Depressed due to isolation and civil liberty restrictions

[Tangney]

Does anyone feel their depression worsening because they are not afraid of the virus and don't agree with the lock down? I can't stand the isolation and hate the restrictions on my freedoms. I was isolated before this started and now it's worse. I feel that the isolation will actually kill me if it goes on for much longer and I am spiralling downwards. This is made worse by the fact that the reasons for the lock down are no longer in existence. I know that on 1 June things will get better, but it seems like a lifetime away just now. Isolation is used as a form of torture in some countries and solitary confinement is a punishment. I feel that this is being imposed on me, even though I haven't committed any crime. Some people cope better than others with these sorts of conditions. You tube videos, baking cakes, and knowing that flowers will eventually bloom doesn't make any difference. It would be nice to know if there are others who feel the same way. If anyone else out there thinks the same, please post a response.

[Moonstruck]

lunastone....I have stopped posting on here, as well as the other Coronovirus one...as I always seem to be shouted down and clearly in the minority...or maybe those who share my opinion have also given up expressing themselves.

Yes just for the record I am double dosed but wondering just how long the segregation when Qld borders open on December 17 can last. with those not vaccinated not allowed to go to cafes, restaurants, bars, theatres, sports stadiums etc...in other words all the places that let life be enjoyed. Will it end in violence? How long can a government suppress a people before things turn ugly?

Will we ever be "one Australia" again? What a farce that beautiful song sounds like today "I am, you are, we are Australian"......not it seems, if you are unvaccinated!

[0ldDog]

@lunastone

Personally the lockdowns never bothered me because I generally only go out once a fortnight to do my shopping. That said, I have friends over east and feel for them, because there is a huge difference between choosing not to go out and not being allowed out.

I was adamant that I would not accept the AZ vaccine more on principle becuase ScoMo was pushing AZ so hard, I figured he had been promised a seat on the AZ board after he retired, which I hope will be sooner rather than later. Our government managed to blow an opportunity with Pfizer earlier this year and give more people a choice and being over 60, I wasn’t impressed to discover that I had just two choices, take AZ or leave it.

I got vaccinated when my choices increased but only because I didn’t want to pass covid to others…how dumb was I. Being vaccinate means a person can reduce the likelihood of ending up in intensive care or worse but can still catch covid and transmit it to others without realising they have it, so I’m still trying to get my head around restrictions. In the UK, I am told that you can test positive but your family can still continue as normal and go to work, etc. I find that laughable.

Mother Nature occasionally tries to level the playing field and restore a balance but mankind keeps finding ways to short-circuit her attempts. 

We talk about climate change, when we should be talking about this being a climate for change!

[lunastone]

@moon: i hope you didn't take it the wrong way in my last post. You are not alone. I also posted less here and don't even bother on the main thread anymore. I pop in once in a while just to check how everyone is doing. We are seeing unrest all over the world. It is kinda depressing. I wish covid hasn't had happened.....

@olddog: welcome to the thread. I understand your issue. Principle becomes our worst enermy sometime. I know a lot of 60+ won't take AZ and only take pfizer after they became eligible. Got lucky that we have never had an outbreak in WA. Now, we have 3 choices of vaccine. We still have people who want the 4th choice. My neighbour insisted of having sinovac. When that isn't available, they are waiting for novavax. Finally, they gave in and made an appt to jab with pfizer last week but cancelled in the end when the clinic couldn't fulfill their special request. They didn't want to be injected on the arm. They read something on the internet....I honestly don't know where they get so much misinformation on pfizer. Scientifically, it is one of the best you could get. They are actually 70+ so getting covid would be worse for them than having the jab to be honest. In my book, we are lucky to have the jab. My family and friends oversea were desperate to get their hand on one many months ago when the outbreak started there. No one even cared what's on offer as long as they could get a jab.

Ya, you mentioned about climate change and population. This reminded me a conversation that i had back in 2019 with a taxi driver on my way to the airport. World is overpopulated and needs to balance it out for combating climate change. Not exactly the wording but you get the idea. Then, covid happens.....feel like we are at a different kind of war and didn't even think they could happen with a random convo....

[Moonstruck]

Dear lunastone...no worries at all. No misunderstanding...I know how you feel about things and you've always accepted how I feel too. I wonder what happened to Tangney...who always understood me too....best of luck with coming through all this madness.

Something has been destroyed in our country..{ certainly in our state of Q) that I fear will never be repaired. Instead of uniting us all as one...some of our powerful State leaders are determined to divide us...Why? Because they can!

