia]

Do a zoom call with your friends every couple of days.  It makes a big difference.  

[Happy Lemming]

9 minutes ago, clia said:

Do a zoom call...

Can anyone educate me about "zoom"??  One of my girlfriend's doctors wants to do a zoom call with her and it won't load on her phone.

Can she do it from my computer??  If so, what do I need (in the way of hardware)??  I have a webcam and microphone for "skype".  Do I need anything different for zoom??  Do I just download the software??

Please and Thank You!!

[Ellener]

1 hour ago, Happy Lemming said:

Can anyone educate me about "zoom"??  One of my girlfriend's doctors wants to do a zoom call with her and it won't load on her phone.

Can she do it from my computer??  If so, what do I need (in the way of hardware)??  I have a webcam and microphone for "skype".  Do I need anything different for zoom??  Do I just download the software??

Please and Thank You!!

I just downloaded it, then entered the url for the meeting I was given. There's a walk-through tutorial when you sign up.

[Happy Lemming]

@Ellener

Thanks... I going to go try it.

[Happy Lemming]

1 hour ago, Ellener said:

There's a walk-through tutorial when you sign up.

I got "Zoom" loaded and tested all the components, microphone, speaker and webcam. We checked with my girlfriend's doctor and they will send some link or code (via e-mail) the day of the appointment.

Thanks for your help.

[Inflikted]

Yeah, I've been trying to distract myself as much as I can with my little hobbies. Heck, I gotta fill my time somehow while I'm laid off. I'm really just tired of all the political bickering. I'm sick of seeing discussions on hobby forums I frequent about it where people are basically saying stuff like "USA now has the most cases, we're doomed", and stuff. People saying that we're going to be like this for months. It's all starting to wear me down.

And for as much of a homebody as I am, it's really taking a toll on me to sit at home all day. I never thought I'd "miss" being at work. But then, leaving the house is a risk, and it's not like I have anywhere to really go otherwise, anyway. I know it's probably a very stupid risk, at this point, but today I treated myself to some takeout, just for some slice of normalcy, and it felt weird driving, as I haven't driven my car in over a week.

[Foxhall]

trying to digest about a new lockdown directive that has just come in.

Apparently I cannot go more than 2km from the house which rules out my favourite walking point (30 mins) and also my girlfriend who is 2 hours away,

I wonder then how or how strictly will they enforce this,

then on the other hand I am someone who had a weak chest in my childhood, so I am getting a little anxious about that

avoiding this illness probably has to be the main focus now.

 

[Inflikted]

The hypochondriac in me is feeling a little nervous, because for the last few hours, I've been feeling this weird tickle somewhere between my throat and my chest. Granted, I often have nasal drainage, so it's probably just that. But with the world as it is now, it's hard not to wonder "What if...?".

[simpycurious]

13 hours ago, Inflikted said:

The hypochondriac in me is feeling a little nervous, because for the last few hours, I've been feeling this weird tickle somewhere between my throat and my chest. Granted, I often have nasal drainage, so it's probably just that. But with the world as it is now, it's hard not to wonder "What if...?".

Maybe, it's just the POLLEN.  Lots of POLLEN right now and it can make your throat sore.  

[Eternal Sunshine]

I am feeling pretty calm about everything. While I realize the seriousness of the situation, I don't get caught up in panic and am really not worried. We have been there quite a few times in the past and it will all end. Part of me feels like this is getting overblown by the media. Pandemics are a natural occurence and happen every few decades - it's just one of those things that controls overpopulation. The fight against it has been very dramatic, much more dramatic than at any point in the past. So saying this is the first time in 100 years that stores are closed etc, doesn't mean that this is the most serious situation in 100 years - just one that media and politicians have decided to give the most attention to.

My view is not very popular. I get that people dying is bad, I just don't get why x people dying in 2020 is exponentially (I am starting to hate that word) worse than millions dying in 1968 from Hong Kong flu (also a pandemic) for example. I actually asked few people that were teenegers in 1968 and none recall Hong Kong flu at all.

 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2020 by Eternal Sunshine

[pepperbird]

4 hours ago, Eternal Sunshine said:

I am feeling pretty calm about everything. While I realize the seriousness of the situation, I don't get caught up in panic and am really not worried. We have been there quite a few times in the past and it will all end. Part of me feels like this is getting overblown by the media. Pandemics are a natural occurence and happen every few decades - it's just one of those things that controls overpopulation. The fight against it has been very dramatic, much more dramatic than at any point in the past. So saying this is the first time in 100 years that stores are closed etc, doesn't mean that this is the most serious situation in 100 years - just one that media and politicians have decided to give the most attention to.

My view is not very popular. I get that people dying is bad, I just don't get why x people dying in 2020 is exponentially (I am starting to hate that word) worse than millions dying in 1968 from Hong Kong flu (also a pandemic) for example. I actually asked few people that were teenegers in 1968 and none recall Hong Kong flu at all.

 

 

 

I'm in the same boat as you.
My niece works at an ER in the capital city of my province. Hers is the one this in crisis (if they live on the mainland and maybe CB if it gets bad) would be taken to.
From what she's told me, it's busier than usual, but there's none of this having to choose who gets a ventilator or anything like that.
I don't know what it's like in other places. I only know what I've seen here.

