We've launched the new forums! Read more here

COVID Pandemic - How has it impacted you?

jmix18

jmix18

I'm just happy to be here.
Albatross 2024 Club
Joined
Oct 21, 2020
Messages
6,205
Reaction score
11,261
Location
Minnesota
Handicap
4.8
With what seems like things winding down a bit (knock on wood) in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic (States opening up, mask mandates being lifted, vaccines increasing) - looking back how has it impacted you overall?

I remember talking with one of my teachers in Feb '20 about what we were starting to see with COVID. He suggested that this might be like the Spanish Flu of 1918.... a global pandemic. I dismissed that notion at the time... Looking back over a year later - What impacts has C19 had on your world? Anything beneficial come of it? (Please don't make this political).

I can tell you that the pandemic forced me to slow down and really engage at home. It's allowed me to better my golf game a great deal - and it's grown the game for my family. We finally got another dog after 9 years of pestering my wife to get another.

And... it brought me to THP. Which really helped get me through the winter lockdowns and distance learning for schools.

So what say you?
 
It taught me that my grandparents can’t be brought down by a virus. It gave me loads of time at home with my now 3.5 year old. It also kept him out of school and with less social interactions, something that is being reversed this year. It allowed us to save big time and move on to our next (decidedly upgraded) house.
 
Like you, I found THP - what a place. It changed - dramatically my daughter's college graduation (diploma in May, waked in Oct - in a very limited event). I lost 95 lbs, my wife has lost about 40. And we have begun some downsizing of stuff. Oh, and everyone in the house is more physically fit. But birthdays, graduation, mother/father days - all less than perfect - as I am sure many would agree.

If the planet can get people in India and Africa vaccinated - and somewhat quickly, I think we will see this become more of a flu type thing, annual booster 'flu' shot, maybe a few months of being masked up.

Hope we all learn a lot from this, how to mange, how to adapt and don't immediately write it off as a one off enabling it to remain or return.
 
Always buy the "cancel for any reason" trip insurance.
Kinda like hanging out with my wife
People are crazier than I thought
Not being able to go visit clients/ride around with the radio on, makes me crazy
I really, really, don't like being told what to do
 
It made me grateful. I was fortunate to stay employed throughout the pandemic. My wife had a rough go of it as she’s doing her internal medicine residency and it’s just been awful for her, her coworkers, and her patients. She works crazy hours and it’s been really tough not being able to go out or get away. We’ve only been able to see our nephew twice since he was born last April, but at least he’s healthy. My parents lost their house in NC to a tornado, but those were just things.

It’s been mentally grueling, but I’m optimistic looking forward.
 
My wife and I have become permanent work from home employees. I really enjoyed being a homebody for the last year except for golf. I am glad to start visiting more with my family now that we are all vaccinated, but the rest of normal life is kind of starting to burn me out already. Just having a party or a church event or a social gathering on my calendar every weekend day again is not my thing as an introvert. Glad everyone can do it if they want, but I wish less of them invited me LOL!
 
Changed the way I work, probably forever. After talks and talks with my company it doesn't sound like they want us back in the office. We're just way more productive at home.

It's made things easier as far as young kids and day care. If I need to go grab one because they're sick, I'm not scrambling to find grandparents, etc (I used to drive 45 minutes one way to work).

It has been mentally tough. Harder to go do things w/o taking precautions, and it sucks to think my youngest doesn't know what it's like to go into a restaurant to eat or go into a grocery store, but I'm looking forward to the day that we can do those again w/o thinking.
 
Ŵe did the the usual for the past year. No crowded events. Wore our masks, and washed our hands alot. We still did family get togethers. 20+ people.

When we first knew something serious was up, we moved out of the Vegas Valley to a piece of property we have 45+ miles south. A small town away from the spreading infection. Our nearest neighbor was a 1/2 mile away.

Having family members working in the medical community, we knew early on this was no simple flu virus.