[Unbeliever]

I've been ghosting this thread for quite some time. However, I am aware that when I am going through a period of "impatience" with other people that it is often best if I keep to myself as I will inevitably say something that will upset someone.

This is something that I have trained myself to be reluctant to do as it is unfair for people to suffer from my own flawed state of mind. Unfortunately when I am like this I find it difficult to be gentle or patient with others and this state can remain constant for several months, if not longer.

Misinformation combined with Covid appears to have been a terrible combination for me in this regard. I am constantly reading things that set my teeth on edge, instinctively writing out a tirade in response, then having to delete it because I recognise that I am being way too harsh and ungenerous. Wash and repeat this cycle endlessly.

I recognise that most people cannot or are simply unwilling to research as heavily as I do, nor are able to successfully decipher between fact and fiction especially when they are overwhelmed with sheer amounts of contradictory information. Plus there are certain topics that have been determined to be "unsavory" even in a country as free as Australia and in places like this one. Which I do understand in principle, but in the long run serves only to muddy the waters even further and confuse people or make them feel unheard, excluded, or even forcefully gagged.

Which is certainly not a good thing in terms of "unification".

Regardless, I have read many things on this thread that are simply not accurate or being perceived from entirely the wrong angle.

That is not to say that how people FEEL is somehow wrong because it is not and is personal to them. But simply that sometimes the reasons why come from a place of lack of understanding of a situation or why things have happened the way that they have.

Look throughout history at occurrences of pandemic outbreaks. You know what they all have in common? They were all "bad times" in recorded history. Regardless of whether they were handled well or terribly. Regardless of if authorities did everything perfectly or mismanaged every single aspect. They were still not times that the majority of people who lived through them ever "looked back on fondly".

The other thing in common is that they ALWAYS lasted for YEARS. Never months or a single year but YEARS before things stablised and that there were always inevitable repercussions afterwards.

[0ldDog]

I’m not sure if my post triggered yours Tangney but if it did I apologise. Don’t stress as this is my final BB post.

I do try to consider and also spend much time deliberating and re-editing before posting. I too have my own issues, including the frustration of trying (and often failing) to ensure I have provided the necessary context when communicating.

I agree, deciphering fact from fiction, fantasy from reality, even when we don’t have conditions that hamper our cognitive abilities and anger management issues, can be a real challenge. Unfortunately, we seem to have less time nowadays, especially not enough for the vast majority of us to deep dive every scrap of information, confirm its source, validity and legitimacy.

I like to think that on occasion, controversy can be a positive thing and actually promote conversation. Not every heated conversation ends with fisticuffs.

I believe that through conversation and open dialog we can learn from one another, gain a greater understanding of our similarities and differences, share knowledge, exchange and promote great ideas and support others with their endeavours, maybe even quash a few rumours, which often arise when there is an information vacuum.

I too am sure that people did not look back fondly on the events you alluded to. I would however hope that the significance of such events would not be wasted, but rather make us plan and prepare for the future. To continue on without doing so would mean mankind has failed to learn a lesson. That should apply to more than just covid.

I am no expert, nor do I portray myself as being one. My views are simply my own, based on my experiences over my lifetime.

In the past, when my views have frustrated or have been contrary to those held by others, I have suggested they offer arguments to help convince me otherwise. Even this jaded broken old dog tries to keep an open mind. Telling me that I am wrong without offering any convincing arguments or evidence doesn’t work for me and I imagine it wouldn’t for you.

Adieu

J

[Ryan2021]

This whole pandemic has changed me significantly. I was on top.of the world and happy before it all began. Just got together with an amazing girl when I was overseas. We knew long distance would be hard but we were going to make it work. We had plans in place for a big year in 2020 only to have them all kicked to the curb by covid. We kept fighting, I worked hard to try and reunite.

Being on Facebook groups and seeing people separated from their kids, husbands, parents. All trying to get back together whilst trying so hard to be with your partner yourself. It slowly ate away at me. Applying to leave the country for 3+ months only to be rejected because "it's for the safety of the country" give me a spell... people LEAVING the country is absolutely no risk to Australia's safety.

The relationship ended along with a big part of myself.

Now the politicians forcing people to take the jab in order to keep their jobs, it doesn't sit well with me. All I have seen of politicians is that they lie and make promises they don't keep and can't be trusted yet people seem to suddenly think they care and it is for our safety?