There's also an awful lot of clandestine ignoring of the suggestions for social distancing. My daughters have both told me how they've seen online how groups of teens here are waiting until it gets dark and late to gather in large groups-that way, they won't get caught.  The liquor stores, hardware stores, grocery stores, pharmacies florists, etc. are all open ( as is the community's sexual products shop and head shops) and we're starting to hear mumbling that the virus was already here. I don't know if there's truth in this or not, but we had what most felt was just a "flu" went through here about three weeks ago. People felt terrible- coughing, high fever, a sore throat chest pain and very slight stuffy nose)  but no hospitalizations. My family all had it, and even though I was having some trouble breathing, there was no way I was going the schlep myself to the ER to sit in a soup of germs unless I was at death's door. We all stayed home and self isolated. I have no idea if it was covid-19 or not, but since people were freely travelling back then, it's possible.




 

[Ellener]

1 hour ago, pepperbird said:

we had what most felt was just a "flu" went through here about three weeks ago. People felt terrible- coughing, high fever, a sore throat chest pain and very slight stuffy nose)  but no hospitalizations. My family all had it, and even though I was having some trouble breathing, there was no way I was going the schlep myself to the ER

Abbott have just been given US permission to fast track their 5 minute test machine, they plan to produce 50 000 in the next week.

Testing priority is currently for those with symptoms.

Once there are more tests available people without symptoms will be able to get an antibody test to see if they have immunity where they suspect they have already had a mild case.

 

[pepperbird]

2 hours ago, Ellener said:

Abbott have just been given US permission to fast track their 5 minute test machine, they plan to produce 50 000 in the next week.

Testing priority is currently for those with symptoms.

Once there are more tests available people without symptoms will be able to get an antibody test to see if they have immunity where they suspect they have already had a mild case.

 

My feeling is that it's been around in communities a few weeks longer than what some think. I know a lot of people who had the same illness we did ( my son brought it home from his school) , and if even a fraction. turned out to have the disease, that really skews the numbers. The current 110 cases and x number of deaths could change to maybe a thousand with the same.number of deaths. That drastically changes the stats,.

[Inflikted]

Being off work a few days was kinda nice, but man, it feels weird to be cooped up at home so much. Granted, aside from visiting my friends once a week, going to work was the only time I'd actually "get out of the house". Now, I'm laid off, can't visit my friends, and it just kinda... sucks. Watching shows/ movies, and playing video games is nice to pass the time, but I feel like I'm spending WAY too much time in front of screens, and becoming a real "couch potato" on top of that. But it's not like I can even go anywhere to bother leaving the house. And there's not much else I can do at home. On one hand, I feel super antsy, and on the other hand, I feel like any and all motivation has been sapped out of me.

[Philosopher]

At the start of this my main fear had been getting the actual illness. I am a bit of a hypochondriac so such physical signs such as an isolated cough or tiredness had made me worried that I have the illness. I have been working from home and avoiding social contact for the last two weeks, my last proper in person contact with someone was 13 days ago, so even my hypochondriac mind is beginning to realise that the odds that have contracted the illness since then is now extremely low.

My fears have gradually shifted to more long fears. My hope is that the lockdown and other measures being taken to control this are so successful that in a few months the remaining cases and their contacts can be isolated and life in the summer returns to relative normality. However even with a few months of very aggressive lockdown measures I am not optimistic that this will be the case. I worry life will be considerably disrupted until most people are vaccinated against this, which may not be until the middle or end of next year. 

Finally when this is all over I worry life will never return to what it was like before the pandemic, for example everyone works from home half the time or people stop going to the pub and instead socialise mostly over the internet. Many people I suspect would not be too bothered by this and may even welcome it, however personally am not great with sudden changes so find this prospect uncomfortable.

[Fletch Lives]

I think the best thing to do is, do your part........we know what to do... limit social contact and practice personal hygiene. The news is depressing - watch less of it.

[Inflikted]

3 hours ago, Fletch Lives said:

I think the best thing to do is, do your part........we know what to do... limit social contact and practice personal hygiene. The news is depressing - watch less of it.

For me, it's not even so much "the news"; rather, I spend a lot of time on discussion forums pertaining to my hobbies, because at least it's some kind of social activity, but all anyone really wants to talk about is the coronavirus, and it seems 99% of people talking about it in the places I frequent are very pessimistic and "doom and gloom"-y. It's a frustrating conundrum; I'm bored as heck sitting at home trying to occupy my time, I try to go to my usual discussion forums for some form of human interaction, but all that's there anymore is how screwed we are about coronavirus, and how a lot of people are going to die and how we're going to be locked down for over a year, and how the world is never going to be the same, and it's the end of the world, and so on.

So, I can't have "internet social time" without being stuck in conversations about how we're all doomed.

[schlumpy]

The problem I have with news reporting is that there is no context. Everyday a death toll from coronavirus is plastered across the screen and I don't know what it means except that some people died that day. How many people die everyday in the US? How many people died from the regular flu that day? I have nothing to compare this number to. It's like holding an object at a distance and trying to guess it's size without knowing how far away it is.

Very frustrating

[Cookiesandough]

Things worse than coronavirus: 

-when  you match with a guy on an app that is looking so right and has you in your feelings just from his pics then he messages

”hey your gorgeous. How are u?”

😭

- when you match a similarly attractive guy but all your jokes go over his head 

-When you go through like 20 Grubhub coupon codes and they’re all expired or not working