As for us personally, it was quite possible my wife caught it before most. She came down with something in late December 2019. She wound up in icu for a couple weeks with some sort of respiratory infection. Her final diagnosis on her release was "unknown flu like symptoms". Myself, I had a pretty bad chest cold for a week or so. Knowing what we know now it, it was probably the c19 virus. I still have a lingering, nuisance cough from what ever I had. Niether one of us were ever checked.

Once the virus spread south, we figured what yhe hell, and moved back to civilization to another small town to be closer to family, and so my Wife could help out at the local hospital as a volunteer. We like the little town so much, we have no reason to move back into Vegas. That, and our Grandson, and some of his college buddies have taken over the Vegas home.

Neither my wife, or I have been sick wirh anything since December 2019. Not even a sniffle.

Lately we have started going to some public functions. I elected to get the two Pfizer shots. My Wife hasn't decided on getting them as yet. She's definately not going to get the J&J shot.

We have recently completed a 4 state road trip to visit relatives. We might drive to the Grand Canyon this week.

All in all, we don't expect to ever see our pre covid life style again. No more visits to the Vegas Strip gambling night life for starters. No more holdem poker nights for me. I doubt we will ever move back to our Vegas home.
 
I worked from home for most of it and learned that it wasn't the best thing for me. I really like going into the office and interacting with the team. I am ready for things to be opened back up.
 
My job requires me to attend the workplace but on the up side, my employment is secure and my commute has been better during the strict lockdown periods. My wife has been working primarily from home.

The closure of other sports and physical activities motivated my family to jump into golf, which was great last year. Unfortunately, golf was added to the list of prohibited activities during our current round of lockdown restrictions. I'm counting the days until it lifts.

All in all, other than boredom, my family doesn't have too much to complain about but are certainly looking forward to being able to host friends, and get back on the course!
 
My wife works mostly from home now but I still have to go in every day.
We haven't been to a concert in over a year and we are big fans of rocknroll concerts.
We've eaten more order to go or delivery food than ever.
We haven't visited family in a long time.
We haven't traveled at all since this started.
We haven't been to a movie since this started.
We haven't dined in a restaraunt since it started.

We're now both vaccinated so we will be taking our first vacation trip in 2 weeks.
Hopefully Florida won't be too hot or too infective....LOL.
 
Well I won't go into all the ways it's actually impacted my mindset. Let's just say it deepened my already healthy distrust of government and certain influential figures in this country and around the world...
 
Except missing things that were locked down...restaurants, concerts, sporting events, international travel. As soon as lockdowns started getting lifted we started going back to what was open.

Not much else has changed in day to day life...work stayed the same for the most part except for masks, got to hike/kayak as usual, more time for some golf. Never missed a family outing/reunion, though some had less people at them compared to usual years.
 
I count myself amongst the fortunate in that with the exception of a few weeks at home (which the company ultimately paid us for) it has been business "almost as usual" for me. Last March when things first started looking bad I was naive; I figured "two or three weeks and this will all be behind us". Boy, was I wrong. While what I do for work has been classified "essential" and therefore continues, pretty much everything else I would do in my own time has been shut down/opened up/shut down more than a toilet seat. And currently the outlook is grim - we're under a stay at home until next Friday but I'm 100% certain it's going to get extended.

I don't agree with some of the decisions our leaders have made, but for the most part I just roll with it. Lately however the indecision/one step forward/two steps back approach has been weighing heavily on me. My biggest beef is the lack of consistency. But, as a person who suffers from depression I am beginning to have concern that if our current approach continues much longer it may become an issue for me.

Last year saw no trips/vacation of any shape or form; I think I was the only one in the company who didn't use the allotted vacation time. I used three days out of an available three weeks. Even this year it's "keep your head down" and pretend that life is normal. I can hang in for a little longer, but beyond that all bets are off. What's that expression: "all work and no play...."?
 