I got covid myself, I fought it and I am still here and was lucky enough to get a medical exemption for 6 months meaning I can keep working and living a normal life. Not being segregated like the governments seem to want. I am not anti Vax at all, people want it and think it will save them? Great they can get it. People don't want it put in their body or want to wait and see the long term results? Then they should be allowed to as well. I believe people should have a choice to take it without being judged by others. I hate seeing Australians being separated. We have been taught about racism, sexual orientation, treat everyone equally. Now suddenly it's ok to discriminate due to a medical choice? This goes against all we are taught.

So my 6 month exemption feels more like being told I have 6 months of life left. I can work, I am trying to save money for whatever will follow. But I feel down and shitty seeing what the world has become and don't know if I will want to continue after my 6 months is up. I might try run overseas if I can get out and enjoy myself. But knowing I can't work and have a life when I return, well that could be a tough time to deal with.

Sure I could go get the jab, but I'd rather go out knowing I didn't roll over to whatever the government is up to.

[Unbeliever]

1) My point above is that pandemics ARE inherently depressing things to go through without exception. "Civil Liberty Limitations" are admittedly depressing... no-one likes to be told what they can and can't do.

But so is the option of allowing pandemics to mass infect and run their natural course unimpeded. Lots of people get sick, or hospitalised or die. Hospitals get overwhelmed, medical staff work ridiculous hours and eventually start (understandably) breaking down and as a result people also start dying from non-pandemic related things simply due to this continuous and long term strain on systems.

The fear in the general population becomes more commonplace as this situation continues for months leading to years as does guilt for many in the community who accidentally infected someone they care about that unexpectedly resulted in their deaths... which they more likely than not will have to live with for the rest of their lives. This is unfortunately the reality of far too many people overseas who found this out the hard way.

Not seeing loved ones for a year or more sucks. But in those inevitable rare cases of accidentally being the direct cause of their death is inarguably a much worse thing to suffer.

All these things combined is obviously also an extremely depressing situation to go through... one which Australia has so far avoided overall so far.

2) Regardless of how a pandemic is handled there is always inevitable widespread resulting trauma in the aftermath that has ongoing consequences for years after "things return to normal". Again, regardless of the path taken to handle it. This is just an unavoidable part of having to go through a pandemic.

3) There is no "quick path to freedom" during a pandemic. These things take years. They ALWAYS take years, Anyone who thought things were "going back to normal" in 2021 were (no offense) living in a fantasyland. 2022 was always the absolute bare minimum if we were very lucky... and this was already obvious all the way back in March of 2020 with even minimal research thanks to historical records of past pandemic outbreaks.

Heavy restrictions or an unrestricted "free for all". It would have still taken us years to reach the other side either way... the only significant difference being the "price" we would have to pay for the path we chose to take being very different.

[Hanna3]

Hi Unbeliever

Thanks so much for writing this! What a relief it is to read it.

There's a good article and discussion on The Guardian online today about people who won't have vaccinations for covid.

I'm in the situation where a friend who is early 70s unvaccinated has invited me to her home and I must refuse because I am fully vaccinated but can still be carrying the virus and give it to her, and while I am pretty well protected from serious illness, she could get very sick or die from it if I unknowingly infect her.

She will probably be offended when I decline her invitation but it's because I fear I may pass on covid to her.

Thank you for a great post!

Cheers and welcome by the way 🙂

[Unbeliever]

1) No living government has ever experienced dealing with a situation like this. Mistakes are not only unavoidable, but are to be expected. Because there was never any "perfect solution" anyway. Even now our government can't feel 100% confident that any action they are about to take will yield beneficial results or won't have undesirable consequences.

We should understand that this has never been a straightforward situation where "the path out" is obvious and clear. Every choice they make has serious consequences and their decisions will literally alter which people are going to die as a direct result no matter what they decide to do.

Not a situation any of us would like to be in or should envy.

It is easy to point fingers or say "what should be done" when none of us have to carry the burden of every single death that happens as result of what we did or didn't do being put directly on our own shoulders.

2) The vaccines are a method of giving us more options and the ability to take more risks with restricted severe consequences to "test the waters", but they are not "the solution".

It was previously hoped that by controlling infection rates Covid might "go away"... but the world population refused to knuckle down for long enough. So now, we have a situation where we can choose to live in a bubble until the end of time or for every single one of us to inevitably be exposed to Covid (and any future mutated variants) likely repeatedly from this point on.

Which is bad news for the immune compromised.

Which is just 1 reason why "Plan A" was originally what we were aiming for. Because "Plan B" (which is what we are preparing for right now) has some potentially serious long term implications that will likely change everything. Some reasonably predictable... others less so.