Drumdog said:
We haven't been to a concert in over a year and we are big fans of rocknroll concerts.
Click to expand...
Number one thing I have missed is live music. I will be beyond excited when I get to see my next rock concert.
 
I'm retired, so impact work-wise was a non-factor. Our golf courses stayed open throughout (with most of the restrictions common everywhere), so I was able to get out and golf 3-4 times a week, which did a large part to preserve my sanity. I'm not much of a traveler anyway, so no effect there. Restaurants were takeout only for a while, then gradually reopened with distancing rules in effect. I went to two local outdoor music festivals in February and March, and we still did our annual guys' golf trip/tournament, although we had to postpone it to October instead of February. Probably the biggest impact was that I gained almost 15 pounds from the gym being shut down - they've since reopened but are requiring masks throughout your workout and I'm absolutely not doing that ridiculousness, so I'm still out of the gym. The other biggest impact was all the Californians crowding our stores, restaurants, golf courses and boat ramps, since theirs were all shut down, we're virtually right across the border, and a lot of them own summer lake homes here anyway.

We're pretty much fully reopened now - still a few stores and restaurants who choose to require masks and still some "social distancing" precautions, but everything is open and running. Now it's just the psychological stress of feeling like you're living in a post-apocalyptic world with all the people driving and walking around in masks.
 
Last edited:
I find people jobs. In some cases, the pandemic brought out the worst in peoples behavior. I have seen remote workers wanting two full time jobs because they can work remote and get away with it. Ghosting seems to be at an all time high.
 
jmix18 said:
With what seems like things winding down a bit (knock on wood) in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic (States opening up, mask mandates being lifted, vaccines increasing) - looking back how has it impacted you overall?

I remember talking with one of my teachers in Feb '20 about what we were starting to see with COVID. He suggested that this might be like the Spanish Flu of 1918.... a global pandemic. I dismissed that notion at the time... Looking back over a year later - What impacts has C19 had on your world? Anything beneficial come of it? (Please don't make this political).

I can tell you that the pandemic forced me to slow down and really engage at home. It's allowed me to better my golf game a great deal - and it's grown the game for my family. We finally got another dog after 9 years of pestering my wife to get another.

And... it brought me to THP. Which really helped get me through the winter lockdowns and distance learning for schools.

So what say you?
Click to expand...
It taught me that theres a lot of things that I used to think were important but really arent. I honestly didnt miss sports all that much (and havent watched a ton of sports with the stadiums being empty), didnt miss going out to eat all that much (before last weekend, I hadnt been out to a bar or restaurant for over a year) and didnt miss going to see movies in a theater (havent been to a theater in over a year and dont miss it).
As someone who is an introvert, COVID didnt effect me like it did some people because I enjoy doing stuff at home and doing things alone. Ive spent much of the time over the last year playing golf, working on my yard, improving my woodworking skills and I started a real, serious, daily meditation practice.
 
The Good - without our golf tourists last year most of the courses offered special "locals" rates. Got to play some great courses at discounted prices.
The Bad - I lost 2 friends to Covid, one April 2020, one in July. Both were medical personnel on the front lines. I miss them.
 
It didn't change my day to day that much. We were blessed to work in fields that didn't close.. we adjusted and rolled with it.

We didn't go out to eat all that much beforehand, and we didn't go to bars to just drink, so that saved money rolled into our house.

Thankfully family didnt have any major issues with it, but not getting to visit my dad in the hospital or now in the rehab kind of sucks. I've had family friends who had and each of them were impacted greatly, some with long lasting medical issues it seems.

Psychologically I think we're fed up with the being pent up, but its a means to an end. With a baby on the way wife doesn't want to chance anything.

I hope that others make it through this unscathed. And hopefully we all come out of this and rebuild little by little. I feel the worst for kids because I think they will have fear or paranoia about being around others, germs etc
 
Company sales went down while supply costs went up so I was one of many there that was let go. Then I got some non-covid related health issues that I'm hoping to finally resolve sooner rather than later. Biggest problem for me with the health issues was hospitals/clinics holding off on non-emergency stuff. Now they're playing catch-up so it's still a pain getting timely appointments.

I cook at home so I rarely go to restaurants. I can't remember the last movie I saw in theaters (probably whenever the last Star Wars movie was out). City where I live is too small for big name concerts and no pro sports teams. Guess I'm trying to say the closures didn't really bother me, but I did enjoy less traffic when going to Menards/Target/grocery store.
 
So In Melbourne Australia, we had lock downs , with only 4 essential reasons to be out, never seen so many fit dogs being walked multiple times a day lol , lam in. Essential service ( Water/waste water) so we continued on with skeleton support and the majority of back off working from home. My partners involved in health industry COVID response , massive hours of work.

Response, greater Melbourne and Victoria, followed the directions with some recalcitrants, lost nearly 900 people over various reasons ( will keep politics free of that )

Lack of opportunity to play sports for me was enduring pain ( 1st world problem ) l knew l was resilient personality, just like a marathon we completed the weeks and months , the vaccine hope on horizon,stared in disbelief at world wide suffering and various responses over the spectrum.

The light Is that potentially we have vaccine , although the evolving strains look nasty unsure how the vac will handle that.

To apply gold analogy we had quadruple bogey , move on to the next hole , and avoid the hazards on that , and hope all successfully end back at the club house for handshake and laugh and smile and enjoy each other company again .
 
I have been working from home now for 14 months and counting and while it has some benefits I do miss the social interaction. my better half has been struggling as she is volunteer and very social and her activities have been strictly curtailed. Takes everything I have to keep her spirits up, day in, day out.

Have only golfed about half dozen rounds so far (;after a 5 month winter shutdown) then we were shut down 3 weeks ago for who knows how long. I used to have a couple of alcoholic drinks on the weekend while cooking/BBQing but that activity has now become a daily occurrence 😢.

Have only seen my youngest boy twice in the past 18 months...really miss him and worry about him daily. He lives in downtown Toronto, in software and has been locked down at home even more than myself. Hoping he will be able to get the vaccine in the next 4-6 weeks so can have him home. My other son is closer and have been able to see him a few times albeit socially distanced. He is scheduled to get the vaccine before the end of May so will be good to see him and his girlfriend again.

I am just hoping our incompetent provincial leadership can see the light and open outdoor activity including golf sooner than later. The mental duress it is having is escalating daily. I am happy to see my friends to the south doing well and starting to get back to normal. Praying for the day when life gets back to some normalcy.
 
Jimmy3864 said:
I have been working from home now for 14 months and counting and while it has some benefits I do miss the social interaction. my better half has been struggling as she is volunteer and very social and her activities have been strictly curtailed. Takes everything I have to keep her spirits up, day in, day out.

Have only golfed about half dozen rounds so far (;after a 5 month winter shutdown) then we were shut down 3 weeks ago for who knows how long. I used to have a couple of alcoholic drinks on the weekend while cooking/BBQing but that activity has now become a daily occurrence 😢.

Have only seen my youngest boy twice in the past 18 months...really miss him and worry about him daily. He lives in downtown Toronto, in software and has been locked down at home even more than myself. Hoping he will be able to get the vaccine in the next 4-6 weeks so can have him home. My other son is closer and have been able to see him a few times albeit socially distanced. He is scheduled to get the vaccine before the end of May so will be good to see him and his girlfriend again.

I am just hoping our incompetent provincial leadership can see the light and open outdoor activity including golf sooner than later. The mental duress it is having is escalating daily. I am happy to see my friends to the south doing well and starting to get back to normal. Praying for the day when life gets back to some normalcy.
Click to expand...

Man, the shutdowns in Ontario seem severe. I have not been following up north as much as I should, but hoping the best for you!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top